Frontmatter

YAML frontmatter at the top of Markdown files defines page metadata.

Basic Format

---
title: Page Title
description: Brief description for SEO
---

# Page Content

Markdown content here...

Full Schema

---
# Required
title: Page Title

# Recommended
description: Brief page description for SEO and search
tags:
  - tag1
  - tag2

# Optional metadata
author: Author Name
date: 2025-01-15

# Navigation
menu_title: Short Title      # Override title in navigation
menu_order: 10               # Sort order (lower = earlier)
hidden: false                # Hide from navigation

# Stale warning
stale_warning: true          # Override site setting
stale_threshold_days: 730    # Override threshold for this page

# SEO overrides
seo:
  title: SEO Title Override
  description: SEO description override
  keywords:
    - keyword1
    - keyword2
  image: /images/og-image.png
  canonical: https://example.com/canonical-url
  noindex: false
  nofollow: false
---

Field Reference

Core Fields

Field	Type	Required	Description
title	string	Yes	Page title, used in navigation and <title>
description	string	No	Page description for SEO and search results
tags	[]string	No	Tags for categorization and search
author	string	No	Page author
date	string	No	Publication date (ISO 8601)

Navigation Fields

Field	Type	Default	Description
menu_title	string	title	Shorter title for navigation
menu_order	int	0	Sort order within section
hidden	bool	false	Hide from navigation

Stale Warning Fields

Field	Type	Default	Description
stale_warning	bool	site default	Enable/disable stale warning
stale_threshold_days	int	site default	Days before considered stale

SEO Fields

Field	Type	Description
seo.title	string	Override <title> tag
seo.description	string	Override meta description
seo.keywords	[]string	Meta keywords
seo.image	string	Open Graph image URL
seo.canonical	string	Canonical URL
seo.noindex	bool	Add noindex meta
seo.nofollow	bool	Add nofollow meta

Version Fields

Used when multi-version documentation is enabled.

Field	Type	Default	Description
versions	[]string	all	Versions this page appears in
since	string	-	Version where feature was introduced
deprecated_in	string	-	Version where feature was deprecated
removed_in	string	-	Version where feature was removed
version_note	string	-	Version to show special note for

Examples

Minimal Page

---
title: Quick Start
---

Documentation Page

---
title: API Authentication
description: How to authenticate with the API
tags:
  - api
  - authentication
  - security
author: API Team
---

Hidden Page

---
title: Internal Notes
description: Notes not shown in navigation
hidden: true
---

Custom Navigation Order

---
title: Introduction
menu_order: 1
---

---
title: Getting Started
menu_order: 2
---

---
title: Advanced Topics
menu_order: 99
---

SEO Optimized

---
title: MinimalDoc Documentation
description: Complete guide to MinimalDoc
seo:
  title: MinimalDoc - Static Site Generator for Docs
  description: Build beautiful documentation sites with MinimalDoc
  keywords:
    - documentation
    - static site generator
    - markdown
  image: /images/social-card.png
  canonical: https://minimaldoc.dev/docs
---

Stable Content (No Stale Warning)

---
title: License Agreement
description: Software license terms
stale_warning: false
---

Extended Threshold

---
title: Architecture Overview
description: System architecture that rarely changes
stale_threshold_days: 730
---

Version-Specific Page

---
title: New API Endpoint
description: Available in v2 and later
versions:
  - v2
  - v3
since: "v2.0"
---

Deprecated Feature

---
title: Legacy Authentication
description: Use OAuth2 instead
deprecated_in: "v2.0"
removed_in: "v3.0"
---

Date Formats

Supported date formats:

date: 2025-01-15
date: 2025-01-15T10:30:00Z
date: 2025-01-15T10:30:00+02:00

Validation

MinimalDoc validates frontmatter and reports errors:

Error: docs/page.md: missing required field 'title'
Error: docs/other.md: invalid date format '15/01/2025'

Missing optional fields use defaults silently.