MVP Docs

A lightweight documentation plugin for WordPress. AI-friendly markdown import, native editor, no bloat.

Why MVP Docs?

AI tools like Claude and ChatGPT are great at generating documentation in Markdown format. MVP Docs was built to take advantage of that — import AI-generated .md files straight into WordPress with a single click. No copy-pasting HTML, no reformatting, no fussing with blocks. Just import and publish.

It's a lightweight MVP plugin designed to get you up and running with a documentation hub quickly, without the bloat of full-blown knowledge base plugins.

Features

• Markdown import — one-click .md to Gutenberg blocks, perfect for AI-generated docs
• Full WP-CLI coverage — configure and populate a docs site from the command line, ideal for shell scripts and AI agents
• Docs post type with configurable archive at /docs/
• Doc categories with drag-and-drop ordering
• AJAX search with typeahead dropdown and dedicated results page
• Import/export docs, categories, and settings as JSON, or as a zip bundle that ships referenced images
• Configurable colors, layout, slugs, and page titles
• Block theme and classic theme support
• Zero scripts or styles outside doc pages

Requirements

• WordPress 6.7+
• PHP 8.0+

Installation

1. Download or clone this repo into wp-content/plugins/mvp-docs/
2. Activate the plugin
3. Visit Settings > Permalinks and click Save
4. Create docs under the MVP Docs menu

WP-CLI

Every admin action has a command-line equivalent. You can stand up a complete docs site — settings, categories, docs — without ever opening wp-admin. This makes the plugin a good fit for version-controlled setup scripts, CI pipelines, and AI agent workflows.

Run wp mvp-docs <command> --help for full option details on any command.

Commands at a glance

Command	Purpose
wp mvp-docs import-md <file>	Import a Markdown file as a doc (byte-identical to the sidebar importer)
wp mvp-docs import-raw <file>	Import a raw HTML file as a doc (block markup preserved if present)
wp mvp-docs export [--with-images]	Dump docs, categories, settings, and order to JSON; with --with-images produces a zip including referenced media
wp mvp-docs import <file>	Restore a .json or .zip bundle (auto-detected; sideloads images on zip; dedupes by title, safe to re-run)
wp mvp-docs reorder-categories <refs>...	Set category display order (IDs or slugs)
wp mvp-docs settings list	Show every setting with description and allowed form
wp mvp-docs settings get <key>	Read a single setting
wp mvp-docs settings set <k=v>...	Write settings (auto-flushes rewrites; warns on invalid values)

Importing content

Both import-md and import-raw accept the same flags:

--title=<text>         Override the extracted title
--slug=<slug>          Explicit post slug
--excerpt=<text>       Short description shown on category/search pages
--category=<slug>      Assign to this category (created if missing)
--sort-order=<n>       In-category sort priority (lower appears first)
--status=<status>      publish | draft | private (default: publish)
--dry-run              Print generated markup instead of creating a post

Markdown — import-md runs the file through the same conversion pipeline as the editor sidebar button. The first # Heading becomes the post title (unless --title is given). Output matches the sidebar importer byte-for-byte, so docs imported from the CLI are indistinguishable from docs imported in the editor.

wp mvp-docs import-md ./docs/intro.md --category=getting-started --sort-order=1

HTML — import-raw writes the file verbatim into post_content. If it contains Gutenberg block comments (<!-- wp:paragraph -->, etc.) they're preserved. If not, WordPress treats the content as an implicit Classic block in the editor.

wp mvp-docs import-raw ./docs/legacy.html --title="Legacy Guide"

Export and import

Bundle everything to JSON:

wp mvp-docs export --output=kb-backup.json --pretty

Flags:

• --docs — include docs and categories only
• --settings — include settings and category order only
• --output=<file> — write to disk (otherwise stdout)
• --pretty — format JSON for readability

Restore:

wp mvp-docs import kb-backup.json

Docs are deduplicated by title, so the same bundle can be imported repeatedly without creating duplicates — useful for migrations and staging→prod syncs.

Settings

settings list is self-documenting — it shows every setting with current value, description, and allowed form:

$ wp mvp-docs settings list
key                value                description                       allowed
columns            3                    Archive cards per row             1-4
border_radius      12                   Card corner radius (pixels)       0-24
card_bg            #ffffff              Card background                   hex color (e.g. #ffffff)
link_color         #1e40af              Body/link color                   hex color
sort_by            title                Archive sort field                title | date | modified
sort_order         asc                  Archive sort direction            asc | desc
docs_slug          docs                 URL slug for the docs archive     url-safe slug (triggers rewrite flush)
...

Use --format=json for machine-readable output.

settings set accepts multiple key=value pairs and reports any values the sanitizer rejected:

$ wp mvp-docs settings set columns=7 sort_by=alphabetical
Warning: columns: "7" was not accepted. Allowed: 1-4. Value is now "3".
Warning: sort_by: "alphabetical" was not accepted. Allowed: title | date | modified. Value is now "title".
Success: Settings saved.

Changing docs_slug or category_slug auto-flushes rewrite rules — no separate wp rewrite flush needed.

End-to-end recipe

A complete KB setup from a fresh WordPress install:

wp plugin activate mvp-docs

wp mvp-docs settings set \
  docs_slug=kb \
  archive_title="Knowledge Base" \
  archive_subtitle="Everything you need to get started" \
  columns=3 \
  sort_by=title

wp term create mvpd_category "Getting Started" --slug=getting-started
wp term create mvpd_category "API Reference"   --slug=api-reference
wp term create mvpd_category "Troubleshooting" --slug=troubleshooting

wp mvp-docs reorder-categories getting-started api-reference troubleshooting

for f in ./docs/getting-started/*.md; do
  wp mvp-docs import-md "$f" --category=getting-started
done

wp mvp-docs export --output=./kb-backup.json

Combining with core WP-CLI

MVP Docs doesn't reinvent commands that core WP-CLI already provides. Common pairings:

# List docs (uses core wp post)
wp post list --post_type=mvpd_doc

# Update a doc's sort order after import
wp post meta update 42 mvpd_sort_order 3

# Delete a doc
wp post delete 42 --force

# Bulk delete all docs
wp post list --post_type=mvpd_doc --field=ID | xargs -n1 wp post delete --force

# Create/manage categories (uses core wp term)
wp term create mvpd_category "Guides"
wp term list mvpd_category
wp term delete mvpd_category 12

License

GPLv2 or later