jdocserver

jdocserver turns a modular Java compilation context into a local, browsable API reference. It uses the selected JDK's standard HTML doclet, so project and platform documentation has the same navigation, search, and presentation as generated Javadoc without requiring the complete site to be built before the server starts.

Capabilities include:

• Browse the JDK without additional configuration
• Browse the modules selected by a ja workspace
• Reuse standard module, source, release, system, and access options from compilation
• Generate the overview in the background and type pages on demand
• Follow links between project and JDK documentation within one local server
• Embed the documentation handler in another JDK HTTP server

Important

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Installation

Note

Netflix engineers should use the internally bundled toolchain rather than installing this tool separately.

Follow the ja Installation Guide to install the bundled tools, including jdocserver.

For standalone use, jar and jmod artifacts are available on Maven Central. JDK 25 or later is required.

Quick start

From a ja workspace, open API documentation for the modules selected by the current directory:

ja doc --browse

Open a qualified type directly:

ja doc --browse java.lang.String

Browse the running JDK with the standalone command:

jdocserver --browse
jdocserver --browse=java.lang.String

Browsing the JDK requires its source archive at lib/src.zip.

Documentation

The wiki covers:

• Browsing
• Running the server
• Embedding