Versioning
You can use the version script to create a new documentation version based on the latest content in the docs
directory. That specific set of documentation will then be preserved and accessible even as the documentation in the docs
directory changes moving forward.
caution
Think about it before starting to version your documentation - it can become difficult for contributors to help improve it!
Most of the time, you don't need versioning as it will just increase your build time, and introduce complexity to your codebase. Versioning is best suited for websites with high-traffic and rapid changes to documentation between versions. If your documentation rarely changes, don't add versioning to your documentation.
To better understand how versioning works and see if it suits your needs, you can read on below.
Directory structure
The table below explains how a versioned file maps to its version and the generated URL.
Path | Version | URL |
---|---|---|
versioned_docs/version-1.0.0/hello.md | 1.0.0 | /docs/1.0.0/hello |
versioned_docs/version-1.1.0/hello.md | 1.1.0 (latest) | /docs/hello |
docs/hello.md | next | /docs/next/hello |
Tagging a new version
- First, make sure your content in the
docs
directory is ready to be frozen as a version. A version always should be based from master. - Enter a new version number.
- npm
- Yarn
When tagging a new version, the document versioning mechanism will:
- Copy the full
docs/
folder contents into a newversioned_docs/version-<version>/
folder. - Create a versioned sidebars file based from your current sidebar configuration (if it exists) - saved as
versioned_sidebars/version-<version>-sidebars.json
. - Append the new version number to
versions.json
.
Files
Creating new files
- Place the new file into the corresponding version folder.
- Include the reference for the new file into the corresponding sidebar file, according to version number.
Master docs
Older docs
Linking files
- Remember to include the
.md
extension. - Files will be linked to correct corresponding version.
- Relative paths work as well.
Versions
Each directory in versioned_docs/
will represent a documentation version.
Updating an existing version
You can update multiple docs versions at the same time because each directory in versioned_docs/
represents specific routes when published.
- Edit any file.
- Commit and push changes.
- It will be published to the version.
Example: When you change any file in versioned_docs/version-2.6/
, it will only affect the docs for version 2.6
.
Deleting an existing version
You can delete/remove versions as well.
- Remove the version from
versions.json
.
Example:
- Delete the versioned docs directory. Example:
versioned_docs/version-1.8.0
. - Delete the versioned sidebars file. Example:
versioned_sidebars/version-1.8.0-sidebars.json
.
Recommended practices
Version your documentation only when needed
For example, you are building a documentation for your npm package foo
and you are currently in version 1.0.0. You then release a patch version for a minor bug fix and it's now 1.0.1.
Should you cut a new documentation version 1.0.1? You probably shouldn't. 1.0.1 and 1.0.0 docs shouldn't differ according to semver because there are no new features!. Cutting a new version for it will only just create unnecessary duplicated files.
Keep the number of versions small
As a good rule of thumb, try to keep the number of your versions below 10. It is very likely that you will have a lot of obsolete versioned documentation that nobody even reads anymore. For example, Jest is currently in version 24.9
, and only maintains several latest documentation version with the lowest being 22.X
. Keep it small 😊
Use absolute import within the docs
Don't use relative paths import within the docs. Because when we cut a version the paths no longer work (the nesting level is different, among other reasons). You can utilize the @site
alias provided by docusaurus, that points to the website
directory. Example: