State of Docs Report 2025

“Users want to see relevant information quickly, without needing to search through endless pages. AI chatbots are one solution, but I think a better answer is presenting users with relevant information from the docs right in the product, at the moment they need it.”

“Over the past few years, our documentation has evolved into dynamic, user-centric knowledge systems — driven by a powerful combination of AI, automation, real-time feedback loops, and the irreplaceable insight of human expertise.”

“In the absence of the documentation, the product doesn't exist. It's a bunch of code packages together with a UI sitting on top, but there are a lot of products which don't have a UI, right? So the role of documentation becomes monumental there.”

“In some cases, technical documentation has even surpassed marketing websites as the primary driver of product adoption. Why? Because it offers immediate value. A well-written doc doesn’t just describe a product’s features; it shows users how to apply them in their own environment.”

“What many docs, in my opinion, get wrong, is that they provide more of the reference API than concrete examples. [At DuckDB] you can open [the reference API] and you have 10-15 ready-to-go examples. People really like that. It’s also great for LLMs because they learn from this more easily than from a reference manual.”

“I suspect writers will spend more time in two areas. First, as editors, reviewing generated content, managing the AI, verifying technical accuracy, updating, etc. Second, I suspect writers can do more predictive and visionary docs product work.”

“My very subjective hunch is that users are going to consume the docs mainly through chatbots. While the docs must remain accessible in a traditional way — through a website, search, or navigation — the main way to look up something in the docs will be by asking a chatbot to produce an answer based on those docs.”

“AI just accentuates all of the existing best practices. Writing good content doesn’t really go anywhere. Actually, it’s even more important because you need to write something that’s accessible to both humans and AIs.”