Rules docs

rules_docs packages Markdown documentation under a common archive prefix.

Documentation rule

Add the module dependency:

bazel_dep(name = "rules_docs", version = "<VERSION>")

Then declare the package documentation. srcs defaults to glob(["*.md"]); visibility is optional.

load("@rules_docs//docs:defs.bzl", "docs_filegroup")

docs_filegroup(
    name = "docs",
    deps = ["child"],
)

Relative dependency names without a colon are normalized to the child package’s docs target. prefix defaults to the current package beneath content/docs/.

Files are packaged at their basename by default. When a package’s sources span subdirectories that hold identically named files, set preserve_paths = True so each source keeps its package-relative path and the destinations stay distinct.

Gazelle extension

Generation support is packaged separately so consumers of the documentation rule do not inherit Gazelle and Go dependencies. Add it as a development-only module dependency:

bazel_dep(
    name = "rules_docs_gazelle",
    version = "<VERSION>",
    dev_dependency = True,
)

Add the public language target to the repository’s custom Gazelle binary:

load("@gazelle//:def.bzl", "gazelle_binary")

gazelle_binary(
    name = "gazelle_binary",
    languages = [
        "@rules_docs_gazelle//gazelle",
    ],
)

The extension only operates in directories where both a BUILD file and a README.md already exist. Newly generated rules use glob(["*.md"]) and are visible only to their nearest ancestor Bazel package. Existing srcs, deps, visibility, and prefix attributes are preserved.

The public @rules_docs_gazelle//gazelle:gazelle_docs binary contains only this extension and can update a nested workspace without initializing unrelated language plugins from its parent repository.