Greenboard

Greenboard is an open-source Gatsby theme for generating static API documentation sites from a single Markdown file.

What is Greenboard?

Greenboard is a Gatsby theme that consumes a Markdown file at data/index.html.md and produces a static documentation website. It runs on Gatsby, so the output is a set of pre-rendered HTML files that can be deployed to any static host. The theme follows the same document structure as Slate docs, which makes it a direct alternative for teams already using Slate's Markdown format. The project is published on npm as gatsby-greenboard and was created by shamin.

Key Features

• Markdown to static site — Write your API docs in a single data/index.html.md file and Greenboard builds the entire static site from it.
• Dark Mode — The template includes dark mode support out of the box.
• Slate-compatible structure — Because it uses Slate's document structure, existing Slate content can be reused without rewriting.
• Gatsby and React ecosystem — Inherits Gatsby's build pipeline and React's component model, enabling deep customization.
• Fully customizable — Fork the repository to modify the theme's React components and styling to match your brand.
• Path prefix support — You can deploy the docs to a non-root path like /docs by adding pathPrefix to your Gatsby config.
• Example included — The repository contains an example site under example/ that you can run locally with yarn workspace example develop.

Who is it for?

• API developers — Use Greenboard to publish clean API reference documentation quickly from Markdown without designing a site from scratch.
• Open-source maintainers — Maintainers who want a lightweight docs site that can be built and deployed with Gatsby's tooling.
• Teams using Slate — Teams already writing docs in Slate's Markdown format can switch to Greenboard and keep the same content structure.

What can you do with Greenboard?

• Create API docs from Markdown — Write your documentation in data/index.html.md and run yarn gatsby develop to preview it locally.
• Customize the theme — Fork the repo, clone it, and edit the React components to change navigation, layout, and branding.
• Deploy anywhere — Build with yarn gatsby build and serve the resulting static files on GitHub Pages, Netlify, or any other static host.

How does Greenboard work?

1. Install dependencies with yarn add gatsby react react-dom and add gatsby-greenboard as a plugin in gatsby-config.js.
2. Create your API documentation at data/index.html.md.
3. Run yarn gatsby develop for development or yarn gatsby build to generate production files.

FAQ

Does Greenboard require Gatsby knowledge?

Greenboard is a Gatsby theme, so basic usage only requires running Gatsby commands. Deep customization, such as changing components or styling, requires familiarity with Gatsby and React.

Can I deploy Greenboard to a sub-path?

Yes. Add pathPrefix: "/docs" to your gatsby-config.js before building. Gatsby will output the site so it works under that sub-path, which is useful for project documentation hosted on GitHub Pages.

Is Greenboard free?

The Greenboard source code is public on GitHub and the npm package is installable without a license fee. You can use it for your own documentation and modify it for your needs.

Where can I get help?

The README lists an email address ([email protected]) for support questions. You can also open issues on the GitHub repository.