4 min read
How to Build a Documentation Site with a Headless CMS
Documentation needs versioning, search, and code blocks. A headless CMS handles all three with API-driven delivery.
R
ruben
Docs vs Blog CMS
Documentation has different requirements than blog content: versioning by product release, sidebar navigation, code syntax highlighting, and search across all pages. A headless CMS can handle all of this if the content model is right.
Content Model
- Doc pages with parent/child hierarchy (for sidebar nav)
- Version field — Which product version this doc applies to
- Code blocks with language and copy button
- Callouts — Info, warning, danger, tip blocks
Search
Full-text search across all docs pages with weighted results (title matches rank higher than body matches). Postgres FTS handles this without external services.