OpenWiki

OpenWiki is a CLI that writes and maintains documentation for your codebase, built specifically for agents.

Install

npm install -g openwiki

Quick Start

Initialize OpenWiki, configure your model and API key, then generate documentation

openwiki --init

Then to ensure your documentation stays up-to-date, add the GitHub action to your repository to automatically open a PR once a day with documentation updates: openwiki-update.yml

Copy the contents of that file into .github/workflows/openwiki-update.yml in your repository.

Codex and Claude Code

OpenWiki also ships as an agent-native plugin for Codex CLI and Claude Code CLI. This path follows the same documentation workflow as the openwiki CLI, but it uses the model already available inside Codex or Claude Code, so it does not require a separate OpenWiki provider API key.

Codex CLI

Add this repository as a Codex plugin marketplace:

codex plugin marketplace add langchain-ai/openwiki --sparse .agents/plugins --sparse plugins/openwiki

Then start Codex, open /plugins, select the OpenWiki marketplace, and install the openwiki plugin. Invoke it naturally with @openwiki, for example:

@openwiki initialize documentation for this repository
@openwiki update the OpenWiki docs from recent changes
@openwiki answer this from the existing OpenWiki docs: how does auth work?

For local development, run codex plugin marketplace add . from this repository instead.

Claude Code CLI

Add this repository as a Claude Code plugin marketplace and install the plugin:

claude plugin marketplace add langchain-ai/openwiki --sparse .claude-plugin plugins/openwiki
claude plugin install openwiki@openwiki

Then run Claude Code and invoke the skill as:

/openwiki:openwiki init
/openwiki:openwiki update
/openwiki:openwiki how is the CLI structured?

For local development, either run claude --plugin-dir ./plugins/openwiki or add the current checkout with claude plugin marketplace add ..

The plugin writes documentation under openwiki/, preserves the same quickstart.md entrypoint, and writes openwiki/.last-update.json only when documentation content changes. It does not create or modify AGENTS.md or CLAUDE.md by default; explicitly ask it to update agent instruction files if you want the standard OpenWiki reference section added.

Usage

Start the interactive CLI:

openwiki

Start OpenWiki with an initial request:

openwiki "Please generate documentation for this repository"

Run a single command and exit:

openwiki -p "Summarize what you can do"

Initialize OpenWiki:

openwiki --init

Update existing documentation:

openwiki --update

Show help:

openwiki --help

openwiki creates initial documentation in openwiki/ when no wiki exists. If openwiki/ already exists, it refreshes that documentation from repository changes. By default, the CLI stays open after each run so you can send follow-up messages. Use -p or --print for a one-shot non-interactive run that prints the final assistant output.

openwiki will automatically append prompting to your AGENTS.md and/or CLAUDE.md files to instruct your coding agent to reference it when searching for context. If the file does not already exist in your repository, OpenWiki will create it for you.

On the first interactive run, OpenWiki will have you configure your inference provider, API key, and LLM. You will also be able to set a LangSmith API key to trace your OpenWiki runs to a LangSmith tracing project named "openwiki" (optional).

These configuration options and secrets will be saved to ~/.openwiki/.env on your local machine.

Customizing

OpenWiki supports OpenRouter, Fireworks, Baseten, OpenAI, an OpenAI-compatible provider, and Anthropic out of the box. By default, there are a few models pre-defined (GLM 5.2, Kimi K2.6, Sonnet 5, etc) but for each inference provider, OpenWiki will allow you to specify your own custom model ID.

Alternative base URLs

To route the Anthropic provider at an alternative, Anthropic-compatible endpoint (for example a self-hosted or proxied gateway) instead of the default API, set ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL alongside ANTHROPIC_API_KEY:

OPENWIKI_PROVIDER=anthropic
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=your-key
ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL=https://your-gateway.example.com/anthropic

OpenAI-compatible endpoints

The openai-compatible provider targets any OpenAI-compatible chat-completions endpoint via a required base URL. This can be used for OpenAI-compatible LLM endpoints like those exposed by a LiteLLM gateway when it is used as a gateway — letting you reach whatever upstream providers the gateway fronts through a single OpenAI-shaped API. Set the model ID to whatever name the gateway exposes:

OPENWIKI_PROVIDER=openai-compatible
OPENAI_COMPATIBLE_API_KEY=your-gateway-key
OPENAI_COMPATIBLE_BASE_URL=https://your-gateway.example.com/v1
OPENWIKI_MODEL_ID=your-gateway-model-name

Base URLs (and all credentials) can be set in your environment or stored in ~/.openwiki/.env.

If there's an inference provider or model you'd like to see added, please open a PR!