---
title: Fix "is not referenced by any navigation entry"
description: Every page in the content directory must be listed in navigation. reed check reports each one that is not.
---

## Symptom

`reed check` fails with `content-page-not-in-navigation`. For a file
`content/orphan-probe.mdx` that is not listed anywhere in `navigation`:

```txt
  ✗ [content-page-not-in-navigation] content file "orphan-probe.mdx" is not referenced by any navigation entry; a page must be listed in docs.json navigation to be built
check failed.
```

The path is relative to your content directory. `reed build` runs the same check first, so
it stops with the same line before it builds anything. Every unlisted file gets its own
line, so one run shows all of them.

If the file also fails to parse, you get both errors for it: `unparseable-mdx` (or a
frontmatter error) and `content-page-not-in-navigation`. Fixing one does not clear the
other.

### What you saw before this diagnostic existed

Older Reed releases did not check for this. `reed check` passed, and `reed build` failed
partway through rendering pages:

```txt
├─ /orphan-probe/index.html [ERROR] AstroUserError: Failed to find the topic for the `orphan-probe` page.
[ERROR] [build] Caught error rendering /orphan-probe: AstroUserError: Failed to find the topic for the `orphan-probe` page.
[AstroUserError] Failed to find the topic for the `orphan-probe` page.
  Hint:
    Either include this page in the sidebar configuration of the desired topic using the `items` property, associate an unlisted page with a topic using the `topic` frontmatter property or the `topics` option, or exclude this page from any topic using the `exclude` option.
```

The id in backticks is the **page id**, derived from the file's path under the content
directory: slugified, with a nested `index` collapsed into its directory, and replaced
outright by a frontmatter `slug` when the page sets one. `content/guides/old-draft.mdx`
fails as `guides/old-draft`. See [Navigation](/docs/authoring/navigation) for the full rule.
If you still see this build error, upgrade Reed: `reed check` now catches it.

## Cause

Every `.mdx` or `.md` file in your content directory becomes a page, and every page must
belong to a group in `navigation`. A file that exists on disk but is listed nowhere has no
place in the sidebar, and the site generator Reed builds on refuses to render it.

The one exception is a file whose own name starts with `_`, such as `guides/_shared.mdx`.
It is never loaded as a page, so it needs no navigation entry and `reed check` does not
report it. A `_`-prefixed **directory** does not count: `_partials/shared.mdx` is loaded as
a page and is reported like any other file.

**Reed has no hidden-pages feature.** The old build error's hint mentions a `topic`
frontmatter property and `topics` / `exclude` options from the underlying sidebar plugin.
Reed does not expose any of them. Reed's frontmatter is `title` and `description`, plus
`slug` (see [Navigation](/docs/authoring/navigation)) and `type: changelog`, none of which
hides a page, and `docs.json` has no setting for unlisted pages.

Common ways to end up here: a draft page saved into `content/`, a page removed from
`navigation` but not deleted, a file renamed on disk while `navigation` still lists the
old id, or a stray copy such as `quickstart-old.mdx`.

## Fix

Find the file in the message, then choose one for each:

### List the page in a group

If the page should be published, add its id to the `pages` of a group in `docs.json`:

```json
{
  "label": "Guides",
  "pages": ["guides/linking", "guides/media", "orphan-probe"]
}
```

### Remove it from the content directory

If the page is a draft or a leftover, delete it or move it out of the content directory
entirely — anywhere Reed does not read:

```sh
mkdir -p drafts
git mv content/orphan-probe.mdx drafts/orphan-probe.mdx
```

## Verify

```sh
reed check
```

The `content-page-not-in-navigation` line is gone. If you listed the page, it appears in
the sidebar after the next `reed build`. If you removed it, no page for that id is
written.

## Related

- [reed check](/docs/reference/cli/check) — what the validation pass covers
- [reed build](/docs/reference/cli/build)
- [Pages](/docs/authoring/pages) — how a file path becomes a page id