Documentation Guide

Welcome to the Open Library documentation guide. This document explains where to find documentation and how to contribute new content.

Contributing to Open Library Documentation

• Add a top-level heading to each document (for example, # Documentation Guide). This improves search and readability.
• Place files in the correct folder. The sidebar is generated from the documentation file structure, so location determines where content appears.
• Use index.md to label a section. The first heading in an index.md file becomes the sidebar label for its parent folder.
• Use kebab-case for file names. This improves search and readability.

Editing Documentation Locally

Use local editing when you need advanced features (such as embedded videos) or prefer not to edit in the web interface.

1. The Open Library wiki repository is automatically cloned to docs/wiki when you run docker compose up for the main Open Library repository. If you prefer to clone it separately, you can run: git clone https://github.com/internetarchive/openlibrary.wiki.git
2. Install pre-commit hooks: pre-commit install (see Pre-Commit Guide for details)
3. Install dependencies and start the documentation server: npm inpm run docs:dev
4. Test the changes in your browser: http://localhost:5173
5. Commit your changes: git commit -m "<your commit message>"

Note: Currently only people with commit access to the repository can make changes directly. This is a limitation of GitHub Wiki — there is no formal pull request flow. If you would like to propose changes to the documentation, the easiest way is to make your changes locally and then create a GitHub issue with the proposed changes and tag @RayBB.

Search for Documentation

When searching for information within Open Library's documentation, you have several options.

Here are examples for searching "solr":

Location	Description
Docs Site	Your starting point for documentation. Most guides and instructions are here.
Codebase	Markdown docs found directly in the source code.
GitHub Repository	Search PRs, Issues, Commits, etc to see how and why things were changed.
Internet Archive's GitHub org	Related repos: open-library-client, openlibrary-bots, openlibrary-librarians
Google Docs	Find community call notes, project briefs, and discussions.
OpenLibrary.org pages	OL homepage, help pages, etc.
blog.openlibrary.org	Announcements and big changes
Internet Archive videos	Watch tutorials and tours for a hands-on overview.
Slack	Search for archived discussions and troubleshooting tips.

Where to Contribute New Content

Criteria	Recommended Contribution Location
Content closely related to code or technical operations	Within the Open Library repository
Content focused on readers of Open Library (e.g. editions vs works)	openlibrary.org
Content related to onboarding and contributor workflows for this docs portal	Open Library wiki repository
Content that requires collaboration between multiple stakeholders	Google Docs