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Docs testing guides: keep your code examples working

How to test the code in your documentation, catch drift before readers do, and pick the right checks for each layer of your docs. Each guide uses real findings from our own runs, never made-up numbers.

Outlined documentation pages with a lime pulse line running out of the stack Guide · start here

Docs Testing: How to Test the Code Samples in Your Docs

Why code examples in documentation break, the ways teams test them (doctest, docs-as-tests, CI runners) and how to run every sample on each release.

October 22, 2026 · Read the guide
Two lenses held over the same documentation page, each bringing a different layer into focusComparison

Vale vs markdownlint: What Each Docs Linter Catches

Vale checks prose style; markdownlint checks Markdown structure. What each catches, sample configs, running both in CI and what neither one tests.

October 22, 2026Blueprint of two documentation pages: one with a handwritten test script, one whose code blocks are framed and checkedComparison

Doc Detective vs DocsAlive: Testing the Code in Your Docs

Doc Detective is a free, open-source docs-as-tests framework; DocsAlive is a hosted docs CI for code examples. Features, price, setup and when to use each.

October 29, 2026A machine blueprint above a ruled documentation page, with a caliper measuring between themComparison

Promptless Alternative: Promptless vs DocsAlive Compared

Promptless drafts docs updates from what you ship; DocsAlive runs the code examples you've published. Features, pricing, security and when to use each.

October 31, 2026A long workbench of outlined testing instruments, each with a small lime light, beside a stack of documentation pagesGuide

Best Free Tools to Test Code Examples in Documentation

Free, open-source tools that run the code examples in your docs: rustdoc, Go examples, doctest, pytest plugins, Sphinx doctest, Doc Detective and byexample.

October 30, 2026Outlined documentation pages with a lime pulse line running out of the stackGuide

Testing SDK Docs Before Every Release: A Release-Gate Guide

Test SDK and client-library docs against the package you ship: build the wheel or npm tarball, install it clean, run every example, and gate the release in CI.

November 3, 2026A machine blueprint above a ruled documentation page, with a caliper measuring between themGuide

Documentation Drift: How to Detect It Before Users Do

What documentation drift is, why code examples drift first, and practical ways to detect it: ownership, release checks, link and execution tests.

October 22, 2026
Proof from real runs
A database cylinder feeding tiles along a rail into a columnar rack, with one orange tile stopped at a barrierCase study

DuckDB fixed a broken docs example that DocsAlive caught

Two record-batch examples crashed with StopIteration. We reported a tested fix and DuckDB merged a fix seven days later.

 Three stacks of documentation pages under a scanning arm, each with a strip of grey, lime, amber and orange result barsResults

Real runs on three open-source docs sites

Every likely docs bug the engine flagged, which ones we confirmed, and where it got it wrong.
Editorial rules

How we write these.

  • Real numbers only. Every figure about broken docs comes from our own published runs on the results page. We don't quote industry statistics we can't source.
  • Checked against current docs. Config keys, flags and action versions are verified against each tool's own documentation on the date shown, and the page lists what was checked.
  • Credit where it's due. We link to the open-source tools we compare and say plainly when one of them is the better fit.
  • We sell DocsAlive. Read the comparisons with that in mind. We keep the product to one clearly labelled section per page.

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