Zeal
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Greenboard
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GitHub
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Zeal is a free and open-source offline documentation browser for developers. You download docsets for the languages, frameworks, and libraries you use, and Zeal lets you search across all of them at once and jump straight to the symbol, class, or function you need. Because everything is stored locally, lookups are instant and work with no internet connection, which makes Zeal useful on flights, on locked-down networks, or any time you want to stay focused without a browser full of tabs.
Zeal is a native desktop application rather than a web wrapper, so it launches quickly and stays light on resources. It requires no account and includes no built-in tracking, and it runs on both Linux and Windows. Docsets cover hundreds of technologies and can be added or updated from within the app.
Zeal GitHub CLIZeal's answer
Zeal's answer
C++ and Qt 6, with Qt WebEngine (Chromium) rendering the documentation pages. SQLite powers the search index, libarchive handles docset extraction, and the build uses CMake and Ninja.
Zeal's answer
Zeal started in 2013 as a free, open-source way to get Dash-style offline documentation on Linux, where Dash (macOS-only) was not available. It adopted the same docset format, grew Windows support, and has been developed in the open ever since, maintained by a small team in their spare time with contributions from the community.
Zeal's answer
Software developers who look up reference documentation many times a day: languages, frameworks, libraries, and tools. More broadly, anyone who wants a personal reference library that works without internet access. The docset catalog is developer-focused today and gradually broadening.
Zeal's answer
Compared to Dash, Zeal is free, open-source, and runs on Linux and Windows rather than macOS.
Compared to web-based tools like DevDocs, Zeal is a native desktop application that works with no connection at all, supports a much larger docset catalog, and can be summoned from anywhere with a global shortcut. Compared to searching the web, lookups are instant, ad-free, and exactly scoped to the libraries you actually use.
Zeal's answer
Zeal combines things that usually come as trade-offs: it is fully offline, native, and free.
All documentation is stored locally and searched with instant fuzzy matching across every docset you have installed at once. It uses the same docset format as Dash, so the catalog covers every major language, framework, and tool, while running on Linux and Windows as open-source software under GPL-3.0-or-later.
Based on our record, GitHub CLI should be more popular than Zeal. It has been mentiond 142 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.
This isn't a new idea for developer tools. DevDocs, Zeal, and Dash have offered offline documentation browsing for years. What's new is applying this architecture to AI agents โ giving your coding assistant the same offline, instant, version-accurate access to docs that you'd want for yourself. - Source: dev.to / 6 months ago
Zeal might be what you are looking for - https://zealdocs.org/. - Source: Hacker News / 9 months ago
I find that self hosting "devdocs" [1] and having zeal (on linux) [2] solve a lot of these problems with the offline docs. [1] https://github.com/freeCodeCamp/devdocs. - Source: Hacker News / about 1 year ago
Yeah, I keep thinking that CHM was the peak format for offline docs. Today we have Kiwix [0] and Dash/Zeal [1] โ both amazing projects, but somehow they feel more complex, and the formats they use arenโt as ubiquitous. [0]: https://kiwix.org/en/ [1]: https://kapeli.com/dash for macOS, https://zealdocs.org/ for others. - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
There's also Zeal (https://zealdocs.org/) which is basically the same as Dash but open source and runs on non-Mac devices. - Source: Hacker News / over 2 years ago
Itโs worth pointing out that if youโre not aware of it, you can install the github cli[1] and view, merge, close etc prs and issue from the command-line. As well as (for me at least) being a significant step up in terms of productivity (from having to go to a website to merge a pr or view an issue) that has the advantage that โinvisibleโ text in a PR or issue comment would show up very clearly. (At least in my... - Source: Hacker News / 8 days ago
Install GitHub CLI and run gh copilot to get AI command help, verify syntax, and simplify GitHub workflows from the shell. Itโs a great way to keep working in one place while still getting quick guidance on commands and workflow steps. - Source: dev.to / about 1 month ago
Gh auth token โ if the GitHub CLI is installed and logged in. - Source: dev.to / 4 months ago
Since gh-stack is a gh CLI extension, you'll need the GitHub CLI installed first:. - Source: dev.to / 4 months ago
Install the GitHub CLI, authenticate once with gh auth login, then:. - Source: dev.to / 4 months ago
DevDocs - Open source API documentation browser with instant fuzzy search, offline mode, keyboard shortcuts, and more
GitHub - Originally founded as a project to simplify sharing code, GitHub has grown into an application used by over a million people to store over two million code repositories, making GitHub the largest code host in the world.
Dash for macOS - Dash is an API Documentation Browser and Code Snippet Manager. Dash searches offline documentation of 200+ APIs and stores snippets of code. You can also generate your own documentation sets.
Git - Git is a free and open source version control system designed to handle everything from small to very large projects with speed and efficiency. It is easy to learn and lightweight with lighting fast performance that outclasses competitors.
Velocity - Velocity gives your Windows desktop offline access to over 150 API documentation sets provided by...
Homebrew - The missing package manager for macOS
