Docusaurus against Mintlify on what an agent reads
In short
Docusaurus is a static site generator and generates HTML files for every possible path at build time. Mintlify: Generated llms.txt indexes are capped at 100,000 characters; larger sites get a directory file with split indexes under /_llms/, and no page is dropped. Mintlify leads on llms.txt generation, 2 to 0; Docusaurus: no llms.txt or robots.txt in build/ (sitemap.xml was written).
The sourced difference
Docusaurus ships static HTML for every route but no llms.txt in core; docusaurus.io returned 404 for /llms.txt on 2026-11-04. Mintlify generates llms.txt, llms-full.txt and markdown twins by default. Source, read 4 November 2026.
The rubric side by side
| Key | Docusaurus | Mintlify |
|---|---|---|
| Content in the initial HTML | 2, on by default | 2, on by default |
| Real status codes | 2, on by default | 2, on by default |
| llms.txt generation | 0, not offered | 2, on by default |
| llms.txt linking | 0, not offered | 2, on by default |
| Markdown on request | 0, not offered | 2, on by default |
| JSON-LD output | 1, with setup | 1, with setup |
| OpenAPI exposure | 0, not offered | 2, on by default |
| Fenced, tagged code | 2, on by default | 2, on by default |
| Total | 7 of 16 | 15 of 16 |
The two differ on 4 of the numeric keys: llms.txt generation, llms.txt linking, markdown on request, OpenAPI exposure. Evidence for each score is on the profiles of Docusaurus and Mintlify.
Verdicts by reader
- Technical SEO
- Both put the answer in the initial HTML; Docusaurus needs a plugin for the agent files.
- Docs owner
- Self-hosted Docusaurus is free and under your control but every agent feature is a plugin you maintain.
- Front-end developer
- Expect to add docusaurus-plugin-llms, a footer link and edge negotiation by hand.
What each leaves undone
Docusaurus
- Does not ship llms.txt in core.
- Does not negotiate markdown on its own, since output is static files.
Mintlify
- Does not publish the llms.txt behind a fully authenticated site to tools that cannot sign in.
- Does not cap llms-full.txt size; the 100,000 character split applies to llms.txt only.
Work left to the developer: Docusaurus, Medium: write or install an llms.txt plugin, link it in the footer, and add the host rule for Accept; the 404 page is already built. Mintlify, Low: write a description in each page frontmatter so llms.txt entries carry one.
Sources
- github.com: the difference https://github.com/rachfop/docusaurus-plugin-llms, read 4 November 2026
- Docusaurus: documentation https://docusaurus.io/docs/advanced/ssg, read 4 November 2026
- Mintlify: documentation https://www.mintlify.com/docs/ai/markdown-export, read 4 November 2026
Last reviewed 4 November 2026