ir-docs

Unified documentation for Infinite Red open source projects.

ir-docs is a single instance of Docusaurus that fetches and builds the /docs folder from all of the major open source libraries under the infinitered organization and serves them up under docs.infinite.red/<project>.

For example, Gluegun's docs live at https://github.com/infinitered/gluegun/tree/master/docs. When new docs are pushed to master, Gluegun's Circle CI triggers a build action that then prompts ir-docs to publish those docs at docs.infinite.red/gluegun.

Caution

DO NOT EDIT THE ./docs DIRECTORY IN THIS REPOSITORY!

Edits to documentation for a particular project should be made in that project's repository!

Changes in source repos will be automatically pushed to this repository by the CI/CD process and may destructively overwrite any changes made here.

Table of Contents

• ir-docs
  • Table of Contents
  • Testing Docs Locally
  • Preparing your project for ir-docs
  • The Orb: infinitered/publish-docs
    • The ir-docs Publishing Process
    • How the orb works
  • Previewing your Changes
  • Handling Static Files
    • Directory Structure Before and After Merge
      • Before Merge:
      • After Merge:
  • Refreshing the credentials for the CircleCI User
    • A. Checking permissions for the CircleCI bot:
    • B. Re-Authing the CircleCI bot

Testing Docs Locally

To see how your docs will look on docs.infinite.red before publishing them, you can preview locally using symlinks:

1. Clone a copy of the ir-docs repo to your machine

git clone git@github.com:infinitered/ir-docs.git ~/ir-docs

2. Use the symlink script to link your projects docs folder into the ir-docs/docs folder.

yarn symlink add [project_name] [path_to_directory]

For instance to link the ignite docs you might do yarn symlink add ignite-cli ../ignite/docs.

This will:

1. Backup the contents of ./docs/ignite-cli to ./tmp/symlink/ignite-cli
2. Create a symlink at ./docs/ignite-cli that points to ../ignite/docs
3. Create a _category.json_ file in ./docs/ignite-cli with the correct project name

Note

Remember not to commit any changes to the ./docs folder manually.

3, Run the docusaurus dev server

cd ~/ir-docs
yarn start

The preview should open automatically at http://localhost:3000

4. Edit your project's docs in place and the changes should hot reload in the browser!

5. Restore the original folder You can use the restore script to remove the symlink and restore the original files:

     yarn symlink remove [project-name]

Preparing your project for ir-docs

To prepare your project for ir-docs you'll need to do the following:

1. Create a directory to hold the documentation in your project. We recommend ./docs
2. Add documentation to that directory.
   • Use docusaurus syntax for your documentation -- mostly Markdown, some MDX is ok.
   • Only use relative links in your project's documentation. For example: ../reference/filesystem.md rather than the full URL or the basename /reference/*.
   • Avoid defining slugs in your markdown files, unless absolutely necessary. (If you must use them, use your projects name as a prefix to avoid collisions.)
3. Add the orb to your project's .circleci/config.yml file and call either the build or publish job from your workflow.
   • You need to add a user key to the CircleCI project settings. (Use the CI User Account.)

The Orb: infinitered/publish-docs

The infinitered/publish-docs orb is used to build and publish documentation for Infinite Red open source projects.

It is available in the CircleCI Orb Registry.

See below for how to configure it on CircleCI. You will have to enable third-party orbs on your organization if you haven't yet. Go to https://app.circleci.com/settings/organization/github/<yourorganization>/security to do that.

The ir-docs Publishing Process

Imagine we have a repository that publishes docs to ir-docs. That repo is called open-source-sesame.

1. A contributor makes a change to the documentation in open-source-sesame and opens a PR.
2. A maintainer approves the changes and merges them into main.
3. When it's time for a release, the maintainer creates a PR to bump the version number and tags the commit v1.2.3
4. The CI script in open-source-sesame sees a tagged commit and runs using the infinitered/publish-docs orb.
5. The orb automatically copies the changed documentation from open-source-sesame into ir-docs commits and pushes a new commit.
6. The CI script in ir-docs rebuilds the new docusaurus site with the updated docs and pushes it to the gh-pages branch.
7. Github publishes the changes to the web.

How the orb works

This is a high-level summary. For full, up-to-date information on the orb and its parameters check the orb registry.

