Bridge the gap between code and documentation without ever leaving your terminal.

This is a submission for the GitHub Copilot CLI Challenge

What I Built

DOC-PILOT is a CLI-native documentation assistant powered by Gemini. It eliminates the "context-switching tax" that developers pay every time they leave their IDE to search for library methods, syntax, or examples in a browser. By staying within the terminal, DOC-PILOT provides instant, high-fidelity explanations and code samples for any library or framework, keeping you in the flow state.

GitHub repo link: https://github.com/nik-09/doc-pilot

Demo

My Experience with GitHub Copilot CLI

In this hackathon, I aimed to move from a blank folder to a functional CLI tool without manually writing a single line of boilerplate. What followed was a 2.5-hour "conversation" that completely changed my perspective on development. This was the first vibe code production-ready application I built from scratch.
I started with nothing but a copilot-instructions.md file—essentially my brain dump of what DOC-PILOT should be. From there, I let GitHub Copilot CLI take the wheel on the heavy lifting; I just talked to the terminal.
Using Plan Mode felt like having a senior architect sitting next to me; we mapped out the logic together, and then the Agent Mode acted as the hands, generating and refining the commands in real-time. It wasn't just "generating code"; it was an evolving dialogue where the application grew organically as I guided it.
Breaking the "Context-Switching" Cycle
The most striking part of the experience was the focus. Usually, building a tool like this involves many open browser tabs and constant context-switching. With Copilot CLI, I stayed in the zone. I didn't have to leave the terminal to figure out why a shell script wasn't executing or how to format a JSON response—the assistant handled the "how," which left me free to obsess over the "what."
In the end, while publishing the application to npm, an error occurred due to access tokens. But the exciting part was that what could have been a frustrating hour of debugging was reduced to just a few minutes of conversation.

The result? A complete, working tool in under three hours. This wasn't just about speed; it was about the sheer joy of building at the speed of thought.

Key Features

1. Zero-Tab Documentation: Query any library method (e.g., doc-pilot query react useEffect) and get an instant explanation. Contextual Examples: Generates minimal, clean syntax examples tailored to your query.
2. Gemini-Powered: Leverages the Gemini API for high-speed, intelligent responses.
3. Simple Setup: A streamlined installation and API configuration process directly in the terminal.

Future Roadmap

1. Model Agnostic: Expanding support to allow users to plug in their preferred LLMs (GPT-4, Claude, etc.).
2. Offline Cache: Saving frequently searched methods for instant offline access.

The most impressive part of this build wasn't just the final tool, but the speed of the iteration. GitHub Copilot CLI turned a "one-day project" into a "one-session project." It didn't just help me write code; it acted as a pair programmer that handled the "how" so I could focus on the "what."

Overall, I truly enjoyed taking part in the hackathon experience.