Frontmatter

Every page is a .mdx file with a YAML frontmatter block. Leadtype reads frontmatter for page metadata and linting; curated navigation lives in docs.config.ts navigation.

Minimum

---
title: "Build a docs site"
description: "Pick the right leadtype integration shape for your docs app."
---

title — required. Non-empty string. Renders as the page heading and as the entry text in llms.txt and the sidebar.
description — optional but recommended. Becomes the routing hint in llms.txt. If omitted, the converter synthesizes one from the body during conversion (see convert behavior).
group — optional legacy taxonomy metadata. Use config-owned navigation for curated page placement.

For curated docs sites, put the navigation structure in docs.config.ts with navigation. Root nodes can become top-level tabs like Docs, Frontend, Integrations, or Changelog. The active root node's pages and children usually become the sidebar. The same resolved tree drives generated navigation, llms.txt, AGENTS.md, sitemap markdown, and Agent Readability metadata.

export default defineDocsConfig({
  product: { name: "c15t", tagline: "Developer-first consent management." },
  navigation: [
    {
      title: "Frontend",
      children: [
        {
          title: "Next.js",
          base: "frameworks/next",
          children: [
            { title: "Start", pages: ["quickstart", "optimization"] },
            {
              title: "Concepts",
              pages: [
                "concepts/client-modes",
                { include: "concepts/*", sort: ["order", "path"] },
              ],
            },
          ],
        },
      ],
    },
  ],
});

base cascades to child nodes. Page strings are extensionless paths relative to the nearest base; a leading / starts from the docs root. Include entries append matching pages at that position and use order then path sorting by default.

Legacy groups

Each page may declare one or more group slugs with group: <slug> or group: [a, b], so pages can be shared across multiple taxonomy groups. In projects that have not adopted navigation, each group is declared once in docs.config.ts. leadtype generate loads that config automatically when it exists. The intersection produces the fallback nav tree, section headings in llms.txt, search metadata, and AGENTS.md grouping.

Rendering diagram...

If a page declares a group slug that isn't in docs.config.ts, the build fails with unknown group "<slug>". Same source of truth, no drift.

If you do not have navigation, the CLI falls back to the legacy group resolver and infers groups from the group: values it finds. That fallback is enough for small docs sets, but use config navigation when you need stable top-level docs areas, sidebar order, descriptions, nested sections, or wildcard includes.

Nested groups

Declare children in the config to build deeper trees:

{
  slug: "docs-site",
  title: "Build an Agent-Ready Site",
  children: [
    { slug: "source-primitive", title: "Use the source primitive" },
    { slug: "agent-artifacts", title: "Generate agent artifacts" },
  ],
}

A page sets group: remote-source and lands in that nested slot. Only leaf groups (no children) directly contain pages; non-leaf groups are headings only.

Optional fields

The default lint schema also accepts:

Name	Type	Default	Description
`icon`	`string`	-	Icon name resolved by your sidebar component.
`status`	`"new" \| "updated" \| "experimental"`	-	Editorial page badge. Release channels belong in config or transformers.
`deprecated`	`string`	-	Deprecation message, such as "Use /docs/new-page instead.".
`date`	`string`	-	Stable publication date for feed entries, especially changelogs and release notes.
`tags`	`string[]`	-	Free-form tags for search facets.
`search`	`boolean`	-	Set false to exclude a page from public search and answer citations; set true to index an explicitly public shared route.
`variants`	`Array<{ value, label?, href, description? }>`	-	Same-topic equivalents across frameworks, SDKs, runtimes, or platforms.
`related`	`Array<{ title, href, description? }>`	-	See-also links for adjacent pages.
`full`	`boolean`	-	Layout hint for docs UIs that support full-width pages.

Use date when a page has a stable publication date, such as a changelog or release note included in an RSS/Atom feed. lastModified and lastAuthor are filled in automatically by leadtype generate when git metadata is available. Don't author them by hand.

Route segments named shared/ or _shared/ are treated as internal templates for search by default, including mounted sections such as changelog routes. Use search: true only when a shared page is intentionally public and should be searchable/citable on its own. Use search: false to keep any other page out of public search and answer citations while still generating its markdown mirror.

Use status only for the page's editorial state. Canary, RC, preview, and stable are release-channel concerns; model them with build config, deployment environment, or frontmatter transformers so the same source file can move from preview to stable without stale metadata.

Use deprecated only when you have a message to show. Empty strings fail lint because they usually mean a migration from the old boolean form was left unfinished.

Use collection include and exclude patterns for drafts or private pages. The default page schema does not include draft because authors expect that field to affect generated markdown, search, llms.txt, and AGENTS.md.

Lint rules

leadtype lint enforces the schema, so violations surface in CI before they reach a build. The relevant rules:

schema — a required field is missing or has the wrong type.
unknown-field — a top-level field isn't in the schema (warn by default; --error-unknown to fail).
parse-error — frontmatter or meta.json doesn't parse.
invalid-link — a /docs/... link points to a route that doesn't exist.
unresolved-placeholder — a doc URL still contains an unresolved {framework} placeholder.
cross-framework-link — a framework-scoped page links to another framework's docs.

See Lint rules for the full reference and how to extend the schema.

What this gives you

Once frontmatter and config are consistent, Leadtype keeps human and agent surfaces aligned:

navigation drives top-level docs areas, sidebar structure, llms.txt, AGENTS.md, sitemap markdown, and Agent Readability navigation.
group remains available for legacy navigation fallback, search facets, and broad taxonomy.
order remains available as fallback sorting for pages pulled in by include.