Skip to content
buildbay.
Docassemble logo

Docassemble

jhpyle · Documents

GitHub stars

989
—Collecting 30d data

Stats updated

988 stars on Sep 27 to 989 stars on Oct 2, up 1.6 measured star snapshots

What is Docassemble?

Docassemble turns a sequence of questions and rules into an interactive service that can gather information, explain choices, and generate finished documents. Authors work with YAML interviews, Python logic, and familiar office templates, while end users move through a responsive browser experience.

Docassemble is a free, open-source expert system for guided interviews and document assembly. Its web interviews gather information and can produce PDF, RTF, or DOCX documents for users to download or email.

Core capabilities

  • Create conditional guided interviews with YAML and Python logic
  • Populate PDF, RTF, and DOCX outputs and collect touchscreen signatures
  • Integrate workflows through APIs, custom front ends, email, and SMS

Interviews that produce practical outputs

Interview files combine questions, branching rules, computed values, and explanations. The system asks for information needed to produce an outcome, and answers can populate PDF, RTF, or DOCX documents. Touchscreen signatures can be embedded, but document generation by itself does not establish legal suitability.

  • guided interviews
  • YAML
  • document assembly
  • signatures

Extensions around the interview

Python extends the interview language, while APIs connect input and output to other systems. Background processing, OCR, live assistance, email, and SMS support work beyond a browser questionnaire. Authors still need to maintain their questions, decision rules, and templates as the underlying process changes.

  • Python
  • API
  • OCR
  • integration

Where it fits

Use cases

  1. 01

    Automate document intake and assembly

    Ask only the questions relevant to a user, validate the answers, and merge the resulting data into court forms, agreements, letters, or other PDF and word-processing templates.

  2. 02

    Publish a guided expert service

    Encode rules and explanations in an interview that helps people understand options, complete a process, or reach a tailored outcome without exposing the underlying logic.

  3. 03

    Connect an interview to another system

    Use APIs, Python extensions, background tasks, email, and text messaging to place guided interviews inside a wider intake or service-delivery workflow.