Mintlify reference

Reference for working on Mintlify projects. This file covers essentials that apply to every task. For detailed reference on specific topics, read the files listed in the reference index below.

Reference index

Read these only when your task requires them. Each links to a Mintlify documentation page or, for agent workflow guidance, the source file on GitHub.

Starting a new docs site

If the user wants a new docs site, wants to publish docs, or has no docs.json yet, run this workflow yourself. Ask the user only for information or approvals you cannot supply. Do not send them to a browser-first quickstart when you can run terminal commands.

1. Check node --version (v20.17.0 or newer). Run mint --version; if missing, install with npm i -g mint. If it's installed, run mint update.
2. Run mint status. If it shows an organization, use the existing account. Otherwise, ask whether the user has a Mintlify account. If they do, run mint login. If not, ask for first name, last name, company, and email and run mint signup --firstName <first> --lastName <last> --company <company> --email <email> as a background process. It waits for email verification. Tell the user to click the verification link and finish onboarding in the browser. Never invent signup details.
3. After verification and onboarding, run mint status again to confirm an organization and subdomain. If no subdomain appears, ask the user to finish selecting or connecting a GitHub repository in the onboarding browser tab, then retry.
4. Unless you're already working in it, ask the user for the URL of the connected repository (mint status doesn't show it) and clone it. If the user connected their own docs repository, preserve its content, and add a docs.json if it has none. If Mintlify created the repository, it contains starter content; replace that with the user's existing Markdown docs instead of writing placeholder pages. Use mint new <directory> --name <name> --theme <theme> only if the user wants a different theme than the starter, and scaffold into a new, empty directory. Never use --force on a directory with user files.
5. Run mint dev --no-open as a background process from the directory containing docs.json. Report the local URL so the user can preview. Run mint validate and mint broken-links and fix issues you caused.
6. Commit and push to the connected repository to deploy.
7. Verify that https://<subdomain>.mintlify.site loads before you report the URL.

The user only needs the browser for email verification, OAuth approval, and connecting GitHub.

No local repository

When you have no local checkout and no CLI (for example, editing through the Mintlify Admin MCP server or inside the Mintlify editor), skip the mint, git and file-system steps in this skill:

• Read and change pages, navigation and docs.json with the Admin MCP tools on a branch.
• Create pages with create_node; write_page only replaces an existing page.
• Preview with the editorUrl the tools return instead of mint dev. Validation runs on every write, so fix any error a write returns instead of running mint validate.
• Publish with publish instead of pushing, and only when the user asks.
• Keep the product brief from Product context in the conversation instead of writing .mintlify/product-brief.md.
• For a new site, follow Site building against the existing project.

Migrating from another platform

For Docusaurus, GitBook, ReadMe, Fern, or Document360, follow the matching guide at https://mintlify.com/docs/migration/<platform> (for example docusaurus), using the Mintlify Search MCP server to read it. For any other platform, follow https://mintlify.com/docs/migration/manual. The scraper only handles simple public sites. Complex sites migrate from source files. Porting rules are in Site building.

MCP servers

Two Mintlify MCP servers are available. Use them alongside the reference files in this skill.

Mintlify Search

Read-only access to Mintlify's published documentation. Use it when the reference files don't cover a specific detail, when you need an up-to-date component signature, or to verify an unfamiliar config option.

Tools:

• search_mintlify — Search the Mintlify knowledge base by query. Good for finding guides, examples, and API references.
• query_docs_filesystem_mintlify — Browse the docs file tree (ls, cat, grep, find, etc.). Good for reading a specific docs page.
• submit_feedback — Report a docs page that is incorrect, outdated, confusing, or incomplete. The path (relative path or full URL) must match a published page or a redirect source; otherwise the tool returns an error and records nothing.

Mintlify Admin

Write access to a Mintlify project. Requires OAuth on first use. Complete authentication in the browser when prompted.

Use this server when the user wants to edit their Mintlify content, restructure navigation, or open a pull request. Every content tool takes a branch argument: required on edits, publish, discard and comment writes, optional on reads (defaults to the deploy branch). Nothing is remembered between calls, so pass branch every time. Edits on the deploy branch land as unpublished changes until you call publish. Edits on any other branch go through a pull request. Project management tool changes apply immediately to the live project without a branch or pull request.

Workflow: use read/search/edit_page/write_page/list_nodes/create_node/update_node/move_node/delete_node/update_config with a branch to make changes, then call publish with the branch and a title to publish (or discard to abandon). Pass the deploy branch to edit it directly. If the project requires a pull request (Push directly to your deploy branch is off, branch protection requires pull requests, deploy branch editing is locked, or the connection uses a client or machine-to-machine token), edits to the deploy branch are refused with the reason and change nothing. Call create_branch and pass its branchName as branch instead.

