dart-doc-validation ยท diff
git:20260912.57dc63f to git:20260913.6c39005
25 added, 20 removed. Audit A to A.
---
name: dart-doc-validation
description: |-
Best practices for validating Dart documentation comments.
Covers using `dart doc` to catch unresolved references and macros.
license: Apache-2.0
key_features:
- Documentation comment validation
- Unresolved reference checking
- Dart doc macro verification
---
# Dart Doc Validation
## 1. When to use this skill
Use this skill when:
- - Writing or updating documentation comments (`///`) in Dart code.
- - Checking for broken documentation links, references, or macros.
- - Preparing a package for publishing to pub.dev.
+ - Writing or updating documentation comments (`///`) in Dart code.
+ - Checking for broken documentation links, references, or macros.
+ - Preparing a package for publishing to pub.dev.
+
### When NOT to use (Abstention Guardrails)
Do NOT apply this skill or refactor doc comments when:
+
- **Illustrative Pseudo-Code & Non-Dart Code Fences**: Comments contain
- pseudo-code, non-Dart language identifiers (e.g. ````yaml`, ````json`,
- ````bash`, ````text`), or abstract conceptual fragments intentionally not
- designed to compile as valid Dart.
- - **Generated Code**: Files generated by tools (e.g. `*.g.dart`,
- `*.mocks.dart`, `*.freezed.dart`) where comments are synthesized.
+ pseudo-code, non-Dart language identifiers (e.g. ``yaml`, ``json`, ````bash`,
+ ````text`), or abstract conceptual fragments intentionally not designed to
+ compile as valid Dart.
+ - **Generated Code**: Files generated by tools (e.g. `*.g.dart`, `*.mocks.dart`,
+ `*.freezed.dart`) where comments are synthesized.
- **External Markdown Hyperlinks**: Text in square brackets followed by a link
target (e.g. `[External Guide](https://...)`), which is standard Markdown
hyperlink syntax rather than an unresolved Dart doc reference.
## Discovery
To find documentation issues:
### Missing Lint
+
Verify if the `comment_references` lint is enabled:
+
- **Target**: `analysis_options.yaml`
- **Search Query**: `comment_references`
### Automated Validation
+
Run the documentation generator to surface warnings:
+
- **Command**: `dart doc -o $(mktemp -d)`
- **Keywords to look for**: `warning:`, `unresolved doc reference`,
`undefined macro`
## 2. Best Practices
### Enable the doc validation lint
In your `analysis_options.yaml`, enable the `comment_references` lint.
```yaml
linter:
rules:
- comment_references
```
### Validating Documentation Locally
Use the `dart doc` command with a temporary output directory to validate
documentation comments without polluting the local project workspace.
This command parses all documentation comments and reports warnings such as:
- - `warning: unresolved doc reference`
- - `warning: undefined macro`
+ - `warning: unresolved doc reference`
+ - `warning: undefined macro`
+
**Command to run:**
```bash
dart doc -o $(mktemp -d)
```
- *This will work on Mac and Linux.*
+ _This will work on Mac and Linux._
This ensures that the generated HTML files are stored in a temporary location
and don't clutter the package directory, while still surfacing all validation
warnings in the terminal output.
**Browsing the docs:**
Our docs use features designed to be run on a web server. If you want to browse
the generated docs locally, install the `dhttpd` package.
-
```shell
dart install dhttpd
TMP_DIR=$(mktemp -d) && dart doc -o "$TMP_DIR" && dhttpd --path "$TMP_DIR"
```
- *(Or use another HTTP server, such as `python3 -m http.server`.)*
-
+ _(Or use another HTTP server, such as `python3 -m http.server`.)_
### Fixing Common Warnings
- - **Unresolved doc reference**: Ensure that any identifier wrapped in square
- brackets (`[Identifier]`) correctly points to an existing class, method,
- property, or parameter in the current scope or imported libraries.
- - **Undefined macro**: If using `{@macro macro_name}`, ensure that the
- template `{@template macro_name}` is defined in the same file or a file
- that is imported and visible to the documentation generator.
+ - **Unresolved doc reference**: Ensure that any identifier wrapped in square
+ brackets (`[Identifier]`) correctly points to an existing class, method,
+ property, or parameter in the current scope or imported libraries.
+ - **Undefined macro**: If using `{@macro macro_name}`, ensure that the template
+ `{@template macro_name}` is defined in the same file or a file that is
+ imported and visible to the documentation generator.