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Index Pages

Every folder has a page at its URL, and the site has a start page at its root. Both are written in Markdown, in a file named index.md:

  • docs
    • index.mdthe start page, /
    • index.de.mdits German translation, /de
    • guides
      • index.mdthe page of the folder guides, /guides
      • index.de.mdits German translation, /de/guides

An index page is a page like any other, with a heading, text, links, code, alerts and components. Its front matter also names the folder, see folders.

#A list of pages and a large header

Two front matter fields lay out index pages:

Field Effect
list: true Lists the folder’s pages and subfolders below the text
hero: true Shows title, icon and description as a large, centered header above the text

The start page of this site uses hero:

---
title: Clay Documentation
icon: fa-solid fa-book-open
description: Turn a folder of Markdown files into a fast, searchable documentation website.
hero: true
---

Clay turns a folder of Markdown files into a documentation website …

With hero: true, leave out the # heading: the header shows the title already.

Tip

list shows every page of the folder, in the order of the sidebar, like on the guides of this site. To show a few chosen pages, with their icons and descriptions, use cards instead, like the other section pages do.

#Folders without an index page

A folder without an index.md, or one whose index.md has no text, gets a page made of its title, its icon and the list of its pages. The site works without any index.md; add them where a folder deserves an introduction.

Without docs/index.md, the start page shows the site title and a list of the top-level pages and folders.

A folder’s title in the sidebar opens its page; the arrow next to it shows and hides the pages in it. Breadcrumbs and links to a folder lead to its page too, and so do links to index.md:

[All guides](guides/index.md)
[All guides](guides/)

Links inside an index.md are relative to its folder, like on GitHub: in docs/guides/index.md, [Setup](setup.md) leads to docs/guides/setup.md.

Note

Folder pages appear in search results, and the previous and next links lead through them, before the pages of their folder.

Type to search all pages.