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+# Architecture overview
+
+Normally, you would think that a tool like Dokka simply parses some programming language sources and generates
+HTML pages for whatever it sees along the way, with little to no abstractions. That would be the simplest and
+the most straightforward way to implement an API documentation engine.
+
+However, it was clear that Dokka may need to generate documentation from various sources (not only Kotlin), that users
+might request additional output formats (like Markdown), that users might need additional features like supporting
+custom KDoc tags or rendering [mermaid.js](https://mermaid.js.org/) diagrams - all these things would require changing 
+a lot of code inside Dokka itself if all solutions were hardcoded.
+
+For this reason, Dokka was built from the ground up to be easily extensible and customizable by adding several layers
+of abstractions to the data model, and by providing pluggable extension points, giving you the ability to introduce
+selective changes on a given level.
+
+## Overview of data model
+
+Generating API documentation begins with input source files (`.kt`, `.java`, etc) and ends with some output files
+(`.html`/`.md`, etc). However, to allow for extensibility and customization, several input and output independent
+abstractions have been added to the data model.
+
+Below you can find the general pipeline of processing data gathered from sources and the explanation for each stage.
+
+```mermaid
+flowchart TD
+    Input --> Documentables --> Pages --> Output
+```
+
+* `Input` - generalization of sources, by default Kotlin / Java sources, but could be virtually anything
+* [`Documentables`](data_model/documentable_model.md) - unified data model that represents _any_ parsed sources as a 
+  tree, independent of the source language. Examples of a `Documentable`: class, function, package, property, etc
+* [`Pages`](data_model/page_content.md) - universal model that represents output pages (e.g a function/property page) 
+  and the content it's composed of (lists, text, code blocks) that the users needs to see. Not to be confused with 
+  `.html` pages. Goes hand in hand with the so-called [Content model](data_model/page_content.md#content-model).
+* `Output` - specific output formats like HTML / Markdown / Javadoc and so on. This is a mapping of the pages/content 
+  model to a human-readable and visual representation. For instance:
+    * `PageNode` is mapped as 
+        * `.html` file for the HTML format
+        * `.md` file for the Markdown format
+    * `ContentList` is mapped as
+        * `<li>` / `<ul>` for the HTML format
+        * `1.` / `*` for the Markdown format
+    * `ContentCodeBlock` is mapped as
+        * `<code>` or `<pre>` with some CSS styles in the HTML format
+        * Text wrapped in triple backticks for the Markdown format
+
+    
+You, as a Dokka developer or a plugin writer, can use extension points to introduce selective changes to the
+model on one particular level without altering everything else. 
+
+For instance, if you wanted to make an annotation / function / class invisible in the final documentation, you would only
+need to modify the `Documentables` level by filtering undesirable declarations out. If you wanted to display all overloaded
+methods on the same page instead of on separate ones, you would only need to modify the `Pages` layer by merging multiple
+pages into one, and so on.
+
+For a deeper dive into Dokka's model with more examples and details,
+see sections about [Documentables](data_model/documentable_model.md) and [Page/Content](data_model/page_content.md)
+
+For an overview of existing extension points that let you transform Dokka's models, see 
+[Core extension points](extension_points/core_extension_points.md) and [Base extensions](extension_points/base_plugin.md).
+
+## Overview of extension points
+
+An _extension point_ usually represents a pluggable interface that performs an action during one of the stages of
+generating documentation. An _extension_ is, therefore, an implementation of the interface which is extending the
+extension point.
+
+You can create extension points, provide your own implementations (extensions) and configure them. All of
+this is possible with Dokka's plugin / extension point API.
+
+Here's a sneak peek of the DSL:
+
+```kotlin
+// declare your own plugin
+class MyPlugin : DokkaPlugin() {
+    // create an extension point for developers to use
+    val signatureProvider by extensionPoint<SignatureProvider>()
+
+    // provide a default implementation
+    val defaultSignatureProvider by extending {
+        signatureProvider with KotlinSignatureProvider()
+    }
+
+    // register our own extension in Dokka's Base plugin by overriding its default implementation
+    val dokkaBasePlugin by lazy { plugin<DokkaBase>() }
+    val multimoduleLocationProvider by extending {
+        (dokkaBasePlugin.locationProviderFactory
+                providing MultimoduleLocationProvider::Factory
+                override dokkaBasePlugin.locationProvider)
+    }
+}
+
+class MyExtension(val context: DokkaContext) {
+
+    // use an existing extension
+    val signatureProvider: SignatureProvider = context.plugin<MyPlugin>().querySingle { signatureProvider }
+
+    fun doSomething() {
+        signatureProvider.signature(..)
+    }
+}
+
+interface SignatureProvider {
+    fun signature(documentable: Documentable): List<ContentNode>
+}
+
+class KotlinSignatureProvider : SignatureProvider {
+    override fun signature(documentable: Documentable): List<ContentNode> = listOf()
+}
+```
+
+For a deeper dive into extensions and extension points, see [Introduction to Extensions](extension_points/extension_points.md).
+
+For an overview of existing extension points, see [Core extension points](extension_points/core_extension_points.md) and
+[Base extensions](extension_points/base_plugin.md).
+
+## Historical context
+
+This is a second iteration of Dokka that was built from scratch.
+
+If you want to learn more about why Dokka was redesigned this way, watch this great talk by Paweł Marks:
+[New Dokka - Designed for Fearless Creativity](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvFoTRhqaKg). The general principles 
+and general architecture are the same, although it may be outdated in some areas, so please double-check.