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General PRD For A Bilingual MkDocs Documentation Site

1. Document Purpose

This document defines a general set of requirements for building a MkDocs documentation site. It serves as a shared implementation baseline for future AI agents or developers.

The goal is to let different implementers produce a documentation site skeleton with consistent structure, unified style, Chinese and English support, and automated deployment, even without extra verbal explanation.

This PRD is not targeted at one specific business project. It applies to any code repository that needs a bilingual documentation site.

2. Goals

Build an independent documentation site solution that satisfies these requirements:

  • Use MkDocs as the documentation site framework.
  • Use an i18n solution for Chinese and English support.
  • Place the documentation site independently under docs-site/.
  • Organize documentation content separately by Chinese and English.
  • Keep navigation structure as consistent as possible between Chinese and English.
  • Provide a GitHub Actions workflow for automated build and deployment.
  • Keep the overall structure reusable and easy to migrate to other repositories.

3. Scope

This PRD applies to these scenarios:

  • Building a unified documentation site for open-source or internal projects.
  • Adding bilingual documentation capability to a code repository.
  • Creating a reusable documentation engineering template for a team.
  • Providing a shared implementation standard for other AI agents to reduce output drift.

This PRD does not bind the solution to a specific business domain, programming language, framework, or deployment platform beyond static documentation site requirements.

4. General Requirements

4.1 Engineering Independence

  • The documentation site must exist as an independent project under docs-site/.
  • Documentation configuration, pages, assets, and build logic should be contained in that directory as much as possible.
  • Documentation implementation should not be scattered across unrelated repository locations.
  • The solution should minimize intrusion into the main project directory structure.

4.2 Bilingual Consistency

  • Both Chinese and English must be supported.
  • Chinese and English documents should use parallel structures.
  • Pages about the same topic should correspond between languages as much as possible.
  • Navigation, sections, hierarchy, and naming semantics should remain consistent.
  • Do not finish a monolingual structure first and then patch in another language temporarily.

4.3 Technical Consistency

  • The documentation framework must be MkDocs.
  • The multilingual implementation should use an i18n approach consistently.
  • Prefer mature, mainstream, maintainable plugins and configuration patterns.
  • Avoid complex engineering customization unrelated to the core goal.

4.4 Automation Requirements

  • Provide a standard automated build and deployment process.
  • The automation process should work for GitHub repositories.
  • At minimum, GitHub Actions should build the documentation site and deploy static output.
  • The deployment target should preferably be compatible with GitHub Pages.

The documentation site's information architecture should satisfy these principles:

  • The home page provides overview, entry guidance, and navigation.
  • Getting started documentation introduces quick start, basic usage, and the shortest path to first use.
  • User guides organize the main user-facing content.
  • Tutorial content records methods, processes, practices, or topic-specific instructions.
  • Project content holds repository-related explanations, constraints, collaboration rules, or additional information.
  • PRD content holds requirements, design goals, execution constraints, and process documents.

Notes:

  • These sections are logical categories and do not require specific business names.
  • Actual page content may be adjusted according to the repository theme, but the classification model should remain stable.
  • If some sections temporarily have no content, placeholder pages or directory explanations are acceptable.

6. Content Organization Requirements

6.1 Language Layers

  • Documentation source should be split by language.
  • Chinese and English should each have independent content entry points.
  • Each language should have its own home page.
  • Each language should have a corresponding navigation structure.

6.2 Page Naming Principles

  • Page names should be clear, stable, and predictable.
  • Chinese and English pages for the same topic should remain semantically aligned.
  • Names should express document purpose rather than arbitrary abbreviations.
  • Do not rely on temporary repository-specific terms as the only organizing principle.

6.3 Navigation Principles

  • Navigation should reflect content structure, not just file placement.
  • Home, getting started, user guides, tutorials, project notes, and PRD content should have clear groups.
  • Navigation hierarchy should not be too deep.
  • Chinese and English navigation structures should mirror each other as much as possible.

6.4 Placeholders And Expansion

  • The initial version may use placeholder pages to establish the structure.
  • Placeholder pages should clearly state the future purpose of the section.
  • Future expansion should first add to the existing structure instead of frequently redesigning the whole navigation.

7. Configuration Requirements

7.1 MkDocs Configuration

The implementation should include complete MkDocs configuration covering at least:

  • Basic site information.
  • Theme configuration.
  • Navigation configuration.
  • Multilingual configuration.
  • Markdown extension configuration.
  • Plugin configuration.
  • Static asset configuration.

