Generating API Reference Docs

The docs/api/ folder contains auto-generated markdown from the C# XML documentation comments. This guide explains how to regenerate them.

Prerequisites

Install xmldoc2md as a global dotnet tool:

dotnet tool install -g XMLDoc2Markdown

Steps

1. Publish the SDK

xmldoc2md needs the XML documentation file and all dependency DLLs in one folder. The project only generates the XML documentation file in Release mode (-c Release), so always publish with that configuration:

dotnet publish src/Microsoft.AI.Foundry.Local.csproj -c Release -o src/bin/publish

2. Generate the docs

dotnet xmldoc2md src/bin/publish/Microsoft.AI.Foundry.Local.dll --output docs/api --member-accessibility-level public

All-in-one

dotnet publish src/Microsoft.AI.Foundry.Local.csproj -c Release -o src/bin/publish
dotnet xmldoc2md src/bin/publish/Microsoft.AI.Foundry.Local.dll --output docs/api --member-accessibility-level public

Known Limitations

xmldoc2md uses reflection metadata, which loses some C# language-level details:

• Nullable annotations stripped — Task<Model?> renders as Task<Model>. The <returns> text documents nullability, but the generated signature does not show ?.
• Record/init semantics lost — Record types with init-only properties (e.g., Runtime, ModelInfo) are rendered with { get; set; } instead of { get; init; }.
• Default parameter values omitted — Optional parameters like CancellationToken? ct = null appear without their defaults.
• Compiler-generated members surfaced — Record types emit synthetic methods like <Clone>$(), Equals(T), GetHashCode(), and ToString() that appear in the generated docs. These are not part of the intended public API and should be ignored.

These are cosmetic issues in the generated docs. Always refer to the source code or IntelliSense for the authoritative API surface.