Docusaurus: Self-Hosted Documentation Framework

Docusaurus is an open-source static site generator built by Meta specifically for creating documentation websites. With over 63,000 GitHub stars, it powers documentation for React, Jest, Babel, Prettier, and hundreds of other major projects. Docusaurus takes Markdown or MDX files and transforms them into a fast, searchable, and beautifully structured documentation site with versioning, internationalization, and a plugin ecosystem.

Self-hosting Docusaurus lets you run your documentation on your own infrastructure with full control over customization, search, and access policies.

Key Features

• Markdown and MDX support with React components embedded directly in docs
• Documentation versioning for maintaining multiple versions side by side
• Built-in search powered by Algolia DocSearch or local search plugins
• Internationalization (i18n) with full multi-language support
• Sidebar generation from file structure with manual override options
• Blog engine included for changelogs, announcements, and technical posts
• Theme customization with CSS variables and swizzlable React components
• Plugin architecture for analytics, sitemaps, and custom integrations

Why Self-Host Docusaurus?

Internal documentation hub. Docusaurus isn't just for public-facing docs. Self-host it behind your VPN or authentication layer to create a private knowledge base for internal APIs, onboarding guides, and architecture documentation that shouldn't be publicly accessible.

Full design control. Self-hosting lets you deeply customize Docusaurus themes, add proprietary branding, and integrate with internal tools. Swizzle any component to match your company's design system exactly.

No platform dependency. Hosting on your VPS means you're not locked into Netlify, Vercel, or GitHub Pages. You control the deployment pipeline, caching, and CDN configuration. Update docs on your schedule with your CI/CD tools.

Fast local search. Self-hosted Docusaurus can use local search plugins that index your content at build time, eliminating the need for external search services like Algolia. Everything stays on your infrastructure.

System Requirements

Resource	Minimum	Recommended
CPU	1 vCPU	2 vCPUs
RAM	512 MB	2 GB
Storage	5 GB SSD	10 GB SSD
OS	Ubuntu 22.04+	Ubuntu 24.04

Docusaurus generates a static site at build time. The VPS only needs to serve static files, making resource requirements minimal. Build time increases with the number of pages, but the resulting site is lightweight.

Getting Started

Deploy Docusaurus on your VPS using Docker Compose through Dokploy. Our guide covers building your docs site, configuring Nginx or Caddy for static hosting, SSL setup, and automated rebuilds on content changes.

Deploy Docusaurus with Dokploy →

Alternatives

• MkDocs — Python-based documentation generator with the popular Material theme
• GitBook — Collaborative documentation platform with a WYSIWYG editor
• BookStack — Self-hosted wiki with a book/chapter/page organizational model
• VitePress — Vite-powered static site generator built for technical documentation

FAQ

What is the difference between Docusaurus and a regular static site generator? Docusaurus is purpose-built for documentation. It includes documentation-specific features out of the box: versioning, sidebar navigation, API doc generation, and search integration. General static site generators like Hugo or Gatsby require plugins and custom configuration for these features.

Can Docusaurus handle large documentation sites? Yes. Docusaurus powers docs sites with thousands of pages. It uses code splitting and lazy loading to keep the initial page load fast regardless of total site size. Build times scale linearly with page count.

Does Docusaurus require Node.js on the server? Only during the build step. Docusaurus generates static HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files that can be served by any web server (Nginx, Caddy, Apache). The server doesn't need Node.js at runtime.

Can I use React components in my documentation? Yes. Docusaurus supports MDX, which lets you import and use React components directly in Markdown files. This is powerful for interactive examples, API playgrounds, and custom widgets within your documentation.

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App data sourced from selfh.st open-source directory.