7.2 i18n Configuration

The multilingual solution must satisfy these requirements:

  • Clearly declare the supported language set.
  • Clearly declare the default language.
  • Clearly define the mapping or organization method for pages in different languages.
  • Support switching between Chinese and English.
  • Support adding more languages later without overturning the existing structure.

7.3 Readability Requirements

  • Configuration files should be clear and well-structured.
  • Names and comments should be understandable to maintainers.
  • Do not hide key logic inside hard-to-trace script assembly.

8. Automation And Deployment Requirements

8.1 GitHub Actions

The documentation site must provide an automation workflow that includes at least:

  • Checking out repository code.
  • Installing build dependencies.
  • Building the MkDocs site.
  • Deploying the generated static files.

8.2 Workflow Quality Requirements

  • The workflow should be simple, stable, and maintainable.
  • Names should be clear so team members can understand the purpose.
  • Do not significantly increase maintenance cost for complex capabilities.
  • Prefer official GitHub actions or stable community solutions.

8.3 Deployment Target

  • Prefer GitHub Pages.
  • If the project later migrates to another static hosting platform, the structure should remain compatible as much as possible.
  • The deployment solution should minimize coupling with the business runtime environment.

9. Non-Functional Requirements

9.1 Reusability

  • The output should have template value.
  • Do not hardcode isolated business terms from the current repository into the base solution.
  • The same structure should be portable to other projects.

9.2 Maintainability

  • New maintainers should quickly understand the documentation engineering organization.
  • Adding pages later should not require frequent changes to the core structure.
  • The maintenance model for Chinese and English content should be clear.

9.3 Consistency

  • Chinese and English structures should be consistent.
  • Page style should be consistent.
  • Configuration style should be consistent.
  • Automation process naming and responsibilities should be consistent.

9.4 Extensibility

  • Future additions may include new sections.
  • Future additions may include more languages.
  • Future additions may enhance theme, search, SEO, versioning, and related capabilities.
  • This version does not require covering all advanced capabilities at once.

10. Deliverables

When implementing this PRD, deliver at least:

  • The docs-site/ documentation project directory.
  • Main MkDocs configuration.
  • Multilingual configuration with i18n support.
  • Chinese documentation entry page.
  • English documentation entry page.
  • Placeholder or initial pages for base sections.
  • Static assets directory.
  • GitHub Actions workflow file.
  • Brief maintenance notes.

11. Acceptance Criteria

The task is complete when:

  1. The repository has an independent docs-site/ documentation site project.
  2. The documentation site is built with MkDocs.
  3. The documentation site supports Chinese and English.
  4. The multilingual implementation uses an i18n solution, not manual copy-and-paste assembly.
  5. Both Chinese and English home pages can serve as independent entry points.
  6. Chinese and English navigation structures are mostly consistent.
  7. The site can be built automatically by GitHub Actions.
  8. The site can be deployed automatically to GitHub Pages or a compatible static hosting target by GitHub Actions.
  9. Directory, configuration, and content organization have reuse value.
  10. Other AI agents or developers can extend the structure without redesigning the foundation.

12. Implementation Constraints

Implementers must follow these constraints:

  • Do not make the solution a special implementation that only fits one repository.
  • Do not make configuration overly coupled or hard to migrate.
  • Do not omit bilingual structure design.
  • Do not only create page files while missing automation deployment capability.
  • Do not design a directory structure that only makes sense to the original implementer.
  • Do not introduce complex systems clearly beyond the requirement scope.

13. Direct Instructions For Implementers

Based on this PRD, design and implement a standardized documentation site solution for the target repository. Requirements:

  • Use MkDocs.
  • Use i18n to support Chinese and English.
  • Place all documentation-site-related content under docs-site/.
  • Produce a clear, maintainable, portable structure.
  • Provide base navigation and placeholder pages.
  • Provide GitHub Actions automated build and deployment.
  • Prefer GitHub Pages compatibility.
  • Keep the implementation simple, stable, and general.

14. Expected Result

The final result should be an independent, standardized, bilingual, automatically deployable MkDocs documentation site skeleton suitable for long-term maintenance.

The skeleton should satisfy these purposes:

  • The current repository can use it directly.
  • It can continue expanding in the future.
  • It can serve as a template for other repositories.
  • It can serve as a shared execution input for other AI agents.
  • It reduces result drift between different implementers.