Imagine we have a project open-source-sesame with the following config:

version: '2.1'
orbs:
  publish-docs: infinitered/publish-docs@x.y.z
  
# Docker defaults
defaults: &defaults
  docker:
    - image: cimg/node:18.16.1
  working_directory: /mnt/ramdisk/repo  
  
workflows:
  publish_to_docs_site:
    jobs:
      # This job builds the docs and publishes them to the specified site
      - publish-docs/publish_docs:
          <<: *defaults
          description: >-
            An example open source project.
          git_email: your.ci@email.here
          git_username: Your CI Username
          label: Open Source Sesame
          project_name: open-source-sesame
          source_docs_dir: docs         # path from the source project root where docs are kept
          source_repo_directory: source # directory where the source repo is cloned
          target_docs_dir: docs         # path from the target project root where docs are kept
          target_repo: git@github.com:infinitered/ir-docs.git # must use SSH
          target_repo_directory: ir-docs   # directory where the target repo is cloned
          # These filters ensure this only runs on commits to the main branch that are tagged with a version
          filters:
            branches:
              only:
                - main
            tags:
              only:
                - '*v[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+'

1. Checkout both repos

   • Clone the source repo into ~/source/.
   • Clone git@github.com:infinitered/ir-docs.git into ~/ir-docs/.

2. Copy docs

   • Verify documents exist in ~/source/docs.
   • Copy documents from ~/source/docs to ~/ir-docs/ir-docs/open-source-sesame.
   • Move any content from ~/ir-docs/ir-docs/open-source-sesame/_static_ to ~/ir-docs/static/open-source-sesame
   • Create ~/ir-docs/ir-docs/open-source-sesame/_category_.json with information specified above.

3. Build the docs

   • Install dependencies in ~/ir-docs/
   • Run Docusaurus build in ~/ir-docs/ to check for broken links etc.

4. Commit and push

   • Construct a commit message from the source repo.
   • Add ir-docs and static to git.
   • Commit with the constructed message.
   • Push to the main branch of git@github.com:infinitered/ir-docs.git.

Previewing your Changes

To preview your changes while you work:

1. Clone the ir-docs repo.
2. Create a simlink of your projects docs in the docs folder of the ir-docs repo.
3. Run yarn start in the ir-docs repo.

Handling Static Files

In your source repository, static files such as images should be placed in a directory named static under your docs folder. The directory structure will look like this when you run the tree command:

docs/
├── part-one.md
├── part-two.md
└── _static_
└── image.png

During the documentation merge process, the orb will automatically move the contents of static to the appropriate location in the target repository.

Directory Structure Before and After Merge

Before Merge:

source-repo/
└── docs/
│ ├── part-one.md
│ └── part-two.md
└── _static_/
    └── image.png

After Merge:

ir-docs/
├── docs/
│ └── <<project-name>>
│ ├── part-one.md
│ └── part-two.md
└── static/
    └── <<project-name>>
    └── image.png

By following this convention, you ensure that all static files and documents are correctly placed in the target repository, under docs/<> for documents and static/<> for static files.

Refreshing the credentials for the CircleCI User

For all of this to work, the circle CI user account needs to have:

• READ access to the Source Repo (e.g. ignite, reactotron, etc.), AND
• WRITE access to ir-docs

Note

If you see errors related to credentials, it's likely that one of these permissions has expired.

Tip

• If a pull fails then it's probably the source repo that needs to be re-authed.
• If a push fails then it's probably ir-docs that needs to be re-authed.

A. Checking permissions for the CircleCI bot:

1. Browse to the settings page for the repo that has the issue
2. Open the Collaborations & Teams page
3. Under Manage Access check that the Circle CI Bot has the correct role:
   • Source repo: at least Read
   • ir-docs: Write
4. Browse to the settings page for the ir-docs repo
5. Open the Collaborations & Teams page
6. Check that the CircleCI bot has write access to the ir-docs repo

Note

The source repo may have other CI tasks that require the bot to have a higher level of access. Please verify the requirements before making changes.

Tip

At the time of writing, the circleCI bot appears as Infinite Red CircleCI User

B. Re-Authing the CircleCI bot

1. (optional) Open an incognito tab
2. Sign in to circle CI using Github authentication
   • use the ci@infinite.red user account (password in the IR 1Password vault)
3. Browse to the ignite project and open project settings
4. Under “SSH keys” delete the “User Key”
5. Add a new user key (will add the ci@infinite.red credential to the project)
   • You will be asked to re-auth here — use the ci@infinite.red credentials
   • After you sign in It’ll kick you back to the top of the menu
   • Browse back to SSH keys -> Add user key and click the button again
6. Congratulations, you have completed the task! 🍾🎉