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Migrating MDX API pages to OpenAPI navigation

Migrate your manually written MDX API pages to automated OpenAPI-generated documentation with flexible navigation and endpoint grouping.

If you are currently using individual MDX pages for your API endpoints, you can migrate to autogenerating pages from your OpenAPI specification while retaining the customizability of individual pages. This can help you reduce the number of files you need to maintain and improve the consistency of your API documentation.

You can define metadata and content for each endpoint in your OpenAPI specification and organize endpoints where you want them in your navigation.

Migration steps

Section titled “Migration steps”

  1. Prepare your OpenAPI specification.

    Ensure your OpenAPI specification is valid and includes all endpoints you want to document.

    For any endpoints that you want to customize the metadata or content, add the x-mint extension to the endpoint. See x-mint extension for more details.

    For any endpoints that you want to exclude from your documentation, add the x-hidden extension to the endpoint.

  2. Update your navigation structure.

    Replace MDX page references with OpenAPI endpoints in your docs.json.

    JSON
    "navigation": {
  "groups": [
    {
      "group": "API Reference",
      "openapi": "/path/to/openapi.json",
      "pages": [
        "overview",
        "authentication",
        "introduction",
        "GET /health",
        "quickstart", 
        "POST /users",
        "GET /users/{id}",
        "advanced-features"
      ]
    }
  ]
}

  3. Remove old MDX files.

    After verifying your new navigation works correctly, remove the MDX endpoint files that you no longer need.

Section titled “Navigation patterns”

You can customize how your API documentation appears in your navigation.

Mixed content navigation

Section titled “Mixed content navigation”

Combine automatically generated API pages with other pages:

JSON
"navigation": {
  "groups": [
    {
      "group": "API Reference",
      "openapi": "openapi.json",
      "pages": [
        "api/overview",
        "GET /users",
        "POST /users", 
        "api/authentication"
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Multiple API versions

Section titled “Multiple API versions”

Organize different API versions using tabs or groups:

JSON
"navigation": {
  "tabs": [
    {
      "tab": "API v1",
      "openapi": "specs/v1.json"
    },
    {
      "tab": "API v2", 
      "openapi": "specs/v2.json"
    }
  ]
}

When to use individual MDX pages

Section titled “When to use individual MDX pages”

Consider keeping individual MDX pages when you need:

  • Extensive custom content per endpoint like React components or lengthy examples.
  • Unique page layouts.
  • Experimental documentation approaches for specific endpoints.

For most use cases, OpenAPI navigation provides better maintainability and consistency.

Section titled “Related topics”
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