diff --git a/src/docc/render_directory_index.py b/src/docc/render_directory_index.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..80e641e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/docc/render_directory_index.py
@@ -0,0 +1,62 @@
+import os
+
+def extract_docstring_or_comment(filepath):
+    """
+    Extracts the module-level docstring or, if not present, the first comment block from a Python file.
+    Returns an empty string if neither is found or file does not exist.
+    """
+    if not os.path.exists(filepath):
+        return ""
+    with open(filepath, 'r', encoding='utf-8') as f:
+        lines = f.readlines()
+    # extract docstring
+    in_docstring = False
+    docstring = []
+    for line in lines:
+        stripped = line.strip()
+        if stripped.startswith('"""') or stripped.startswith("'''"):
+            if not in_docstring:
+                in_docstring = True
+                docstring.append(stripped.strip('"""').strip("'''"))
+                if stripped.count('"""') == 2 or stripped.count("'''") == 2:
+                    break
+            else:
+                break
+        elif in_docstring:
+            docstring.append(stripped)
+        elif stripped.startswith('#'):
+            docstring.append(stripped.lstrip('#').strip())
+        elif stripped:
+            break
+    return ' '.join(docstring).strip()
+
+def render_directory_index(path):
+    # 1. Read __init__.py for the directory summary
+    init_path = os.path.join(path, '__init__.py')
+    summary = extract_docstring_or_comment(init_path) if os.path.exists(init_path) else ""
+
+    # 2. List children, separating dirs and files
+    children = os.listdir(path)
+    dirs = sorted([c for c in children if os.path.isdir(os.path.join(path, c))])
+    files = sorted([c for c in children if os.path.isfile(os.path.join(path, c)) and c != '__init__.py'])
+
+    # 3. For each child, extract a snippet
+    def get_snippet(child_path):
+        if os.path.isdir(child_path):
+            init_file = os.path.join(child_path, '__init__.py')
+            return extract_docstring_or_comment(init_file) if os.path.exists(init_file) else ""
+        elif child_path.endswith('.py'):
+            return extract_docstring_or_comment(child_path)
+        else:
+            return ""
+    
+    # 4. Render the merged page
+    html = "<h1>Directory: {}</h1>\n".format(os.path.basename(path))
+    if summary:
+        html += "<div class='summary'>{}</div>\n".format(summary)
+    html += "<ul>\n"
+    for d in dirs + files:
+        snippet = get_snippet(os.path.join(path, d))
+        html += "<li><a href='{}'>{}</a>: {}</li>\n".format(d, d, snippet)
+    html += "</ul>\n"
+    return html
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