# How to verify AI-written documentation

A practical checklist for trusting documentation an AI wrote from your code: what to check, what to cut, and which safeguards matter.

On this page

- The risk is confident wrong answers
- A checklist before you publish
- Safeguards worth looking for in a generator
- Frequently asked questions
- Keep reading

## The risk is confident wrong answers

AI can write fluent documentation that describes things your code does not do. The problem is not style, it is claims nobody checked: a flag that does not exist, a default that changed, a step that no longer works.

## A checklist before you publish

- Commands and code samples: run the ones a new user would run first.
- Configuration names and defaults: compare them with the files that define them.
- Anything described as supported: confirm the code path exists.
- Missing pieces: a short, accurate page beats a complete page with guesses.
- Links and names: check that referenced pages, files and endpoints exist.

## Safeguards worth looking for in a generator

- The writer is limited to what it verified in your source and leaves out what it cannot confirm.
- Each page is tied to the source files it was written from, so you know where to look.
- The first version is a private draft, with a preview and a publish step that lists every page going live.
- Your edits are protected: later updates become suggestions instead of overwrites.
- Secrets and credential files are filtered out before anything reaches the AI.

Docup works this way, but the checklist applies to any tool. A generator reduces the work of writing; reviewing is still yours.

## Frequently asked questions

**Can AI generate accurate technical documentation from source code?**: It can when it is restricted to what the code confirms and a person reviews the draft before publishing. Treat the output as a strong first draft, not a finished source of truth.

**How do I check generated documentation quickly?**: Run the getting-started commands, compare configuration names and defaults with the code that defines them, and cut any claim you cannot confirm.

**Does Docup execute my code to check its docs?**: No. It reads your files and does not run them, so verification of behavior is a review step for you.

## Keep reading

- [GitHub Documentation Generator](https://docup.dev/guides/github-documentation-generator)
- [Keep Documentation Up to Date Automatically](https://docup.dev/guides/keep-documentation-up-to-date)
- [Docup Write](https://docup.dev/product/write)

Last updated November 3, 2026