Reusable snippets

Reusable, custom snippets to keep content in sync

One of the core principles of software development is DRY (Don't Repeat Yourself). This is a principle that applies to documentation as well. If you find yourself repeating the same content in multiple places, you should consider creating a custom snippet to keep your content in sync.

Creating a custom snippet

Pre-condition: You must create your snippet file in the snippets directory.

Any page in the snippets directory will be treated as a snippet and will not be rendered into a standalone page. If you want to create a standalone page from the snippet, import the snippet into another file and call it as a component.

Default export

Add content to your snippet file that you want to re-use across multiple locations. Optionally, you can add variables that can be filled in via props when you import the snippet.

Hello world! This is my content I want to reuse across pages. My keyword of the
day is {word}.

The content that you want to reuse must be inside the snippets directory in order for the import to work.

Import the snippet into your destination file.

---
title: My title
description: My Description
---

import MySnippet from '/snippets/path/to/my-snippet.mdx';

## Header

Lorem impsum dolor sit amet.

<MySnippet word="bananas" />

Reusable variables

Export a variable from your snippet file:

export const myName = 'my name';

export const myObject = { fruit: 'strawberries' };

Import the snippet from your destination file and use the variable:

---
title: My title
description: My Description
---

import { myName, myObject } from '/snippets/path/to/custom-variables.mdx';

Hello, my name is {myName} and I like {myObject.fruit}.

Reusable components

Inside your snippet file, create a component that takes in props by exporting your component in the form of an arrow function.

export const MyComponent = ({ title }) => (
  <div>
    <h1>{title}</h1>
    <p>... snippet content ...</p>
  </div>
);

MDX does not compile inside the body of an arrow function. Stick to HTML syntax when you can or use a default export if you need to use MDX.

Import the snippet into your destination file and pass in the props

---
title: My title
description: My Description
---

import { MyComponent } from '/snippets/custom-component.mdx';

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.

<MyComponent title={'Custom title'} />