diff --git a/datasette/context.py b/datasette/context.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..c5927d1d2a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/datasette/context.py
@@ -0,0 +1,97 @@
+from typing import List, Dict, Optional, Any
+from dataclasses import dataclass, field
+
+
+def doc(documentation):
+    return field(metadata={"doc": documentation})
+
+
+def is_builtin_type(obj):
+    return isinstance(
+        obj,
+        tuple(
+            x.__class__
+            for x in (int, float, str, bool, bytes, list, tuple, dict, set, frozenset)
+        ),
+    )
+
+
+def rst_docs_for_dataclass(klass: Any) -> str:
+    """Generate reStructuredText (reST) docs for a dataclass."""
+    docs = []
+
+    # Class name and docstring
+    docs.append(klass.__name__)
+    docs.append("-" * len(klass.__name__))
+    docs.append("")
+    if klass.__doc__:
+        docs.append(klass.__doc__)
+        docs.append("")
+
+    # Dataclass fields
+    docs.append("Fields")
+    docs.append("~~~~~~")
+    docs.append("")
+
+    for name, field_info in klass.__dataclass_fields__.items():
+        if is_builtin_type(field_info.type):
+            # <class 'int'>
+            type_name = field_info.type.__name__
+        else:
+            # List[str]
+            type_name = str(field_info.type).replace("typing.", "")
+        docs.append(f':{name} - ``{type_name}``: {field_info.metadata.get("doc", "")}')
+
+    return "\n".join(docs)
+
+
+@dataclass
+class ForeignKey:
+    incoming: List[Dict]
+    outgoing: List[Dict]
+
+
+@dataclass
+class Table:
+    "A table is a useful thing"
+    name: str = doc("The name of the table")
+    columns: List[str] = doc("List of column names in the table")
+    primary_keys: List[str] = doc("List of column names that are primary keys")
+    count: int = doc("Number of rows in the table")
+    hidden: bool = doc(
+        "Should this table default to being hidden in the main database UI?"
+    )
+    fts_table: Optional[str] = doc(
+        "If this table has FTS support, the accompanying FTS table name"
+    )
+    foreign_keys: ForeignKey = doc("List of foreign keys for this table")
+    private: bool = doc("Private tables are not visible to signed-out anonymous users")
+
+
+@dataclass
+class View:
+    name: str
+    private: bool
+
+
+@dataclass
+class Query:
+    title: str
+    sql: str
+    name: str
+    private: bool
+
+
+@dataclass
+class Database:
+    content: str
+    private: bool
+    path: str
+    size: int
+    tables: List[Table]
+    hidden_count: int
+    views: List[View]
+    queries: List[Query]
+    allow_execute_sql: bool
+    table_columns: Dict[str, List[str]]
+    query_ms: float
diff --git a/docs/conf.py b/docs/conf.py
index c25d8a9552..5423fa2a72 100644
--- a/docs/conf.py
+++ b/docs/conf.py
@@ -31,7 +31,12 @@
 # Add any Sphinx extension module names here, as strings. They can be
 # extensions coming with Sphinx (named 'sphinx.ext.*') or your custom
 # ones.
-extensions = ["sphinx.ext.extlinks", "sphinx.ext.autodoc", "sphinx_copybutton"]
+extensions = [
+    "sphinx.ext.extlinks",
+    "sphinx.ext.autodoc",
+    "sphinx_copybutton",
+    "jsoncontext",
+]
 
 extlinks = {
     "issue": ("https://github.com/simonw/datasette/issues/%s", "#%s"),
diff --git a/docs/index.rst b/docs/index.rst
index 5a9cc7ede7..254ed3da57 100644
--- a/docs/index.rst
+++ b/docs/index.rst
@@ -57,6 +57,7 @@ Contents
    settings
    introspection
    custom_templates
+   template_context
    plugins
    writing_plugins
    plugin_hooks
diff --git a/docs/jsoncontext.py b/docs/jsoncontext.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..d759f89f43
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/jsoncontext.py
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+from docutils import nodes
+from sphinx.util.docutils import SphinxDirective
+from importlib import import_module
+import json
+
+
+class JSONContextDirective(SphinxDirective):
+    required_arguments = 1
+
+    def run(self):
+        module_path, class_name = self.arguments[0].rsplit(".", 1)
+        try:
+            module = import_module(module_path)
+            dataclass = getattr(module, class_name)
+        except ImportError:
+            warning = f"Unable to import {self.arguments[0]}"
+            return [nodes.error(None, nodes.paragraph(text=warning))]
+
+        doc = json.dumps(
+            dataclass.__annotations__, indent=4, sort_keys=True, default=repr
+        )
+        doc_node = nodes.literal_block(text=doc)
+
+        return [doc_node]
+
+
+def setup(app):
+    app.add_directive("jsoncontext", JSONContextDirective)
diff --git a/docs/template_context.rst b/docs/template_context.rst
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..f1de4f9eca
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/template_context.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+.. _template_context:
+
+Template context
+================
+
+This page describes the variables made available to templates used by Datasette to render different pages of the application.
+
+
+.. [[[cog
+    from datasette.context import rst_docs_for_dataclass, Table
+    cog.out(rst_docs_for_dataclass(Table))
+.. ]]]
+Table
+-----
+
+A table is a useful thing
+
+Fields
+~~~~~~
+
+:name - ``str``: The name of the table
+:columns - ``List[str]``: List of column names in the table
+:primary_keys - ``List[str]``: List of column names that are primary keys
+:count - ``int``: Number of rows in the table
+:hidden - ``bool``: Should this table default to being hidden in the main database UI?
+:fts_table - ``Optional[str]``: If this table has FTS support, the accompanying FTS table name
+:foreign_keys - ``ForeignKey``: List of foreign keys for this table
+:private - ``bool``: Private tables are not visible to signed-out anonymous users
+.. [[[end]]]