Explainer

Meta JSON & Sidebar

The sidebar is auto-generated from your file and directory structure. You can customize it using _meta.json files placed in any directory.

_meta.json schema

_meta.json
{
  "title": "My Section",
  "icon": "book-open",
  "order": 2,
  "type": "group"
}
FieldTypeDescription
titlestringDisplay name in the sidebar (overrides the directory name)
iconstringIconify icon identifier shown next to the title
ordernumberPosition in the sidebar among siblings. Lower numbers appear first
type"group" | "category"Controls how the section renders in the sidebar

Project-level _meta.json

Each project directory has its own _meta.json that defines the project name and icon for the project switcher:

explainer/_meta.json
{
  "icon": "book-open",
  "title": "Explainer"
}

Group vs Category

The type field controls how a directory renders in the sidebar:

Group

A group is a visual section separator. Its children are always visible — there is no collapsible toggle.

features/_meta.json
{
  "title": "Features",
  "icon": "sparkles",
  "order": 6,
  "type": "group"
}

Category

A category is a collapsible section. Clicking the title expands or collapses the child pages.

packages/_meta.json
{
  "title": "Packages",
  "icon": "package",
  "order": 9
}

When type is omitted, the section behaves as a category (collapsible) by default.

Ordering behavior

Sidebar items are sorted by the order field. Items without an order are sorted alphabetically after ordered items.

For pages, order is set in frontmatter. For directories, order is set in _meta.json.

features/
  _meta.json          → order: 6
  multi-project.mdx   → order: 1  (frontmatter)
  versioning.mdx      → order: 2  (frontmatter)
  search.mdx          → order: 4  (frontmatter)

This produces a sidebar with “Features” at position 6, containing pages sorted 1 → 2 → 4.