Chronicler AI Ledger
Automated .tech.md generation and browsing for VS Code. Crawl a repo, draft structured technical documentation with an LLM, and track when those docs go stale — all from your editor.
Features
- Dependency graph — interactive force-directed graph of your documented components
- Clickable links —
agent:// URIs and [[wiki-links]] resolve to the right .tech.md file
- Hover preview — see a component's purpose and dependencies without leaving your current file
- Broken link diagnostics — red squiggles on references that point to missing docs
- Backlinks panel — see which components reference the one you're editing
- Tags panel — browse components by layer, team, or security level
- Staleness tracking — status bar shows how many docs need regeneration, updates when source files change
- LLM provider setup — configure Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, or Ollama from the command palette; API keys stored in OS keychain via VS Code SecretStorage
Commands
| Command |
What it does |
Chronicler: Init |
Set up a project with config + merkle tree |
Chronicler: Regenerate Stale |
Re-draft docs for changed source files |
Chronicler: Show Status |
Print staleness report to output channel |
Chronicler: Create .tech.md |
Scaffold a new component doc from template |
Chronicler: Show Dependency Graph |
Open interactive graph view |
Chronicler: Setup LLM Provider |
Configure which LLM to use for drafting |
How it works
Chronicler writes .tech.md files — plain Markdown with YAML frontmatter — into a .chronicler/ directory in your repo. Each file follows a fixed structure:
- YAML frontmatter (component ID, owner team, layer, edges, security level)
- Architectural intent (what this does, why it exists, key responsibilities)
- Connectivity graph (Mermaid diagram of dependencies)
- Links to satellite docs (QA blueprints, audit logs, invariants)
Source files are SHA-256 hashed into a merkle tree. When hashes change but the corresponding doc hasn't been updated, it's flagged stale. The status bar reflects this in real time.
Requirements
- Python 3.11+ with
chronicler-lite installed
- An LLM API key (Anthropic, OpenAI, Google) or a local Ollama instance
Settings
| Setting |
Default |
Description |
chronicler.pythonPath |
python3 |
Python interpreter with chronicler-lite |
chronicler.llm.provider |
anthropic |
LLM provider for doc generation |
chronicler.watch.sourceGlob |
**/*.{ts,js,py,rs,go,java} |
Source files to watch for staleness |
chronicler.techMdGlob |
**/.chronicler/**/*.tech.md |
Where to find .tech.md files |
chronicler.graph.layout |
force-directed |
Graph layout algorithm |
chronicler.graph.colorBy |
layer |
Node color scheme |
Cross-document linking
Each .tech.md can declare edges to other components:
edges:
- target: "agent://auth-service/handler.tech.md"
relationship: "CONSUMES"
transport: "grpc"
These URIs let you click-navigate between docs. The extension resolves them to local files or, with a GraphQL endpoint configured, to components in other repos.
Security
API keys are stored in VS Code's SecretStorage (OS keychain) and injected as environment variables at subprocess spawn time. They never touch disk or appear in settings JSON.
License
MIT
