Smooth Doc is a ready-to-use documentation theme for Gatsby, letting developers spin up a docs site from an npm package without building the UI from scratch. It is a Gatsby theme, published on npm as smooth-doc, authored by Greg Bergé, and open sourced under the MIT License.
What is Smooth Doc?
Smooth Doc is a Gatsby theme that provides a complete documentation website layout out of the box. It takes a Gatsby site as its input and produces a docs site with the theme's default styling and page structure, so you only need to add your content. The theme is maintained by Greg Bergé, and its official documentation is hosted at smooth-doc.com. As of the repository metadata, the GitHub project has 256 stars.
Key Features
- Gatsby theme architecture — Smooth Doc is distributed as a Gatsby theme (the repo is tagged
gatsby-theme), so it plugs into a site'sgatsby-config.jsand can be composed with other themes. - One-line installation — The README shows
npm install smooth-doc gatsby react react-dom, which installs the theme and its required peer dependencies in a single command. - MIT License — The source is free to use under the MIT License, with copyright © 2020-present Greg Bergé.
- Official documentation — Full usage instructions live at smooth-doc.com, linked prominently from the repository.
- npm distribution — The theme is versioned and downloadable from npm, with the repository showing badges for the latest version and monthly downloads.
- Community traction — The GitHub repository has 256 stars, signaling adoption among Gatsby users.
Who is it for?
Smooth Doc is for developers who need a documentation site for a Gatsby project but don't want to build one from scratch. It suits open-source maintainers who want a consistent docs page, technical writers who need to publish guides and API references, and Gatsby developers who prefer using themes over starters. The "ready to use" positioning means you can go from empty project to a basic documentation site with minimal configuration.
What can you do with Smooth Doc?
- Open-source maintainers: publish project documentation by installing the theme and adding content files to the Gatsby site.
- Technical writers: produce a navigable documentation site with the theme's built-in layout instead of hand-coding components.
- Gatsby developers: use Smooth Doc as a foundation and extend it by overriding theme components or adding other Gatsby themes alongside it.
How does Smooth Doc work?
Install the package with npm, then follow the setup instructions on smooth-doc.com to add the theme to your Gatsby configuration. The theme generates the documentation pages and provides the UI, leaving you to write content in Gatsby's content pipeline (typically Markdown/MDX). This is the standard Gatsby theme workflow.
FAQ
Is Smooth Doc free?
Yes, Smooth Doc is free to use. It's open source under the MIT License, so you can use it in personal and commercial projects without paying a license fee.
What does Smooth Doc do?
Smooth Doc provides a ready-to-use documentation theme for Gatsby. It generates a documentation website from a Gatsby site configured to use the theme, eliminating the need to build navigation, styling, and page templates yourself.
How do I install Smooth Doc?
You install it with npm: npm install smooth-doc gatsby react react-dom. After that, you configure your Gatsby site to use the smooth-doc theme and follow the documentation for adding your own content.
Who makes Smooth Doc?
Smooth Doc is created by Greg Bergé, who holds the copyright as of 2020. The project is hosted on GitHub under a MIT License.
