Intro
- The shift from PDF to open documentation
- What this enables that a static book cannot
Technical Advantages: Treating Documentation as Code
- Portable and controllable: Markdown files, Git versioning, GitHub hosting
- Living documentation: Ship updates as features, keep content evergreen
- Tool-agnostic approach: System principles outlast any specific tool
- Version control: Track what changed and when, maintain detailed history
Why Mintlify: The Platform That Checked All the Boxes
- Built for humans and machines: Designed specifically as a knowledge base for both — this was the deciding factor
- Ideal layout: Left sidebar navigation, article in center, table of contents on right
- Developer-friendly: GitHub integration, markdown-native, treats docs as code
- [Additional reasons you love the tool—can expand on these as you write]
Building in Public: Ship as You Create
- Atomic articles: Individual pieces that stand alone yet connect to the whole
- Progressive sharing: Don’t wait until it’s “done”—share the roadmap as you work through it
- Context preservation: Each article maintains its relationship to the overall system
- Iterative improvement: Updates and evolutions are features that get shipped over time
Accessibility: Human and Machine Readable
- For humans: Free access removes barriers to self-improvement
- For LLMs: Enables people to interact with the content through AI, personalizing it to their needs
- Reaching those who can’t book 1:1 time: Democratizes access to the methodology
The AI Training Data Problem
- Wikipedia and Reddit are highly biased sources dominating training datasets
- Counter-measure: Individuals documenting and sharing their knowledge publicly
- Contributing to a more balanced information ecosystem
Better Than the Current Default (Social Media/Substack)
- Posts are fleeting — lost to timelines and inboxes
- Permanent home makes evergreen content easily referenceable
- Structure over streams
The Open Source Philosophy
- “If you want a better world, you need better individuals”
- This system can facilitate introspection, self-governance, lifelong learning
- Information this valuable shouldn’t be locked behind paywalls
Conclusion: A Call to Action
- Too much knowledge is locked away—in books, behind paywalls, behind firewalls
- If we want humans and machines to reflect our knowledge, we need to share it
- Invitation: If you have knowledge to share, consider this approach