#Auto Navigation

Rspress Theme AIm uses Rspress's built-in auto-navigation feature to simplify document management, eliminating the need to manually maintain navigation configuration files.

#Overview

#Traditional Approach vs Auto Navigation

#Traditional Approach

Requires manual maintenance of two configuration files:

• _meta.json - Controls sidebar display order
• _nav.json - Controls top navigation details

Every time you add a new document:

1. Create the document file
2. Modify _meta.json to add the new entry
3. Modify _nav.json to add navigation links

#Auto Navigation Approach

Simply:

1. Create the document file with order frontmatter

All navigation and sidebars are generated automatically!

#How It Works

#1. Top Navigation

Configure top-level navigation items through _nav.json, only specifying navigation text and links:

[
  {
    "text": "Guide",
    "link": "/guide/"
  },
  {
    "text": "Blog",
    "link": "/blog/"
  }
]

#2. Sidebar Navigation

Rspress automatically scans all document files in the directory and sorts them based on the order frontmatter.

#How to Add a New Document

#Step 1: Create the Document File

Create a new Markdown file in the docs/en/guide/ directory, for example new-feature.md:

---
order: 13
---

# New Feature Description

Here is the detailed description of the new feature...

#Step 2: Done!

It's that simple! The new document will automatically appear in the sidebar, with its position determined by the order value.

#order Frontmatter Explained

#Purpose

order controls the display order of documents in the sidebar - smaller values appear first.

#Example

---
order: 1
---

# First Document

---
order: 2
---

# Second Document

#Sorting Rules

• Smaller values appear first
• Documents with the same order value are sorted alphabetically by filename
• Documents without order appear after those with order

#Best Practices

#1. Use Spaced Order Values

We recommend using spaced values like 10, 20, 30 to make it easier to insert new documents later:

---
order: 10
---

# Basic Configuration

---
order: 20
---

# Advanced Configuration

This way, if you need to insert a new document between these two, you can use order: 15.

#2. Maintain Consistency

Use the same order values for Chinese and English documents to ensure consistent sidebar structure.

#3. File Naming Conventions

Use lowercase letters and hyphens for file names:

• ✅ auto-navigation.md
• ✅ home-features.md
• ❌ AutoNavigation.md
• ❌ home_features.md

#Multi-language Support

#Chinese Documents

Location: docs/zh/guide/

---
order: 12
---

# 自动导航功能

#English Documents

Location: docs/en/guide/

---
order: 12
---

# Auto Navigation

#Frequently Asked Questions

#Q: Why doesn't my document appear in the sidebar?

A: Check the following:

1. Is the file in the correct directory?
2. Is the filename correct (using .md or .mdx extension)?
3. Is the frontmatter format correct?

#Q: How to hide a document?

A: Add hidden: true to the frontmatter:

---
order: 12
hidden: true
---

# Hidden Document

#Q: How to customize the document title?

A: Add title to the frontmatter:

---
order: 12
title: Custom Title
---

# Document Title

#Technical Details

#Auto Navigation Configuration

Enable auto navigation in rspress.config.ts:

export default defineConfig({
  themeConfig: {
    enableContentAnimation: true,
  },
});

#File Scanning Rules

Rspress automatically scans the following directories:

• docs/zh/ - Chinese documents
• docs/en/ - English documents

And automatically generates navigation and sidebars based on the directory structure.