Generate and manage help pages
Browse generated help pages, follow build progress, retry pages that didn’t publish, and compare earlier editions with the live page.
Browse generated pages
Open Home to browse generated pages. The catalogue groups pages by topic, with Featured pages above the topic rows. While a build runs, planned pages appear alongside published pages; pages that didn’t publish appear separately with a retry option.
Build states
writing it now
Cactus is writing the planned page.
publishing
Cactus is making the page available.
written
The page is published and can be opened.
Didn’t publish yet
The page didn’t publish and isn’t available as a published page yet.
Checking [source]
Cactus is checking whether the source still supports this page section.
Checked against [source] just now
Cactus checked the source and found no change.
[source] changed; this section is being updated
The source changed, and Cactus is updating this page section.
Couldn't reach [source]
Cactus couldn’t reach the source to check it.
The team's answer still holds
The team’s answer still holds after the source check.
Page generation
Cactus organizes a catalogue from what it knows about your product, then writes each page from that knowledge and supporting evidence. It checks the cited evidence and publishes each page as soon as it’s ready, so you can browse it while the rest of the build continues.
Build progress
Home shows a status line above the catalogue while a build is working. It names the current stretch of work and, while pages are being published, may show how many planned pages are live. The signed-in app’s tray or phone dock also shows the current phase and an estimated time remaining when available. A visible status line means the build is working. If you’re unsure whether a run ended or failed, check the build status in the tray or dock.
Retry an unpublished page
In Home, under Didn’t publish yet, select Retry beside the page; Cactus tries to publish that page again.
Review page sources
Generated page sections include source citations. To inspect the evidence behind a page:
On an open page, select Sources.
In Sources, select Open these lines on GitHub to inspect a cited code span.
Page history
History of this page lists earlier editions, newest first, with their dates and why they were written. An edition is read-only.
In History of this page, open an earlier edition.
On the edition, select Show changes to compare it with the live page. Added and removed words are marked.
Page audience
Each generated page has an audience setting that affects who can read it. For audience rules and how to change them, see Choose who can read a help page.
If a build fails
| What you see | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| “The build failed” | The build failed. | In the tray or phone dock, select Rebuild to start a full build again. |