guidestar

A set of tools to help keep demos and documentation up to date with the source code of a package. This includes a reusable Sphinx extension for embedding interactive wireframe demos into the documentation as well as a GitHub action workflow which helps to ensure the wireframe and scripts themselves stay in sync with changes to the source code. The rendered demos step through a configurable sequence of actions, including optional transcripts, and provides play/pause/start controls.

Disclaimer: this project was largely developed using agentic AI assistants.

Installation

pip install sphinx-guidestar

Or for development:

pip install -e /path/to/guidestar

Quick start

Enable the extension in your Sphinx conf.py:

extensions = [
    "guidestar",
]

Then use the directive in any RST file:

.. guidestar-demo:: _static/my-app.html
   :steps: #btn@1500:click, .panel@1000:toggle-class=open
   :repeat: true
   :height: 500px

Directive options

Option	Description	Default
:steps:	Comma-separated shorthand step strings	(none)
:steps-json:	Inline JSON array of step objects (alternative to :steps:)	(none)
:repeat:	Loop the demo when it finishes (true / false)	true
:auto-start:	Start automatically when the container scrolls into view	true
:pause-on-interaction:	Pause when the user clicks inside the demo	true
:css:	Path to an additional CSS file to include	(none)
:js:	Path to an additional JS file to include	(none)
:id:	Explicit container id (auto-generated if omitted)	(auto)
:height:	Container height, e.g. 500px	(none)
:initial-class:	CSS class(es) added to the content root on load	(none)

Step syntax

Shorthand string

target@delay:action=value|caption text

Part	Description	Default
target	CSS selector for the element to act on	(none)
@delay	Milliseconds to wait before the next step; append ! to suppress highlight	2000
:action	Action name (click, add-class, toggle-class, …)	highlight
=value	Value passed to the action	(none)
|text	Optional caption text shown as a semi-transparent overlay	(none)

Caption text is separated from the rest of the step by a | pipe character. Prefix the text with ^ to force the caption to the top, or v to force it to the bottom. Without a prefix the position is chosen automatically (opposite the target element).

#btn@1500:click|Click the button           → auto-positioned caption
#btn@1500:click|^Click the button           → forced to top
#sidebar@800:toggle-class=open|vOpening…    → forced to bottom

JSON step object

{
  "target": "#my-btn",
  "action": "click",
  "delay": 1500,
  "noHighlight": true,
  "caption": "Click the button to proceed",
  "captionOptions": {
    "position": "bottom",
    "className": "my-custom-caption"
  }
}

Field	Description
caption	Text shown as a semi-transparent overlay during this step
captionOptions	Optional object with position ("top", "bottom", or "auto") and/or className (extra CSS class)

Built-in actions

highlight, click, add-class, remove-class, toggle-class, set-attribute, remove-attribute, set-value, set-text, set-html, scroll-into-view, scroll-to, dispatch-event, pause.

Custom actions

Register custom actions from a separate JS file loaded via the :js: option:

Guidestar.registerAction('my-action', function (step, el, contentRoot) {
    // `this` is the Guidestar instance
    // `step` has .target, .action, .value, .delay
    // `el` is the resolved DOM element (or null)
    // `contentRoot` is the container holding the fetched HTML
});

Styling the control button

The play/pause/restart button lives inside a Shadow DOM for style isolation. It exposes CSS custom properties that you can set on the [data-guidestar] container (or any ancestor) to theme the button without breaking encapsulation.

Available custom properties

Custom property	What it controls	Default
--gs-control-size	Button width & height	44px
--gs-control-radius	Border-radius	8px
--gs-control-bg	Background color	rgba(0,0,0,0.55)
--gs-control-bg-hover	Background on hover	rgba(0,0,0,0.75)
--gs-control-border	Border shorthand	none
--gs-control-color	Icon / text color	#fff
--gs-control-icon-size	SVG icon width & height	22px
--gs-control-bottom	Bottom offset	12px
--gs-control-right	Right offset	12px
--gs-control-tooltip-bg	Tooltip background	rgba(0,0,0,0.8)
--gs-control-tooltip-color	Tooltip text color	#fff

Example: theming the control downstream

In your project's CSS file (e.g. _static/my-wireframe.css), override any combination of properties:

/* Dark teal button matching jdaviz branding */
[data-guidestar] {
    --gs-control-bg: rgba(0, 59, 77, 0.9);
    --gs-control-bg-hover: rgba(0, 125, 164, 0.9);
    --gs-control-border: 2px solid rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.2);
    --gs-control-radius: 8px;
    --gs-control-size: 44px;
}

You can also scope overrides to light/dark themes:

html[data-theme="light"] [data-guidestar] {
    --gs-control-bg: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.6);
    --gs-control-bg-hover: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8);
}

Styling captions

Caption overlays are styled via CSS custom properties on the [data-guidestar] container:

Custom property	What it controls	Default
--gs-caption-bg	Background color	rgba(0,0,0,0.72)
--gs-caption-color	Text color	#fff
--gs-caption-font-size	Font size	14px
--gs-caption-padding	Padding	10px 16px
--gs-caption-inset	Left & right inset (keeps clear of controls)	68px

[data-guidestar] {
    --gs-caption-bg: rgba(0, 0, 80, 0.8);
    --gs-caption-font-size: 16px;
}

You can also apply a per-step custom class via captionOptions.className (in JSON objects) to style individual captions differently.

Overriding highlight styles

The element highlight (orange pulse) is injected into the main document, so standard CSS specificity applies:

/* Change highlight to blue */
.gs-highlight {
    animation: none;
    outline-color: rgba(0, 120, 255, 0.7);
}

Overriding controls host positioning

The .gs-controls-host class is in the light DOM and can be targeted directly:

/* Move button to bottom-left */
.gs-controls-host {
    right: auto;
    left: 12px;
}

Programmatic usage

const demo = new Guidestar(containerElement, {
    htmlSrc: '_static/app.html',
    steps: [
        '#btn@1500:click|Click the button',
        { target: '.panel', action: 'toggle-class', value: 'open', delay: 1000,
          caption: 'Opening the panel', captionOptions: { position: 'bottom' } }
    ],
    repeat: true,
    autoStart: true,
    pauseOnInteraction: true,
    onStepStart: function (index, step) { },
    onStepEnd: function (index, step) { },
    onComplete: function () { }
});

// Control playback
demo.pause();
demo.play();
demo.restart();
demo.destroy();

License

BSD 3-Clause