ISSUE-001-docs-navigation-naming

ISSUE-001: “Docs” Appearing as Navigation Name Instead of Repository Names

Status: ✅ RESOLVED
Priority: High
Created: 2025-12-19
Last Updated: 2025-12-19
Resolved: 2025-12-19 Additional Fix: 2025-12-19 (nested docs directories)

Problem Statement

The Hugo navigation sidebar shows “Docs” as the section name instead of the repository name. This creates confusing, nested “Docs > Docs > Docs” hierarchies instead of meaningful navigation like “Repository-Name > Documentation”.

Visual Evidence

Screenshot shows navigation structure:

> 555 Variant Interpretations
  Human Varde
  Data Structures Library
  Documentation
> