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Overview

The Sitemap generator creates an XML sitemap for search engine optimization (SEO). It includes all top-level API documentation pages with metadata for search engine crawlers.

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Metadata

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name
string
default:"sitemap"
Generator identifier
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version
string
default:"1.0.0"
Generator version
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dependsOn
string
default:"metadata"
Requires metadata generator output as input

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Configuration

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baseURL
string
required
Base URL for the documentation site (e.g., “https://nodejs.org/”)
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output
string
Output directory path for the generated sitemap.xml file

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Output Format

The generator produces:
  • Single file: sitemap.xml
  • Format: XML sitemap following the sitemaps.org protocol
  • Entries: One URL entry per top-level API page plus main index

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Usage

doc-kit -t sitemap --config.sitemap.baseURL=https://nodejs.org/

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Dependency Chain

ast → metadata → sitemap
The sitemap generator depends on:
  1. ast - Parses Markdown to AST
  2. metadata - Extracts API metadata
  3. sitemap - Creates SEO sitemap

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Implementation Details

The generator:
  • Reads the sitemap template (template.xml)
  • Reads the entry template (entry-template.xml)
  • Filters entries to depth-1 headings (top-level modules)
  • Creates sitemap entries for each API page
  • Adds a main index page entry
  • Fills templates with generated data
  • Writes sitemap.xml

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Sitemap Entry Format

Each entry includes:
  • loc: Full URL to the page
  • lastmod: Last modification date (current date)
  • changefreq: Update frequency (“weekly” for API pages)
  • priority: Relative priority (“0.8” for API pages, “1.0” for main page)

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Entry Creation

The createPageSitemapEntry function:
  • Constructs full URLs from baseURL and API slug
  • Sets modification date to current date in ISO format
  • Assigns appropriate change frequency
  • Sets priority based on page importance

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Template Structure

template.xml: 
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9">
  __URLSET__
</urlset>
entry-template.xml: 
<url>
  <loc>__LOC__</loc>
  <lastmod>__LASTMOD__</lastmod>
  <changefreq>__CHANGEFREQ__</changefreq>
  <priority>__PRIORITY__</priority>
</url>

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Main Page Entry

A special entry is added for the main API index page:
  • URL: {baseURL}/latest/api/
  • Change frequency: “daily”
  • Priority: “1.0” (highest)
The baseURL configuration is required. The generator will fail if not provided.
Source: src/generators/sitemap/

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