Yearly running cost Assuming 4,800 merged pull requests a year
By hand $56K / year 800 hours of work
Subscription $6K+ / year
This workflow $374 / year Machine usage only; setup, hosting and review are extra. What should trigger a docs update? Draft updates from merged code, or also use selected conversations and tickets.
Use merged code changes Open documentation drafts linked to the code change. $1,152 – 3,240 setup Add chat and tickets Also use selected threads, tickets and docs previews. $1,800 – 5,160 setup
Where do your docs live?Markdown in a Git repository Mintlify ReadMe GitBook Docusaurus Other Your writers edit and publish. It never merges or publishes docs and never adds information that is not in the merged change or a marked source.
What is included Read each merged pull request, search your docs for pages it affects, record when no update is needed and open a draft docs pull request with a source link beside each change.
Start with your docs repository, the code repositories in scope, your style guide and a set of past changes where the docs were or should have been updated. The wider option also reads team chat threads and support tickets you mark, links drafts to tickets and connects to your docs platform.
How reliable should the drafts be? Set targets for catching needed updates and drafting accurate, useful changes.
Standard Drafts for changes that affect customer-facing docs, with unclear changes asked as questions. Needed updates drafted: ≥85% Drafts worth keeping: ≥70% Included Strict A second check of each new statement against the code and more tests on past changes. Needed updates drafted: ≥90% Drafts worth keeping: ≥80% Setup +$288 – 840 My own targets Agree your own acceptance requirements with the provider. Quote separately
How these standards are measured Test on held-out past merged pull requests where you know which needed a docs update, including internal changes that needed none. Check each new statement against the code. A draft that states behaviour the code does not have counts as a critical failure.
Targets for your selected standard What is checked Target Needed updates draftedPast merged changes that needed a docs update and received a draft, divided by all such changes in the test set. ≥85% Drafts worth keepingDrafts your writers judge necessary and keep after editing, divided by all drafts opened. ≥70% Statements correctNew or changed statements in drafts that match the merged code and marked sources, divided by all new or changed statements. A statement about behaviour the code does not have is a critical failure. ≥95% Changes with a sourceEvery draft change must link to the merged code, ticket or thread behind it. ≥100%
Drafts are proposals for your writers; they are not published docs. Your writers still edit, approve and publish.
How quickly should a draft appear? Choose how soon after a pull request merges the decision and, where needed, the draft appear. Writer review time is separate.
Within 15 minutes Included Within 5 minutes Setup +$144 – 480 Within 2 minutes Setup +$288 – 840
Timing details Time from the merge event to a recorded decision or opened draft, including reading the change, searching the docs, model calls, a docs build check, queueing and retries. Very large changes may need agreed limits. Confirm repository size with your provider.
The target applies to at least 95% of agreed test runs, with 4 in progress at a time.
How much do you want to spend per merged pull request? Set the AI processing budget for each merged pull request.
Up to $0.30 Included Up to $0.15 Setup +$72 – 360 Up to $0.10 Setup +$216 – 600
Cost details Includes model calls for deciding and drafting, retries and a shared hosting allocation. Docs hosting, CI minutes, your writers' time and the calling agent are separate. Most merged changes need no draft and cost less than those that do.
Reference machine cost: $0.13 – 0.23 per merged pull request at 400 merged pull requests a month. The selected cap is a target to test, not a replacement for this estimate.
Where do you want it to run? Run it in your cloud or on your own server. Choose whether code changes and docs may go to an approved AI service.
Run it onYour cloud Local environment AI model accessApproved model API Private model only
Data and access details Runs in a cloud account you control, with access controls and logs.
Only the merged change, the affected docs pages and your style guide go to the selected external model, with secret files excluded. Agree access and retention first.
Give it read access to code and permission to open pull requests in the docs repository only. Exclude secret files and internal-only notes from what the model reads. Private model only keeps code on your hardware; the workflow still connects to your own code host.
How do you want to use it? Choose where you want to use it. You can select more than one.
Draft pull requests in my docs Each needed update arrives as a draft pull request in your docs repository, with a source link beside every change. Included My existing AI agent Let your coding agent ask which docs a change affects and request a draft before the code merges. Setup +$72 – 240 A docs change dashboard See open drafts, which merged changes were judged to need no update and which pages change most. Setup +$144 – 480