Customer Story

Bootstrapping a help center in minutes with Ferndesk

Richie McIlroy shares how Ferndesk helped Cap.so streamline their documentation process, saving significant time on drafting articles.

"I simply connected Discord, Intercom, and GitHub, and within five minutes I had more than 20 tailor-made draft articles generated."
Richie McIlroy
Richie McIlroy Founder, Cap

Key Results:

  • 20+ tailored documentation drafts generated in 5 minutes

  • 90% reduction in documentation time, from 20-30 minutes per article to 10 seconds

  • Shift from manual support to self-service documentation


Meet Cap.so

Cap.so is revolutionizing screen recording with a beautiful, open-source alternative to tools like Loom.

Founded on the principle that “your recordings shouldn’t be locked away in systems you don’t control,” Cap offers both instant sharing and professional studio-quality recording with complete data ownership.

With thousands of users including developers, creators, and teams from companies like Microsoft, Amazon and Tesla, Cap provides native apps for macOS and Windows, 4K recording at 60fps, AI-powered features, and the flexibility to self-host or connect custom S3 storage.

But rapid growth brought a familiar challenge: how to scale customer support and documentation without slowing down product development.

The Pain Before Ferndesk

Like many fast-moving software companies, Cap.so prioritized shipping features over documentation. With an open-source project gaining traction daily, the team found themselves drowning in repetitive support requests across multiple channels.

With Ferndesk

We just did manual customer support across different channels - didn’t have any docs.

This approach created several problems:

  • Support bottleneck: The team spent hours answering repetitive questions

  • Inconsistent information: Answers varied depending on who responded and when

  • No self-service: Users couldn’t find answers independently, leading to frustrated customers and overloaded support channels

  • Lost productivity: Every support interaction pulled the team away from building new features

  • Scaling challenges: As user base grew, support demands threatened to overwhelm the small team

like support conversations and developer activityThe breaking point came when Cap.so launched their 0.3.68release. Without proper documentation, support requests exploded, and the team realized they needed to implement a self-serve option.

Why Ferndesk Was Different

Traditional documentation tools required manual writing, constant updates, and dedicated technical writers—resources Cap.so didn’t have.

Ferndesk offered something better: An AI documentation assistant that learned from their company’s existing knowledge.

I had one of the best onboarding experiences I’ve ever had with Ferndesk. I simply connected Discord, Intercom, and GitHub, and within five minutes I had more than 20 tailor-made draft articles generated.

The appeal was clear

  • Zero manual writing: Ferndesk analyzed existing conversations, code commits, and support interactions to create accurate drafts.

  • Always current: Fern (the AI agent) started flagging content gaps and inconsistencies in their help center before they became a problem.

  • Multi-source integration: Pulls context from GitHub, support tickets in Intercom, and community discussions in Discord.

  • High-quality output: Professional documentation that matches Cap.so’s standards.

Implementation: From Chaos to Clarity in 5 Minutes

Getting started with Ferndesk was simple:

Step 1: Connected their Help Center and Data Sources

  • Intercom Help Center and Inbox

  • Discord community server with 1,000+ members

  • GitHub repository with commits, issues, and discussions

Step 2: Ran an audit with Fern

Fern analyzed their support interactions from the last month and created a rich audit with content suggestions based on their external data

Step 3: Instant Drafts in minutes

Ferndesk produced comprehensive articles for their Intercom help center and chatbot.

Step 4: Review and Publish

The Cap.so team reviewed, refined, and published the AI-generated documentation, creating a complete help center in hours—not weeks.

The Results: A 90% Reduction in Documentation Time

The transformation was immediate and dramatic:

Before Ferndesk:

  • Creating a single help article: 20-30 minutes

  • Researching information: Scattered across Discord, GitHub, Intercom

  • Maintaining accuracy: Manual updates required for every release

  • Support volume: Hundreds of repetitive questions weekly

After Ferndesk:

  • Creating a single help article: 10 seconds

  • Information sources: Automatically synced and analyzed

  • Accuracy: Automatically flags outdated content

Drafting a doc now takes 10 seconds, vs 20-30 mins of back and forth between different sources and ChatGPT. The product is beautiful, and the founder, Wilson, is an amazing human. He cares deeply about his users and makes sure they get the most from the platform. Thank you so much!

Looking Forward: Documentation as a Growth Engine

With Ferndesk handling documentation, Cap.so is now positioned for explosive growth. The team can focus on their core mission: building the world’s best open-source screen recording tool.

Meanwhile, their documentation automatically evolves with their product, ensuring users always have access to current, comprehensive help.

The AI-native help center

Stop drowning in support. Create your help center with Ferndesk.

Create a modern, AI-native help center in minutes. Sign up today and ask Fern to write your first few articles.