Reusable Snippets

Reusable, custom snippets to keep content in sync

One of the core principles of software development is DRY (Don’t Repeat Yourself). This is a principle that applies to documentation as well. If you find yourself repeating the same content in multiple places, you should consider creating a custom snippet to keep your content in sync.

Creating a custom snippet

Pre-condition: You must create your snippet file in the snippets directory.

Any page in the snippets directory will be treated as a snippet and will not be rendered into a standalone page. If you want to create a standalone page from the snippet, import the snippet into another file and call it as a component.

Default export

1. Add content to your snippet file that you want to re-use across multiple locations. Optionally, you can add variables that can be filled in via props when you import the snippet.

snippets/my-snippet.mdx

Hello world! This is my content I want to reuse across pages. My keyword of the
day is {word}.

The content that you want to reuse must be inside the snippets directory in order for the import to work.

2. Import the snippet into your destination file.

destination-file.mdx

---
title: My title
description: My Description
---

import MySnippet from '/snippets/path/to/my-snippet.mdx';

## Header

Lorem impsum dolor sit amet.

<MySnippet word="bananas" />

Reusable variables

1. Export a variable from your snippet file:

snippets/path/to/custom-variables.mdx

export const myName = 'my name';

export const myObject = { fruit: 'strawberries' };

2. Import the snippet from your destination file and use the variable:

destination-file.mdx

---
title: My title
description: My Description
---

import { myName, myObject } from '/snippets/path/to/custom-variables.mdx';

Hello, my name is {myName} and I like {myObject.fruit}.

Reusable components

1. Inside your snippet file, create a component that takes in props by exporting your component in the form of an arrow function.

snippets/custom-component.mdx

export const MyComponent = ({ title }) => (
  <div>
    <h1>{title}</h1>
    <p>... snippet content ...</p>
  </div>
);

MDX does not compile inside the body of an arrow function. Stick to HTML syntax when you can or use a default export if you need to use MDX.

2. Import the snippet into your destination file and pass in the props

destination-file.mdx

---
title: My title
description: My Description
---

import { MyComponent } from '/snippets/custom-component.mdx';

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.

<MyComponent title={'Custom title'} />

Client-Side Content

By default, Mintlify employs server-side rendering, generating content at build time. For client-side content loading, ensure to verify the document object’s availability before initiating the rendering process.

snippets/client-component.mdx

{/* `setTimeout` simulates a React.useEffect, which is called after the component is mounted. */}
export const ClientComponent = () => {
  if (typeof document === "undefined") {
    return null;
  } else {
    setTimeout(() => {
      const clientComponent = document.getElementById("client-component");
      if (clientComponent) {
        clientComponent.innerHTML = "Hello, client-side component!";
      }
    }, 1);

    return <div id="client-component"></div>
  }
}