---
id: docspec
version: "2.2.2"
license: unclear
license_treatment: unclear
maintenance: aging
---

# docspec — Docspec is a JSON object specification for representing API documentation of programming languages.

License: unclear · Maintenance: aging · Downloads: 270.6K/mo

## What it is and what it does

Docspec is a JSON schema and toolset for representing API documentation in a language-agnostic format. It provides both a Python library for programmatic serialization and deserialization of Docspec JSON payloads, and a command-line interface for validating and inspecting those payloads. The library depends on databind-core and databind-json for JSON marshaling, plus the deprecated package for backward compatibility.

Typical use involves reading documentation metadata from JSON, filtering or transforming module and member structures in memory, and writing the result back out. The CLI offers tree-view inspection of documentation hierarchies. The package targets Python 3.8 and newer and is positioned as a bridge format for tools that need to exchange or standardize API documentation across different languages.

Use it for:

- Validate and transform API documentation JSON before publishing or consuming it in a documentation pipeline.
- Filter documentation members by presence of docstrings or other metadata criteria programmatically.
- Inspect the structure of a Docspec JSON file from the command line without writing custom parsing code.
- Serialize Python documentation metadata into a standardized JSON format for cross-language tooling.
- Build documentation aggregation or translation tools that work with a common interchange format.

## Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts above — verify before relying.

Docspec provides a library and CLI to serialize, deserialize, and validate JSON payloads that represent API documentation structures across programming languages.

Yes, if you need to work with Docspec JSON format for documentation tooling. The package has low install friction and no known vulnerabilities. However, the aging maintenance status (465 days since last release) and unclear license warrant caution: verify the license terms and assess whether infrequent updates align with your project's stability requirements.

## Install

pip install docspec
uv add docspec
poetry add docspec

## Installing docspec

Before you install: Low install friction with a pure-wheel distribution. Maintenance status is aging—last release was 465 days ago—so expect infrequent updates and potential staleness relative to evolving Python ecosystems.

License in practice: License status is unclear; no SPDX identifier or raw license text is available in the package metadata. Verify the actual license terms before use in proprietary or copyleft-sensitive projects.

Quickstart:

import docspec
import sys

for module in docspec.load_modules(sys.stdin):
    module.members = [m for m in module.members if m.docstring]
    docspec.dump_module(sys.stdout)

Requires Python 3.8 or newer.

Verify before relying:

- Whether the package is actively maintained or has entered long-term maintenance mode given the 465-day gap since last release.
- Actual license terms and any restrictions on commercial or derivative use.
- Compatibility with recent Python versions beyond the stated 3.8+ requirement.

## Package facts

- License: not declared (unclear)
- Python support: supports_current
- Install friction: low
- Maintenance: aging
- Downloads: 270.6K/month (top 15,000 on PyPI)
- Known vulnerabilities: none known

## Tags

docspec json serialization, api documentation format, docstring parsing library, documentation json schema, api doc validation tool, docspec cli validator, documentation interchange format, documentation-format, json-schema, api-docs

[View on SkillFed](https://skillfed.io/packages/docspec) · [View on PyPI](https://pypi.org/project/docspec/)