APIDocs is an opinionated Gatsby theme for writing technical documentation, originally created by Carrot Search, and this repository is now deprecated in favor of the Eleventy-based @carrotsearch/eleventy-apidocs. The theme takes HTML-based content and builds it into a responsive static documentation site, with built-in search, code highlighting, and a dark/light color scheme.
What is the APIDocs Gatsby theme?
APIDocs is a Gatsby theme that generates static technical documentation websites from HTML content. It was part of the APIdocs toolchain, which has since been replaced by a new Eleventy implementation, @carrotsearch/eleventy-apidocs, available on GitHub and npm. The original theme remains available for inspection, but it is no longer actively maintained.
Key Features
- HTML-based content authoring — write documentation directly in HTML without a separate markup language or processing step.
- Responsive, mobile-friendly layout — the generated site automatically adapts to phones, tablets, and desktops.
- Dark and light color scheme — users can switch between two built-in color modes.
- HighlightJS code highlighting — syntax highlighting for code blocks is handled client-side by HighlightJS.
- Sublime-style client-side search — a local, fast search interface similar to Sublime Text's palette, with no server required.
- Medium.com-style image zooming — clicking an image expands it in an overlay, mimicking Medium's viewing experience.
- Near-100 Lighthouse score — the built static site scores close to 100 on Lighthouse audits, indicating strong performance and accessibility.
Who is it for?
Technical writers and documentation maintainers who need a clean, fast documentation site without designing one from scratch. API providers who want to publish reference documentation and developer tutorials with search and code examples. Developers already comfortable with the Gatsby and React ecosystem who prefer a pre-configured theme instead of assembling their own toolchain.
What can you do with the APIDocs Gatsby theme?
- Publish API reference docs — organize HTML pages into a searchable, responsive documentation site.
- Create product documentation hubs — present user guides with code highlighting, dark mode, and image zooming.
- Ship a high-performance docs site — the final static build targets a near-100 Lighthouse score, which benefits both SEO and user experience.
How does the theme work?
The main way to start was via the gatsby-starter-apidocs starter repository, which boots a new Gatsby site preconfigured with the theme. Docs content is written in HTML files; the theme handles the layout, navigation, search indexing, and code highlighting during the Gatsby build. Since the Gatsby version is deprecated, new projects should follow the documentation for @carrotsearch/eleventy-apidocs instead.
Is the APIDocs Gatsby theme deprecated?
Yes. The repository carries an explicit deprecation notice stating it is no longer maintained, and it directs users to @carrotsearch/eleventy-apidocs. The live replacement documentation is hosted at https://carrotsearch.github.io/eleventy-apidocs/ and the npm package is @carrotsearch/eleventy-apidocs.
