February 24, 2026
Docs elf or AI Photoshop fail?
Show HN: Tag Promptless on any GitHub PR/Issue to get updated user-facing docs
AI “Doc Elf” lands on GitHub — devs split between hype and hallucination fears
TLDR: Promptless 1.0 lets you tag a bot on GitHub to auto-draft and refresh docs, even screenshots. The crowd is split: skeptics fear “imagined” visuals and AI slop, while others want notify-only control—useful if it saves time without lying.
The makers of Promptless just dropped version 1.0, pitching it as an AI “teammate” that watches your work and drafts updates to your user docs. Tag @promptless on any open‑source GitHub issue or pull request and it’ll open a doc fix PR; it can even refresh screenshots, write in your brand voice, and it’s free for big open‑source orgs like CNCF and Linux Foundation projects. There’s a demo, a playground, and a 30‑day trial at promptless.ai. That’s the pitch. The comment section? Pure drama.
The hottest fight: screenshots. One skeptic demanded to know if Promptless actually runs the software to recreate the original view or just “imagines” new pictures. If it’s the latter, they warned, it’s “worse than useless.” That set off a thread of “AI Photoshop” jokes and fears of screenshot catfishing. Meanwhile, practical-types liked the idea but wanted control, asking for a simple “tap me on the shoulder when docs are stale” mode so humans can write it themselves. The team’s promise of “slop‑free writing” drew snarky “we’ll be the judge” replies, though the free support for projects like Vitess got open‑source folks nodding. Verdict: half the crowd wants an AI intern; the other half fears an overconfident doc goblin editing the manual without permission.
Key Points
- •Promptless 1.0 launched with features to automate and improve documentation updates.
- •Users can tag @promptless on open-source GitHub PRs/Issues to receive documentation PRs; a 30-day free trial is available.
- •New automated screenshot updating leverages improved LLM visual grounding to reduce stale images in docs.
- •Writing quality is improved, with 3.5x better voice alignment via fine-tuned models, sub-agents, and user preference alignment.
- •Promptless offers a free open-source program for CNCF/Linux Foundation projects and is supporting Vitess documentation.