Docusaurus

Overview

Docusaurus is a static site generator built by Meta specifically for documentation websites. It provides document versioning, sidebar navigation, full-text search (via Algolia), MDX support (React components in Markdown), i18n, and a blog — all out of the box. Used by React, Babel, Jest, Prettier, and hundreds of open-source projects for their documentation.

Instructions

Step 1: Project Setup

# Create new Docusaurus project
npx create-docusaurus@latest my-docs classic

cd my-docs

# Start development server
npm start
# Opens http://localhost:3000

# Build for production
npm run build

# Project structure:
# docs/          — documentation pages (Markdown/MDX)
# blog/          — blog posts
# src/pages/     — custom React pages
# src/css/       — custom styles
# static/        — static assets (images, files)
# docusaurus.config.js — main configuration
# sidebars.js    — sidebar navigation structure

Step 2: Write Documentation

---
id: getting-started
title: Getting Started
sidebar_position: 1
description: Quick start guide for installing and configuring the SDK
tags: [quickstart, installation]
---

# Getting Started

Install the SDK via npm:

```bash
npm install @mycompany/sdk

Configuration

Create a config file in your project root:

// sdk.config.js — SDK configuration
export default {
  apiKey: process.env.SDK_API_KEY,
  region: 'us-east-1',
}

:::tip You can also set configuration via environment variables. :::

:::warning Never commit your API key to version control. :::

:::info For a complete list of options, see the Configuration Reference. :::

### Step 3: Configure Sidebar Navigation

```javascript
// sidebars.js — Define the documentation sidebar structure
/** @type {import('@docusaurus/plugin-content-docs').SidebarsConfig} */
const sidebars = {
  docs: [
    'intro',
    {
      type: 'category',
      label: 'Getting Started',
      items: ['getting-started', 'installation', 'configuration'],
      collapsed: false,
    },
    {
      type: 'category',
      label: 'Guides',
      items: [
        'guides/authentication',
        'guides/data-fetching',
        'guides/error-handling',
        'guides/deployment',
      ],
    },
    {
      type: 'category',
      label: 'API Reference',
      items: ['api/client', 'api/hooks', 'api/utilities'],
    },
  ],
}

module.exports = sidebars

Step 4: Site Configuration

// docusaurus.config.js — Main site configuration
/** @type {import('@docusaurus/types').Config} */
const config = {
  title: 'My SDK Documentation',
  tagline: 'Build amazing things with our SDK',
  url: 'https://docs.mycompany.com',
  baseUrl: '/',
  onBrokenLinks: 'throw',
  onBrokenMarkdownLinks: 'warn',

  i18n: { defaultLocale: 'en', locales: ['en'] },

  presets: [
    ['classic', {
      docs: {
        sidebarPath: './sidebars.js',
        editUrl: 'https://github.com/mycompany/docs/tree/main/',
        showLastUpdateTime: true,
        showLastUpdateAuthor: true,
      },
      blog: {
        showReadingTime: true,
        blogSidebarCount: 10,
      },
      theme: { customCss: './src/css/custom.css' },
    }],
  ],

  themeConfig: {
    navbar: {
      title: 'My SDK',
      logo: { alt: 'Logo', src: 'img/logo.svg' },
      items: [
        { type: 'docSidebar', sidebarId: 'docs', position: 'left', label: 'Docs' },
        { to: '/blog', label: 'Blog', position: 'left' },
        { type: 'docsVersionDropdown', position: 'right' },
        { href: 'https://github.com/mycompany/sdk', label: 'GitHub', position: 'right' },
      ],
    },
    footer: {
      style: 'dark',
      links: [
        { title: 'Docs', items: [{ label: 'Getting Started', to: '/docs/getting-started' }] },
        { title: 'Community', items: [{ label: 'Discord', href: 'https://discord.gg/...' }] },
      ],
    },
    algolia: {
      appId: 'YOUR_ALGOLIA_APP_ID',
      apiKey: 'YOUR_ALGOLIA_SEARCH_KEY',
      indexName: 'my-docs',
    },
  },
}

module.exports = config

Step 5: Document Versioning

# Create a new version snapshot (freezes current docs/)
npm run docusaurus docs:version 1.0

# Directory structure after versioning:
# docs/                       — "next" (unreleased) docs
# versioned_docs/version-1.0/ — frozen v1.0 docs
# versioned_sidebars/         — frozen v1.0 sidebars

# Create another version
npm run docusaurus docs:version 2.0
# Users can switch between versions via the dropdown

Step 6: MDX Components

---
title: Interactive Examples
---

import Tabs from '@theme/Tabs'
import TabItem from '@theme/TabItem'

# Installation

<Tabs>
  <TabItem value="npm" label="npm" default>
    ```bash
    npm install @mycompany/sdk
    ```
  </TabItem>
  <TabItem value="yarn" label="yarn">
    ```bash
    yarn add @mycompany/sdk
    ```
  </TabItem>
  <TabItem value="pnpm" label="pnpm">
    ```bash
    pnpm add @mycompany/sdk
    ```
  </TabItem>
</Tabs>

## Custom Components

export const Highlight = ({children, color}) => (
  <span style={{ backgroundColor: color, padding: '4px 8px', borderRadius: '4px', color: '#fff' }}>
    {children}
  </span>
)

Status: <Highlight color="#25c2a0">Stable</Highlight> <Highlight color="#1877F2">v2.0+</Highlight>

Step 7: Deploy

# Build static site
npm run build
# Output in build/ — deploy anywhere (Vercel, Netlify, GitHub Pages, S3)

# GitHub Pages deployment
GIT_USER=mycompany npm run deploy

# Vercel — just connect the repo, it auto-detects Docusaurus
# Netlify — build command: npm run build, publish directory: build

Examples

Example 1: Create documentation for an open-source library

User prompt: "Set up a documentation site for my npm package. I need a getting started guide, API reference, versioned docs, and a blog for release notes."

The agent will:

1. Scaffold a Docusaurus project with the classic preset.
2. Create the docs structure: intro, getting-started, guides/, api/.
3. Set up sidebars with logical grouping.
4. Add versioning for v1.0.
5. Configure Algolia DocSearch for full-text search.
6. Add GitHub Pages deployment to CI.

Example 2: Build an internal developer portal

User prompt: "We have 5 microservices. Build a single docs site that documents all of them with separate sections, shared architecture diagrams, and an internal blog."

The agent will:

1. Create a multi-instance docs setup (one docs folder per service).
2. Add a shared architecture section with embedded diagrams (Mermaid).
3. Configure internal blog for architecture decisions and RFCs.
4. Deploy behind VPN/auth for internal access only.

Guidelines

• Use the classic preset for most documentation sites — it includes docs, blog, pages, and search out of the box.
• Structure docs in a flat hierarchy when possible — deeply nested sidebars are hard to navigate. 2-3 levels max.
• Enable showLastUpdateTime and showLastUpdateAuthor — it builds trust with readers and helps identify stale docs.
• Set onBrokenLinks: 'throw' to catch broken internal links during build. This prevents deploying docs with dead links.
• Use MDX sparingly — most docs should be plain Markdown for contributor accessibility. Save MDX for interactive examples and complex layouts.
• Apply for Algolia DocSearch (free for open-source) for production search. For internal docs, use the local search plugin.