Zig Documentation Fetching
Instructions
- Use raw GitHub sources for std lib documentation (most reliable)
- Use pandoc for language reference from ziglang.org (works for prose content)
- The std lib HTML docs at ziglang.org are JavaScript-rendered and return empty content; avoid them
- Zig source files contain doc comments (
//!for module docs,///for item docs) that serve as authoritative documentation
Quick Reference
Fetch Standard Library Source (Recommended)
Standard library modules are self-documenting. Fetch source directly:
# Module source with doc comments
curl -sL "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ziglang/zig/master/lib/std/<module>.zig"
# Common modules:
curl -sL "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ziglang/zig/master/lib/std/log.zig"
curl -sL "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ziglang/zig/master/lib/std/mem.zig"
curl -sL "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ziglang/zig/master/lib/std/fs.zig"
curl -sL "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ziglang/zig/master/lib/std/heap.zig"
curl -sL "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ziglang/zig/master/lib/std/debug.zig"
curl -sL "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ziglang/zig/master/lib/std/testing.zig"Fetch Allocator Interface
curl -sL "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ziglang/zig/master/lib/std/mem/Allocator.zig"Fetch Language Reference (Prose)
# Full language reference (large, ~500KB of text)
pandoc -f html -t plain "https://ziglang.org/documentation/master/"
# Pipe to head for specific sections
pandoc -f html -t plain "https://ziglang.org/documentation/master/" | head -200List Standard Library Contents
# List all std lib modules via GitHub API
curl -sL "https://api.github.com/repos/ziglang/zig/contents/lib/std" | jq -r '.[].name'
# List subdirectory contents
curl -sL "https://api.github.com/repos/ziglang/zig/contents/lib/std/mem" | jq -r '.[].name'Fetch zig.guide Content
# Landing page and navigation
pandoc -f html -t plain "https://zig.guide/"Documentation Sources
| Source | URL Pattern | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Std lib source | raw.githubusercontent.com/ziglang/zig/master/lib/std/<path> | Most reliable; includes doc comments |
| Language reference | ziglang.org/documentation/master/ | Use pandoc; prose content |
| zig.guide | zig.guide/ | Beginner-friendly; use pandoc |
| GitHub API | api.github.com/repos/ziglang/zig/contents/lib/std | List directory contents |
Common Module Paths
| Module | Path |
|---|---|
| Allocator | lib/std/mem/Allocator.zig |
| ArrayList | lib/std/array_list.zig |
| HashMap | lib/std/hash_map.zig |
| StringHashMap | lib/std/hash/map.zig |
| File System | lib/std/fs.zig |
| File | lib/std/fs/File.zig |
| IO | lib/std/Io.zig |
| Logging | lib/std/log.zig |
| Testing | lib/std/testing.zig |
| Debug | lib/std/debug.zig |
| Heap | lib/std/heap.zig |
| Build System | lib/std/Build.zig |
| JSON | lib/std/json.zig |
| HTTP | lib/std/http.zig |
| Thread | lib/std/Thread.zig |
| Process | lib/std/process.zig |
Version-Specific Documentation
Replace master with version tag for stable releases:
# 0.14.0 release
curl -sL "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ziglang/zig/0.14.0/lib/std/log.zig"
# Language reference for specific version
pandoc -f html -t plain "https://ziglang.org/documentation/0.14.0/"Searching Documentation
Search for specific function/type in std lib
# Search for function name across std lib
curl -sL "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ziglang/zig/master/lib/std/<module>.zig" | grep -A5 "pub fn <name>"
# Example: find allocator.create
curl -sL "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ziglang/zig/master/lib/std/mem/Allocator.zig" | grep -A10 "pub fn create"Extract doc comments
# Module-level docs (//!)
curl -sL "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ziglang/zig/master/lib/std/log.zig" | grep "^//!"
# Function/type docs (///)
curl -sL "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ziglang/zig/master/lib/std/mem/Allocator.zig" | grep -B1 "pub fn" | grep "///"Troubleshooting
Empty content from ziglang.org/documentation/master/std/:
- The std lib HTML docs are JavaScript-rendered; use raw GitHub instead
pandoc fails:
- Some pages require JavaScript; fall back to curl + raw GitHub
- Check URL is correct (no trailing slash issues)
Rate limiting on GitHub API:
- Use raw.githubusercontent.com URLs directly instead of API
- Cache frequently accessed content locally
References
- Language Reference: https://ziglang.org/documentation/master/
- Standard Library Source: https://github.com/ziglang/zig/tree/master/lib/std
- Zig Guide: https://zig.guide/
- Release Tags: https://github.com/ziglang/zig/tags