| name | open-docs |
| description | Build the BSB Sphinx documentation for a package and open the resulting index.html in the user's default browser. Use when the user asks to "open the docs", "build the docs", "preview the docs", "view the docs", or wants to check how a rst/docstring change renders. Defaults to the `bsb` (user-facing) package; can target any sister package (`bsb-core`, `bsb-hdf5`, `bsb-nest`, `bsb-neuron`, `bsb-arbor`, `bsb-json`, `bsb-yaml`, `bsb-test`). |
Build & open BSB docs
End-to-end: pick the right nx target, build the Sphinx site, open the produced index.html in the Windows default browser.
When to use
- User says "open the docs", "build the docs", "preview the docs", "view the docs", "render the docs"
- User asks how a doc edit looks rendered
- User wants to inspect Sphinx output of a specific BSB package
Bootstrap
Confirm prerequisites (one-time per session is plenty — they don't change mid-session):
- Node + npm:
node --version (nx needs them)
uv available: the nx docs targets shell out to uv run sphinx-build. uv is usually installed at $HOME/.local/bin/uv, which may not be on a non-interactive shell's PATH — check with command -v uv || ls "$HOME/.local/bin/uv", and prepend its directory to PATH when invoking nx (see Run).- Working directory: a checkout of
dbbs-lab/bsb. Resolve its root with git rev-parse --show-toplevel; it may be the main checkout or a worktree under .claude/worktrees/.
If the user invoked you from a specific worktree (cwd starts with .claude/worktrees/), build there — that's where their edits live. Otherwise build from the main checkout.
Pick the package and the target
Two nx targets per package:
| Target | Output | Use when |
|---|
iso-docs | <pkg>/docs/_build/iso-html/index.html | Fast (single package). Cross-references to sister packages render as raw text. Default. |
docs | <pkg>/docs/_build/html/index.html | Builds every sister package's iso-docs first, then the target package with full intersphinx cross-linking. Slow. |
Default to bsb:iso-docs unless:
- User explicitly asks for the cross-linked / full / production docs → use
<pkg>:docs
- User edited docs in
bsb-core / bsb-hdf5 / another sister package → use <that-pkg>:iso-docs
- User says "all docs" or "full docs" → use
bsb:docs (the umbrella target)
Run
From the repo root (or worktree root), with uv's directory on PATH:
PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH" bash nx run <pkg>:<target>
($HOME/.local/bin is uv's default install dir; adjust if command -v uv reports it elsewhere.) The nx shim in the repo root is a bash script (the wrapper is named ./nx but bears no exec bit on the WSL share — invoke as bash nx or bash ./nx).
Notes:
nx run bsb:docs requires BSB_LOCAL_INTERSPHINX_ONLY=true (already set by the project.json target). Don't override.- Sphinx writes warnings; the
docs target uses -nW (warnings as errors). If nx run bsb:docs fails on a warning, prefer iso-docs while diagnosing.
- Build is cached by nx; re-running without source changes is fast.
Open the index
The build output is a WSL path; convert it to a Windows path with wslpath -w, then hand that to PowerShell's Start-Process (it launches UNC paths in the default browser reliably). First derive the Windows path in the build's WSL shell:
wslpath -w "$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel)/packages/<pkg>/docs/_build/iso-html/index.html"
Then launch it (use the exact string wslpath printed):
Start-Process "<windows-path-from-wslpath>"
For the full-docs target swap iso-html → html. To jump straight to a page the user just edited, point at it directly (e.g. .../docs/_build/html/interfaces/storage-engines.html).
Do NOT use cmd.exe /c start "" "\\wsl.localhost\..." — cmd rejects UNC paths as the working directory and, despite the "Defaulting to Windows directory" notice, the browser often does not actually launch. Start-Process is the reliable path.
Verify
After build:
- Confirm
_build/iso-html/index.html (or _build/html/index.html) exists.
- Spot-check any rst page the user just edited rendered — e.g.
_build/iso-html/core/storage.html, _build/iso-html/simulation/intro.html, _build/iso-html/dev/plugins.html.
- Then launch the browser.
Report to the user: which target was built, where the index lives, and that the browser was launched. Don't re-launch on every follow-up rebuild unless asked — let them refresh the open tab.