Key tools:

• create_branch — Start a new branch off the deploy branch with a title that also names its pull request. Returns branchName and a branch-level editorUrl to preview changes live. On a branch, Mintlify commits edits automatically about 15 seconds after the last change, and the first commit opens a pull request.
• list_branches — List existing branches; pass any of them as branch. Branches that don't exist are refused.
• list_deployments — Discover which project(s) this connection can access.
• read / search — Fetch a page's MDX or search across pages.
• edit_page / write_page: Apply targeted edits or overwrite a page. edit_page takes oldString and newString for one replacement, or an edits list of up to 100 replacements applied in order; if any edit fails, none apply. Both return notRendered for markup the editor drops (such as <script>, <style>, event handlers or JavaScript expressions), with what to use instead.
• read_comments / add_comment / suggest_edit / reply_to_comment / resolve_comment: Read open editor comment threads on a page, start a thread on exact text, propose a tracked-changes suggestion (oldString to newString; an empty newString suggests a deletion; an optional comment explains why and is posted as the agent's reply in the suggestion thread) that someone accepts or rejects in the editor, reply as the agent, or resolve threads. Adding, suggesting, replying and resolving require an OAuth session and act on the threads of branch; they work on the deploy branch even when edits to it require a pull request.
• list_nodes / create_node / update_node / move_node / delete_node: Manage the navigation tree. If a create_node, update_node, move_node, or delete_node call leaves the navigation invalid (for example, a page at the root next to tabs), the response includes a navigationErrors field. Fix these errors before publish, because Mintlify can drop invalid nodes from the published navigation. If a page already exists at the path on branch, create_node writes the new content into it, keeps its navigation position, and returns updated: true.
• update_config — Modify docs.json (theme, nav roots, integrations, SEO).
• upload_image / finalize_image_upload — Add a local image to branch. Call upload_image with the destination path (for example, images/dashboard.png), contentType, and exact size in bytes. PUT the file bytes to the returned uploadUrl with the returned headers, then call finalize_image_upload with the uploadId and the same path. Use the returned src in MDX or in the docs.json logo or favicon fields. Uploading to an existing path replaces the image. Mintlify only accepts SVGs for logos and favicons, so pass purpose: "logo" to both tools. Images publish with your other edits on publish.
• Project management tools — Read with get_deployment_settings, get_analytics_report, get_workflows, and list_repos_and_prs. Write with update_deployment_settings, manage_custom_domain, manage_git_source, manage_access_auth, manage_workflow, and manage_members_sharing. Pass subdomain (required on org-wide connections; read tools also accept subdomains, up to 25) and a request object whose action (or report) selects the operation. Writes apply immediately to the live project and return the updated state, so confirm the intended change first.

Private pages: list_nodes accepts visibility: "private" to list the private pages and folders the OAuth user can access (ignores other filters, returns each node's role). read, edit_page, write_page, update_node, and delete_node accept private-page-<uuid> or private-folder-<uuid> node ids; create_node accepts visibility: "private" with data.type: "page" or "group". Private-page operations require an OAuth session (the admin MCP rejects client and machine-to-machine tokens), need no branch, and enforce role requirements: read for reads, editor or higher for writes and updates, manager for deletes. The caller becomes the manager of any node they create.

• diff — See all changes on branch relative to the deploy branch.
• status — List unpublished edited files, docs.json keys and nav changes on branch. On the deploy branch, lists only your changes.
• publish — Publish branch with a title. Call it only when the user asks to publish, ship, or merge, never on your own after an edit. On the deploy branch, commits only your pending changes. On a branch, commits anything pending and returns the branch's pull request, opening one if none exists. Pass merge: true to also merge that pull request, only when the user asks and deploy-branch edits are allowed; otherwise it returns merge_not_allowed and leaves the pull request open. publish ignores mode. Returns no_pending_changes when there is nothing to commit and no pull request. The response includes an editorUrl that opens the first created or updated page. When the changes reach the deploy branch, it also returns a commitSha and a deployment object.
• deployment_status — Check whether published changes are live. Pass the commitSha from publish, or omit it for the latest deploy. Returns a state (pending, queued, building, live, not_live, failed, or skipped), a live boolean, and a message. Changes aren't live until live is true. Check again about every 30 seconds, and report the message if the state is failed, not_live (the site still serves an earlier version), or skipped.
• discard — On the deploy branch, reverts only your pending changes. On another branch, deletes the branch and closes its pull request, but only if you created it; otherwise changes nothing.

Keep each branch focused on one change. Smaller branches produce easier-to-review PRs. Open the editorUrl to watch changes render live. Prefer the page-level editorUrl from create_node or publish over the one from create_branch.

