How to create technical documentation and user guides with AI (Claude, ChatGPT and GitHub Copilot)

Before opening the AI, clarify what you need. Each type of documentation has a different prompt:

Type	For whom	Example content
README	Technical team or open source community	Installation, quick start, contributing
User guide	Customers or end users	How to use the app step by step
API documentation	Developers integrating your product	Endpoints, parameters, examples
Team wiki	Internal team	Processes, onboarding, decisions
Technical manual	Support or advanced devs	Architecture, configuration, troubleshooting

Being clear on the type helps you give the AI the right context and get a useful result on the first try.

The quality of the generated documentation depends on the context you give. Gather the following before opening Claude or ChatGPT:

• Source code (or relevant parts): functions, classes, endpoints.
• Loose notes: emails, tickets, conversations where you explained how something works.
• Screenshots or flows: if it’s a user guide, describe or paste the main flow steps.
• Audience: who are you writing for? Do they know how to code? Is it a non-technical end user?

You don’t need everything perfect: paste what you have and the AI helps you structure it.

Base prompt example:

“You are an expert technical writer. I have this code: [paste the code]. Write a README in English with these sections: Description, Installation, Quick Start, Configuration and Contributing. Audience: developers with basic Python knowledge.”

1. Open https://claude.ai or https://chat.openai.com.
2. Paste your context (code, notes, product description) along with the prompt from the previous step.
3. The AI returns a complete draft. Read it top to bottom before accepting it.
4. If something isn’t right, correct it in the same chat: “The Installation section assumes Linux; rewrite it to cover Windows and Mac too.”

Iterative technique: don’t try to get the perfect document in one message. Start with the structure, then expand section by section.

Tip for long documents: if the document is extensive, work in parts. First ask for the outline, then develop each section separately.

If you’re a developer already using VS Code or JetBrains, GitHub Copilot can generate inline documentation without leaving your editor.

1. Install the GitHub Copilot extension from the VS Code marketplace.
2. Sign in with your GitHub account.
3. To document a function, place your cursor on it and write in the Copilot chat: “Generate a complete docstring for this function, including parameters, return value and a usage example.”
4. Copilot inserts the docstring directly into the file.

For an automatic README:

In the Copilot chat write: “Read the code in this repository and generate a README.md with these sections: Description, Installation, Usage and License.”

GitHub Copilot pricing changes frequently (since 2026 it uses AI credits per use). Always confirm at https://github.com/features/copilot before subscribing.

You can combine both tools: generate the draft with Claude and document the code inline with Copilot.

If you want to connect Claude directly to your editor, see How to connect Claude to Visual Studio Code.

AI speeds up the draft, but you’re the one who truly knows the product. Before publishing:

1. Verify the technical steps: test each instruction as if you were a new user. AI can invent commands or assume dependencies that don’t exist.
2. Add screenshots or videos: for user guides, images are worth a thousand words.
3. Ask a team member for feedback: what’s obvious to you may not be to someone new.
4. Publish in the right place: GitHub (README.md), Notion, Confluence, GitBook or wherever your team centralizes knowledge.

To keep it up to date: whenever you change a function or process, paste the new code or description into Claude and say: “Update only the [section name] section of this documentation with these changes.”

This tutorial pairs well with How to manage projects with AI if you want to integrate documentation into your project workflow.

Problem	Fix
The text sounds generic or impersonal	Add real examples and adjust the tone: “Make it more direct and technical”
AI invents code details	Give it the exact code, don’t describe it from memory
The documentation is too long	Ask for a shorter version: “Reduce this to 500 words without losing the key steps”
It doesn’t know my sector’s technical vocabulary	Define the glossary in the prompt: “In this project, ‘deploy’ always means production deployment via Docker”