gpt on docusaurus sidebar-plugin

Creating a plugin for Docusaurus to handle dynamic sidebar generation based on tags is a great idea. This approach offers a more integrated solution and keeps your project neatly organized within the Docusaurus ecosystem. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how you might develop such a plugin:

1. Set Up the Plugin Environment

To begin, set up a basic plugin structure in your Docusaurus project. You can place this in a directory within your Docusaurus project, typically under a directory like plugins/.

mkdir -p plugins/mySidebarPlugin
cd plugins/mySidebarPlugin

Create a package.json to manage dependencies:

{
  "name": "docusaurus-sidebar-plugin",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "main": "index.js",
  "docusaurus": {
    "type": "plugin"
  }
}

2. Plugin Development

Develop the plugin in a file named index.js. This plugin needs to read the metadata from all markdown files, parse the tags, and build a sidebar structure accordingly.

module.exports = function (context, options) {
  return {
    name: 'docusaurus-tag-sidebar-plugin',

    async loadContent() {
      // Logic to parse documents and extract tags
      // You might use glob and front-matter to read and parse markdown files
    },

    async contentLoaded({ content, actions }) {
      const { createData, setGlobalData } = actions;
      const sidebarData = buildSidebar(content);  // Implement buildSidebar based on your tagging structure
      await createData('sidebar.json', JSON.stringify(sidebarData));
      setGlobalData(sidebarData);
    },

    // You can also extend other lifecycle methods as necessary
  };
};

function buildSidebar(docs) {
  // Logic to build sidebar structure from tags
  return docs.reduce((acc, doc) => {
    // Parse and nest tags to build a sidebar hierarchy
    return acc;
  }, {});
}

3. Parsing the Markdown Files

To parse markdown files, you can use the glob package to locate files and gray-matter to extract front matter. Here’s a snippet on how you might start this:

const glob = require('glob');
const matter = require('gray-matter');

function getDocs() {
  const files = glob.sync("../../docs/**/*.md"); // Adjust path as necessary
  return files.map(file => {
    const content = fs.readFileSync(file, 'utf8');
    const metadata = matter(content);
    return {
      ...metadata.data,
      path: file,
    };
  });
}

4. Integrate the Plugin

Once your plugin is ready, add it to your docusaurus.config.js:

module.exports = {
  // other config...
  plugins: [
    [path.resolve(__dirname, 'plugins/mySidebarPlugin'), {}],
  ],
};

5. Test and Iterate

Run your Docusaurus project to see if the sidebar is generated as expected. Make sure to test with various tagging structures and document updates.

yarn start

6. Handling Edge Cases

Ensure your plugin handles various edge cases, such as documents without tags, deeply nested tags, and changes in document structure. Consider also the performance implications if you have a large number of documents.

7. Documentation and Maintenance

Document how your plugin works, how to configure it, and any limitations it might have. This will be helpful for future maintenance or if other contributors need to understand its functionality.

This custom plugin approach allows for a lot of flexibility and can be tailored to fit very specific needs in your Docusaurus site, especially as it scales up in content complexity.

-------------Further: Also check out the https://github.com/rdilweb/template-docusaurus-plugin ******