--- title: Methodology description: Where leadtype fits alongside custom docs apps and frameworks like Fumadocs and Starlight — the portable content and agent-readability layer underneath the host you choose. lastModified: "2026-06-12T08:52:04+01:00" --- Leadtype is **a docs pipeline, not a docs website framework**. It produces the artifacts a docs site needs — markdown, `llms.txt`, a search index, navigation, `AGENTS.md` — and stays out of routing, layout, and theming. It's designed to work *with* a framework, not instead of one. ## Where leadtype fits Most docs tools answer "how do I publish a great docs site?" Leadtype answers a narrower, complementary question: "how do I own portable, agent-readable docs artifacts across any framework or repo?" The two compose. |Tool|What it's great at| |--|--| |**Fumadocs**|A polished React docs framework (Next.js, TanStack Start, React Router, Waku) with first-class UI, search, and `llms.txt` support.| |**Starlight**|A batteries-included Astro docs framework with theming, i18n, and a deep plugin ecosystem.| |**Mintlify**|A managed docs platform — hosted publishing, search, analytics, and AI, all built in.| |**Leadtype**|The portable content + agent-readability layer underneath the host you choose — custom app or docs framework.| Reach for a framework like **Fumadocs** or **Starlight** when the job is shipping a polished docs UI — they're built for exactly that. Choose a managed platform like **Mintlify** when you want publishing, search, and AI handled for you. Use **leadtype** when you want to *own* the generated artifacts — framework-agnostic markdown, navigation, search, `llms.txt`, a root `llms-full.txt` fallback, and `AGENTS.md` bundles that ship inside your npm tarballs — and keep them identical across frameworks and repos. These aren't mutually exclusive: leadtype is happiest underneath a host you control, whether that is a custom docs app or a framework you already like. ## What leadtype owns * The **MDX tag contract** — typed prop shapes for ``, ``, ``, ``, and the rest of the custom tags (see [`leadtype/mdx`](/docs/reference/mdx)). * A **build-time source preset** that expands `` partials, resolves ``, and strips authoring `import`s — without flattening live components. * A **framework-neutral source primitive** (`createDocsSource`) exposing navigation, page loading, search index building, and include resolution. * **Framework adapters and recipes** — thin, optional packages or copyable recipes that wire the source primitive into native host conventions: Next App Router, TanStack Start, Nuxt/Nitro, Astro, SvelteKit, Fumadocs, Vue, and Svelte. Adapters export **state and routing primitives only** — hooks, composables, stores, route-handler factories, static-param helpers, pure data helpers — never rendered DOM. * The agent / LLM pipeline: MDX-to-markdown conversion, `llms.txt`, root `llms-full.txt` fallback context, markdown mirrors, sitemap, and AGENTS.md bundles. * A static, edge-safe **search index** plus optional source-grounded answer streaming. * **Lint rules** for frontmatter, navigation metadata, and internal links. * **CLI orchestration** so the whole pipeline runs from one command. ## What leadtype does not own * **Rendered DOM, ever.** No leadtype package — core or adapter — ships ``, ``, ``, ``, or any component that emits markup. This is permanent, not a "for now." Consumers implement components against the tag contract from [`leadtype/mdx`](/docs/reference/mdx); leadtype supplies the data, types, and wiring. The one-line test for any new adapter: *does it return data, state, or a function, or does it return JSX?* If JSX, it doesn't ship. * Visual UI, theming, CSS, design tokens, or component styling. **This is a framework's job, and frameworks like Fumadocs and Starlight do it beautifully** — leadtype deliberately leaves that to them. * Routing, hosting, deployment, or analytics. * The MDX compiler — leadtype produces the source preset; your bundler (Next App Router, TanStack Start, Nuxt, Astro, SvelteKit, or fumadocs-mdx) does the compile. ## Pairing with a framework Leadtype is built to power the docs host, not own the visual shell. Use a custom docs app when you want full control, or use **Fumadocs** or **Starlight** for the UI and run leadtype alongside for one portable pipeline — markdown, search, `llms.txt`, root `llms-full.txt`, Agent Readability files, and npm-bundled `AGENTS.md` — shared across every framework and package. The [Integrate with Fumadocs](/docs/integrations/integrate-with-fumadocs) guide is a worked example: Fumadocs renders the site, leadtype adds the content and agent layer underneath. This pairing shines across repos: each repo keeps its content next to the code it documents, and a shared docs app — public, private, or templated — renders it all with your design system. Leadtype handles conversion, search, validation, and agent outputs identically everywhere, whatever framework draws the UI.