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What is Diataxis?

Diataxis is a prescriptive framework for documentation content and architecture. Its simplicity and ease of use, for both users and authors alike, makes Diataxis a valuable framework for approaching documentation at any scale.

Document types

At a high level, documentation tends to fall under four main categories:

  • How-to

    How-to docs describe how to complete a single discrete task, possibly in multiple ways

    How-to template

  • Tutorial

    Tutorials provide instruction on how to complete a larger end-to-end task consisting of multiple smaller tasks

    Tutorial template

  • Overview

    Overviews provide context to help users form a mental model of a product or feature

    Overview template

  • Reference

    References document low-level stuff, like APIs or client libraries

    Reference template