CircleCI Docs
CircleCI Docs is the open-source technical documentation project behind the CircleCI documentation site, built with Antora and AsciiDoc.
What is CircleCI Docs?
It is a static site generator–based documentation platform that consumes AsciiDoc content organized into components and produces a deployed static documentation site. The project is maintained by CircleCI, with contribution guidelines published in CONTRIBUTING.md, and is publicly available on GitHub at github.com/circleci/circleci-docs. It powers both the user documentation and the integrated API reference, the latter built with Redocly.
What makes CircleCI Docs stand out?
- Component-based architecture — Organizes documentation into logical, versionable components instead of a single monolithic tree, following Antora's content model.
- AsciiDoc authoring — All pages are written in AsciiDoc, which supports structured elements like tables, callouts, and includes for reuse.
- Custom UI — Replaces the default Antora UI with a tailored presentation built with modern web technologies.
- Automated build pipeline — Uses CircleCI itself for building and previewing the site; contributors can preview changes via the CircleCI build assets at app.circleci.com/pipelines/github/circleci/circleci-docs.
- Bundled API documentation — API reference is generated with Redocly and built as part of the same docs site.
- Hacktoberfest-friendly — The repository is tagged with hacktoberfest, inviting community contributions during Hacktoberfest season.
Who should use CircleCI Docs?
- Documentation contributors — Anyone wanting to fix a typo or add a guide: clone the repo, run
npm ci, start the dev server withnpm run start:dev, create a branch, and submit a pull request. - CircleCI content authors — Writers who create or edit documentation, following the AsciiDoc formatting guidelines and the CircleCI docs style guide linked from the README.
- Documentation infrastructure engineers — Developers who maintain the Antora UI, component structure, or build pipeline, using ARCHITECTURE.md, DEVELOPMENT.md, and TECHNICAL_REFERENCE.md as guides.
What can you do with CircleCI Docs?
- Community contributors: add or correct documentation content and preview the result locally before submitting a PR.
- Content authors: check whether content already exists, follow the style guide, and test changes locally before publishing.
- API documentation maintainers: integrate and update API reference docs through the Redocly-based API docs integration described in API_DOCS_INTEGRATION.md.
