Fair Source · see the docs, built with Readsmith

Docs you own.
Agents included.

Readsmith is the Fair Source documentation platform with a reading experience worth the name: precompiled MDX, a beautiful API reference, and agent-ready outputs from the very first build. Self-host it tonight, or let us run it for you.

Early access and one launch note. Never shared · privacy

Or self-host today: docker compose up · Star on GitHub

readsmith.dev/docs

The Readsmith documentation site: warm paper, serif headings, a guided quickstart

Used in production by CrucibleHQ · Fair Source and self-hosted from day one.

0 external services1 command to self-hostMintlify-compatible configFSL licensed

The reading experience

Typeset like it matters, because it is the product.

Most docs tools treat text as payload. Readsmith treats it as typography: a deliberate type scale, a real reading measure, and first-class light and dark themes.

Static first, byte-deterministic

Every page is precompiled into an immutable bundle. Prose ships zero JavaScript; interactivity hydrates as islands only where you asked for it. Same input, byte-identical output, so builds cache and deploys roll back by repointing.

Serif-led hierarchy, Spectral for headings, IBM Plex for UI and code.
True-black dark theme, designed, not inverted.
WCAG 2.1 AA and near-zero layout shift as merge gates.
Convention over config: a repo of MDX with no config still builds.

Guides / Snippets and variables

Write once, interpolate everywhere

A <Snippet> resolves at build time and {{version}} interpolates in plain Markdown, so shared prose stays in one file and never drifts. It works in .md too; no MDX required.

Ask AI answers cite their sources: ◇ authoring.md § snippets

Set in Spectral 500 over a 46rem measure · rendered by the Readsmith shell

Agent-ready, verifiably

Your docs, legible to every agent that shows up.

llms.txt, per-page markdown, MCP search, and a generated Agent Skill, served from the same build as the human pages. Not a bolted-on export: the same content, projected.

agent@laptop: ~

$ curl https://readsmith.dev/skill.md
---
name: readsmith
description: Readsmith is a Fair Source documentation platform
  that builds a docs site (navigation, search, generated OpenAPI reference,
  agent outputs like llms.txt/MCP/skill.md) from a Markdown/MDX repo,
  self-hosted via Docker Compose with Postgres/pgvector...
metadata:
  readsmith-generated: 3094c72b...
---
# Readsmith · Product summary · Quick reference · Common gotchas ...

/llms.txt

The directory: every page, described and linked, so agents know where things live.

/.well-known/skills

The capability summary: generated from your docs, written into your repo, reviewed like code. You approve what agents learn.

/mcp

Live search, endpoint lookup, and skill resources over MCP, from the same index that powers on-site search.

API reference

From OpenAPI spec to a reference people enjoy.

One page per operation or one continuous reference, your call. Authored prose and generated contract on the same page, with a console that always shows a working request.

Pets

Create a pet

POST/v1/pets

Adds a new pet to the store. Creating pets needs a key with the pets:write scope; read-only keys receive a 403.

Request body

namestringREQUIREDNames do not have to be unique; register twins freely.

speciesstringREQUIREDOne of dog, cat, bird, reptile.

tagsarrayFree-form labels for filtering List pets.

Request

POST /v1/petscURLJavaScriptPython

curl https://api.example.com/v1/pets \
  -H "X-Api-Key: $KEY" \
  -d '{"name": "Rex", "species": "dog"}'

Response

201 Created

{
  "id": "pet_02",
  "name": "Rex",
  "species": "dog"
}

Self-host

Yours means yours.

One Docker Compose file: the app and Postgres. No external services, no build farm callbacks, no telemetry you did not turn on. Search and Ask AI run on your own model keys.

Postgres + pgvector is the whole data layer: search, vectors, everything.
Bring your own key for AI: OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, or a gateway.
Your domain, your data, and a docs site that survives us.

# docs.yourcompany.com in three lines $ git clone https://github.com/readsmith/readsmith $ cd readsmith $ docker compose up # → building 12 pages · llms.txt · skill.md · mcp ✓

Fair Source and hosted

Free where it counts. Hosted when you want it.

Fair Source

Self-hosted

Free forever · FSL, MIT after two years

Every feature on this page, no gates.
Deploy on your VPS, your rules.
Community support on GitHub.

View on GitHub ↗

Coming soon

Readsmith Cloud

Hosted, zero-ops · early access first

Push to git, docs deploy. Previews per PR.
AI credits included, no key juggling.
Custom domains, analytics, team roles.

Join the waitlist

Docs you own.Agents included.