Before you start

Mintlify changes often, so don't rely on what you remember about it. When a detail isn't in this skill, check the current documentation with the Mintlify Search MCP server or at https://mintlify.com/docs.

Before substantial content work, read Product context and check for .mintlify/product-brief.md.

Read the project's docs.json file first. It defines the site's navigation, theme, colors, and configuration.

For appearance or browser behavior changes, read Custom scripts.

Search for existing content before creating new pages. You may need to update an existing page, add a section, or link to existing content rather than duplicating.

Read 2-3 similar pages to match the site's voice, structure, and formatting.

File format

Mintlify uses MDX files (.mdx or .md) with YAML frontmatter.

project/
├── docs.json           # Site configuration (required)
├── index.mdx
├── quickstart.mdx
├── guides/
│   └── example.mdx
├── openapi.yml         # API specification (optional)
├── images/             # Static assets
│   └── example.png
└── snippets/           # Reusable components
    └── component.jsx

File naming

• Match existing patterns in the directory
• If no existing files or mixed file naming patterns, use kebab-case: getting-started.mdx
• Add new pages to docs.json navigation or they won't appear in the sidebar

Internal links

• Use root-relative paths without file extensions: /getting-started/quickstart
• Do not use relative paths (../) or absolute URLs for internal pages

Images

Store images in an images/ directory. Reference with root-relative paths. All images require descriptive alt text.

Mintlify automatically optimizes images stored in the repository and referenced with root-relative paths: it serves AVIF or WebP when supported, compresses them, generates resized versions up to 2500px wide, and adds width and height. Don't convert or resize these images yourself. GIFs, SVG and ICO files, images referenced by absolute URL, and images on authenticated pages are served unoptimized, so compress GIFs and externally hosted images before adding them.

![Dashboard showing analytics overview](/images/dashboard.png)

Page frontmatter

Include title, description, and keywords in frontmatter. title is technically optional (Mintlify generates one from the file path if omitted), but set it explicitly for clarity and SEO.

---
title: "Clear, descriptive title"
description: "Concise summary for SEO and navigation."
keywords: ["relevant", "search", "terms"]
---

Common frontmatter fields

For the complete list including searchable, boost, deprecated, related, groups, and more, read Pages.

Quick component reference

Below are the most commonly used components. For full props and all 26 components, read Components.

Callouts

<Note>Supplementary information, safe to skip.</Note>
<Info>Helpful context such as permissions or prerequisites.</Info>
<Tip>Recommendations or best practices.</Tip>
<Warning>Potentially destructive actions or important caveats.</Warning>
<Check>Success confirmation or completed status.</Check>
<Danger>Critical warnings about data loss or breaking changes.</Danger>

Steps

<Steps>
  <Step title="First step">
    Instructions for step one.
  </Step>
  <Step title="Second step">
    Instructions for step two.
  </Step>
</Steps>

Tabs and code groups

<Tabs>
  <Tab title="npm">
    ```bash
    npm install package-name
    ```
  </Tab>
  <Tab title="yarn">
    ```bash
    yarn add package-name
    ```
  </Tab>
</Tabs>

<CodeGroup>

```javascript example.js
const greeting = "Hello, world!";
```

```python example.py
greeting = "Hello, world!"
```

</CodeGroup>

Cards and columns

<Columns cols={2}>
  <Card title="First card" icon="rocket" href="/quickstart">
    Card description text.
  </Card>
  <Card title="Second card" icon="book" href="/guides">
    Card description text.
  </Card>
</Columns>

Use <Columns> to arrange cards (or other content) in a grid. cols accepts 1-4.

Accordions

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="First section">Content one.</Accordion>
  <Accordion title="Second section">Content two.</Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

CLI commands

Install with npm i -g mint. Key commands: mint dev (local preview), mint validate, mint broken-links, mint a11y, mint score, mint analytics (traffic, search, feedback, and assistant conversations; Pro and Enterprise plans), mint new, mint signup. Read CLI commands for full flags and subcommands.

Writing standards

• Second-person voice ("you").
• Active voice, direct language.
• Sentence case for headings ("Getting started", not "Getting Started").
• Sentence case for code block titles.
• All code blocks must have language tags.
• All images must have descriptive alt text.
• No marketing language, filler phrases, or emoji.
• Keep code examples simple, practical, and tested.

Common mistakes

• Using mint.json — it is deprecated. The config file is always docs.json.
• Missing language tag on a code block (use ```python, not ```).
• Using relative paths (../page) instead of root-relative (/section/page).
• Forgetting to add new pages to docs.json navigation.
• Images without alt text.
• Adding file extensions to internal links (/page.mdx instead of /page).