So you want to build a documentation site for your project? Well, you've arrived at the right place!
We'll be taking a look at a selection of documentation frameworks that you can use to quickly create your project's docs.
Let's get started!
1. VitePress
First up, I'd recommend VitePress, which is a static site generator powered by Vue.js. It's optimized for building documentation sites and generates pages from Markdown files.
The default theme has a great, modern aesthetic. It also supports dark-mode out of the box, along with built-in search functionality too. You can also configure Vitepress to add a cover page too, which showcases features of your project's library.
It's super quick to get started with, and is powered by Vite, which makes it blazing-fast ⚡️.
Preview:
Website: Vitepress
GitHub Repo: Vitepress GitHub Repo
Features:
- Fast and SEO-friendly
- Dark mode theme
- Markdown-centric
- Built-in search
- Quick to setup
Build one with AI Agents: If you'd like to get a documentation site built with Vitepress, be sure take a look at this documentation generator, powered by Isotope AI Agents. Simply enter your GitHub repo and your Vitepress docs site will be generated quickly.
The AI agents also write engaging, developer-friendly documentation pages (including a getting started guide, etc). It can be useful if you don't want to start from the blank page!
You can then export the full code and documentation content to add to your repository.
🍵 Vitepress Catppuccin plugin
For a pastel aesthetic, be sure to check out the Catppuccin Vitepress plugin, which has four aesthetic themes to choose from:
🌞 Light Theme
🌙 Dark Theme
Top Tip: You can also render Vue components, which can be useful for displaying code examples or custom components within the documentation.
2. Fumadocs
Fumadocs is a new documentation framework that leverages Next.js to build documentation sites. It has a stunning user interface, and an incredibly modern visual aesthetic.
It's powered by Next.js, and has lots of useful components you can add to the pages.
Preview
Website: Fumadocs
GitHub Repo: GitHub Repo
Features:
- Modern interface with a stunning design
- Responsive layout
- Markdown-based content
- Built-in search functionality
- Localization support
3. mdBook
The next tool I'd recommend is mdBook, which is a Rust-powered documentation site generator that's quick to setup and install.
It has a cool collection of themes available, and has dark mode support too, a preview of which is shown below. You can switch themes by clicking the paintbrush icon in the top header bar.
MDBook also has built-in search functionality and code syntax highlighting support, which is very useful when you want to add code snippets as part of your docs.
🌞 Light Theme
🌙 Dark Theme
Website: Website
GitHub Repo: GitHub Repo
Features:
- Powered by Rust
- Modern, minimal interface
- Built-in search support
- Lots of themes to choose from
4. MkDocs
Next up, I'd recommend taking a look at MkDocs! Written in Python, it uses Markdown for content authoring and offers a stunning variety of themes.
Simply add your content files as markdown, and with a single command, your docs will be built!
I often use this for building documentation sites for my repos, and would highly recommend it as it is super quick to install and setup.
Website: MkDocs
GitHub Repo: GitHub Repo
Features:
- Quick installation and setup
- Wide range of themes available
- Markdown-based content authoring
- Lots of plugins available
MKDocs Material
One of the most popular themes is MKDocs Material, which has a stunning and modern aesthetic. It supports dark-mode and content search right out of the box, plus lots of other cool features.
I've been using it for one of my open-source repositories and would highly recommend it! A demo is here.
Here's a preview:
Build with AI Agents: If you'd like to generate an MKDocs Material site for your library or GitHub repo (with pages written about your project), try out this generator here.
5. Docusaurus
Docusaurus is a modern documentation generator developed by Facebook and built with React. It's one of the most popular documentation generators out there, with over 50k stars on GitHub.
It has a lot of customization options so that you can configure the look and feel of the generated site.
🌞 Light Theme:
🌙 Dark Theme:
Website: Docusaurus
GitHub Repo: GitHub Repo
Features:
- Built with React
- Customizable themes and layouts
- Comprehensive documentation
- Versioning and localization support
6. Slate
If you'd like to build API documentation, then I would recommend taking a look at Slate. This is a popular, open-source generator designed for creating beautiful, responsive API documentation. Its clean layout and easy navigation make it a favorite for documenting RESTful APIs.
Preview:
Website: Slate
GitHub Repo: GitHub Repo
Features:
- Responsive and modern design
- Clean, intuitive navigation
- Markdown-based content authoring
- Customizable styling
- Extensive documentation
7. Astro Starlight
Astro is a blazing-fast static site generator, which you can use to build blogs, documentation sites and more. It has a useful documentation theme called Starlight, with lots of features including built-in search, a dark theme, localization and more.
🌙 Dark Theme
🌞 Light Theme
Website: Starlight
GitHub Repo: GitHub Repo
Features:
- Quick to setup
- Dark mode
- Detailed documentation and examples
- Powered by Astro
8. Docsify
Docsify generates documentation websites on the fly without a static site generator build process. Simply write Markdown files and then Docsify will handle the rest.
You can also configure Docsify to generate a full-screen cover page, which has a cool, randomized gradient background. A preview of this is shown below:
If you want a documentation site that just works out of the box, without any build steps, then I would recommend Docsify.
Website: Docsify
GitHub Repo: GitHub Repo
Automatic Generator for Your Repo: Generator Here
Features:
- No build process required
- Real-time Markdown rendering
- Customizable themes and plugins
- Easy integration and setup
9. Zola
Zola is a static site generator written in Rust. It has some cool documentation themes that you can use to build docs sites quickly. One of these is the EasyDocs Theme, and a preview of it is shown below. This theme has a modern, minimal design aesthetic with a quick setup overall.
Preview:
Website: Zola Easy Docs Theme
GitHub Repo: GitHub Repo
Features:
- Generates static HTML sites from Markdown
- Simple configuration and setup
- Lightweight and fast performance
- Clean, responsive design
- Well-organized documentation
10. Docus
Docus is a documentation theme that's powered by Nuxt and Vue. It's quick to setup overall, and uses a markdown-based system for content authoring.
It has a built-in collection of components that may be useful when building documentation sites. You can quickly specify the project's social media profiles and more in the configuration options. These will then be displayed in the header of the page.
Preview
Demo: Docus Demo
GitHub Repo: GitHub Repo
Features
- Powered by Nuxt
- Different layouts available, including blog posts
- Markdown-based
- Lots of useful components available
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Conclusion
Thanks for reading! Hopefully you've discovered some new documentation frameworks to take a look at.
Do you have any others you'd like to recommend? Let me know, as I'd love to update this list with new examples!
Wishing you the very best, and hope to see you again soon!
Top comments (4)
I love beautiful docs. I stumbled upon Fumadocs a few months ago and it was lovely at first sight. Recommend 10/10.
I agree! Fumadocs looks amazing, I was so glad to have discovered it. Definitely going to make use of it at some point for future library docs. It has a stunning user interface overall, I must say.
Thanks for reading! 🙌
Awesome , Very Helpfull ........😍
Thanks for reading, Ravindra! Appreciate it 🙌