gendn

Generated reference documentation for web platform APIs that ship in Chrome but don't yet have a page on MDN. Not a replacement for MDN: when MDN already covers an API, gendn just links out. The goal is an implementation-sufficient reference for the gap between "shipped in Chrome" and "documented on developer.mozilla.org": a developer with only the gendn pages should not have to infer signatures, protocol fields, errors, lifecycle behavior, or edge cases.

How it works (intended end state)

1. Daily routine reads chromestatus.com for features that have shipped, are in origin trial, or are in dev trial.
2. For each, it looks the API up on MDN. If MDN has a page, the entry just links to MDN and stops.
3. If MDN doesn't have a page, the routine generates a reference page from:
   • the chromestatus.com summary, motivation, and links
   • the explainer (when available)
   • the spec (typically WHATWG or W3C)
   • the IDL from Chromium source (third_party/blink/renderer/)
4. Pages get committed and pushed; Deno Deploy redeploys.
5. When MDN ships its own page, the routine notices on the next pass and the gendn entry switches to a "see MDN" stub.

Reference shape and completeness

A feature overview explains the model and indexes the exact developer-facing surface derived from primary sources. Substantial methods, properties, events, headers, directives, fields, states, and algorithms get stable child pages rather than one-line table entries.

Each item documents syntax, inputs, outputs, errors, context/exposure, lifecycle, complete examples, compatibility, and security/privacy behavior. The colocated reference-contract.json reconciles the source-derived inventory with those pages and fragments. The gate distinguishes three states:

• implementation-sufficient: every item and dimension resolves and has passed structural checks;
• partial: the inventory records explicit missing work;
• legacy-unassessed: an older page exists but has not passed this contract.

See the reference-contract authoring guide. Direct source links remain on each page so reviewers can verify the inventory and prose; structural checks cannot replace that independent source review.

Layout

gendn/
  server.ts             Deno HTTP entry. Routes / and /v<N>/<api-slug>/.
  deno.json             Tasks + fmt config.
  lib/
    chromestatus.ts     JSON API wrapper (shared with chrome-platform-showcase).
    mdn.ts              Heuristics for "is this API on MDN yet?".
  public/styles.css     Shared editorial design system.
  docs/reference-contract.md
  schema/reference-contract.schema.json
  v149/
    <api-slug>/
      index.html
      reference-contract.json
      <interface>/<member>/index.html

License

Apache 2.0. See LICENSE.

Copyright 2026 Paul Kinlan.