Why We Designed TigerBeetle's Docs from Scratch

TigerBeetle undertook a complete overhaul of its documentation site to align with its principles of simplicity and first-principles thinking, moving away from using Docusaurus due to its complexity and dependency baggage. The new site, developed using Zig and leveraging Pandoc for Markdown parsing, focuses on providing a fast, distraction-free user experience, akin to reading a book. The search functionality was redesigned for precision, allowing users to navigate results directly within the content. The site is minimalistic, employing plain HTML and CSS, with JavaScript enriching interactivity without being essential. This shift resulted in a significant reduction in site footprint, enhanced security through a Content Security Policy, and a streamlined build process that eliminates the need for extensive dependencies, thus improving CI reliability. As a nod to Docusaurus, the site features an Easter egg game reminiscent of Chrome's offline dinosaur game, accessible via 404 errors.