Guides
Advice on writing, structuring and maintaining documentation that readers and AI tools can actually use.
The rest of this site tells you how Reed works. These guides are about the documentation you build with it: how to write it, how to organize it, how to get it found, and how to keep it true after the launch.
Most of the advice holds on any platform. Where a guide touches something Reed does or does not do, it says so plainly.
One rule outranks everything below. Start from what your readers are trying to do, write what helps them do it, and let them get back to work.
AI discovery
Section titled “AI discovery”More and more readers meet your docs through a search engine or an AI assistant before they ever see your site.
- GEO: structure pages so AI answer engines can find, quote and cite them correctly.
- SEO: titles, descriptions, sitemaps and redirects that help search engines rank the right page.
- AI coding assistants: let an agent draft and update pages in your repository without letting it guess.
Writing
Section titled “Writing”What goes on the page, and how it sounds.
- Style and tone: one consistent voice, however many people write the docs.
- Content types: tutorial, how-to, reference or explanation — pick the right one before you write a word.
- Content templates: copyable starting points for each content type.
- Understand your audience: find out who reads your docs and what they came to do.
Structure
Section titled “Structure”How pages fit together, and how readers move between them.
- Navigation: information architecture that matches how readers look for things.
- Linking: internal links that help readers and do not break when pages move.
- Media: images and video that earn their place and their upkeep.
- Accessibility: docs that work with a screen reader, a keyboard, and a zoomed-in browser.
Operations
Section titled “Operations”Keeping the docs accurate and getting changes out.
- Maintenance: ownership, reviews and automated checks that stop docs from drifting.
- Improving docs: use traffic, feedback and support data to decide what to fix first.
- Git workflows: branch, check, review and deploy — the only way changes reach a Reed site.
Use cases
Section titled “Use cases”End-to-end plans for the three kinds of site people most often build with Reed.
- Developer documentation: docs that engineers use to integrate with your API, SDKs and tools.
- Internal knowledge base: a team knowledge base behind your own access control, kept from decaying.
- Help center: self-service answers for customers, with a route to your support team for the rest.
Where to start
Section titled “Where to start”Learn the four content types and how each one is structured.
Use metrics and feedback to find the pages worth fixing.
Set up the branch-and-review loop your docs will run on.