# Docs contributor guide

The `docs/` directory is published at [docs.crewai.com](https://docs.crewai.com)
by [Mintlify](https://www.mintlify.com/). Mintlify watches `docs/docs.json`
and the MDX files referenced from it.

## TL;DR for editing docs

- Edit MDX under `docs/edge/<lang>/...` (e.g. `docs/edge/en/concepts/agents.mdx`).
- Your change ships under the **Edge** version selector the moment it merges
  to `main`. Edge follows `main` and is the channel for unreleased work.
- On release cut, the current Edge state is frozen into `docs/v<X.Y.Z>/` and
  that snapshot becomes the new default version in the selector (tag:
  `Latest`). Canonical URLs (`/<lang>/...`) auto-redirect to the new default.
- Never modify files under `docs/v*/`. Those are frozen release snapshots
  and the `docs-snapshots` CI guard rejects writes. The only exception is a
  release-cut PR (auto-generated by `devtools release` or the manual
  `scripts/docs/freeze_current_edge.py` wrapper), which uses a
  `[docs-freeze]` title prefix to opt out.
- Never delete or rename files under `docs/images/`. Images are append-only.
  See [Images](#images) below.

## The version model

The site has one rolling channel (Edge) plus one frozen snapshot per
release.

```
docs/
  edge/                  <-- Edge sources (you edit here)
    en/...
    pt-BR/  ko/  ar/
    enterprise-api.*.yaml

  v1.14.7/               <-- frozen snapshot of v1.14.7
    en/...
    pt-BR/  ko/  ar/
    enterprise-api.*.yaml
  v1.14.6/...
  ...

  images/                <-- shared, append-only
  docs.json              <-- Mintlify config: navigation + redirects
```

`docs/docs.json` lists one navigation block per version per language. Edge
points at `docs/edge/<lang>/...`; every other version points at its own
`docs/v<X.Y.Z>/<lang>/...` subtree. Mintlify scopes both the sidebar and the
in-site search to whichever version the reader selects, so picking
`v1.10.0` genuinely shows the v1.10.0 docs (and only those).

### URLs and canonical redirects

Each Mintlify version corresponds to its own URL prefix:

- Edge: `/edge/<lang>/<page>` (e.g. `/edge/en/concepts/agents`)
- Frozen: `/v<X.Y.Z>/<lang>/<page>` (e.g. `/v1.14.7/en/concepts/agents`)

External links to the old, unversioned `/<lang>/<page>` URLs would 404 under
this layout. To keep them working, `docs.json` ships wildcard redirects:

```jsonc
{ "source": "/en/:slug*", "destination": "/v1.14.7/en/:slug*", "permanent": false }
```

The release-cut step rewrites the destination on every release so canonical
`/<lang>/...` URLs always resolve to the latest stable docs.

## Lifecycle

1. **During development.** You add or edit pages under
   `docs/edge/<lang>/...` in normal PRs. They land in Edge as soon as the PR
   merges. Both `/edge/<lang>/<page>` and the version selector's `Edge` entry
   reflect the change immediately.
2. **Release cut.** The release engineer runs `devtools release X.Y.Z`. As
   part of that flow the CLI opens a `[docs-freeze]` PR that copies Edge into
   `docs/v<X.Y.Z>/`, rewrites internal OpenAPI references, updates
   `docs/docs.json` to make `v<X.Y.Z>` the new default + `Latest`, and rewires
   the canonical-URL redirects to the new default. The PR must merge before
   the tag and PyPI publish run.
3. **After release.** Edge keeps rolling. Patch fixes to the just-released
   docs go into Edge and ship with the next release. We do not back-edit
   frozen snapshots.

See [`RELEASING.md`](RELEASING.md) for the full release runbook.

## Images

Snapshots share a single `docs/images/` directory. If an image is deleted
or renamed, every frozen snapshot that referenced it breaks. So the rule
is:

- Adding new images is always fine.
- Deleting or renaming an existing image fails CI unless the PR is a
  `[docs-freeze]` release-cut PR.
- If an asset is wrong, add a new file with a new name and reference the
  new name in the Edge MDX (`docs/edge/<lang>/...`). Leave the old file
  alone.

## Local preview

Install the Mintlify CLI and run from `docs/`:

```bash
npm i -g mintlify
mintlify dev
```

Use the version selector at the top of the rendered page to switch between
Edge and frozen versions.

To check links across every version:

```bash
mintlify broken-links
```

CI runs the broken-links check on every PR that touches `docs/**` via
[`.github/workflows/docs-broken-links.yml`](.github/workflows/docs-broken-links.yml).

## Scripts

- `scripts/docs/freeze_historical_versions.py` — one-time migration that
  reconstructed `docs/v1.10.0/` through `docs/v1.14.7/` from git tags. You
  should not need to run this again.
- `scripts/docs/prefix_version_paths.py` — one-time migration that switched
  `docs/docs.json` to directory-based versioning, inserted Edge, and added
  the canonical-URL redirects. You should not need to run this again.
- `scripts/docs/freeze_current_edge.py` — thin CLI wrapper around
  `crewai_devtools.docs_versioning.freeze`. `devtools release` calls the
  same module during its docs PR step; this script is the manual escape
  hatch (e.g. retroactively freezing a forgotten release).

## CI guards

- [`.github/workflows/docs-snapshots.yml`](.github/workflows/docs-snapshots.yml)
  enforces the two rules above (frozen snapshots immutable, images
  append-only). Both checks accept the `[docs-freeze]` PR-title escape
  hatch.
- [`.github/workflows/docs-broken-links.yml`](.github/workflows/docs-broken-links.yml)
  runs `mintlify broken-links` against the whole site, so adding a new
  page or moving a snapshot file that breaks a link will fail CI.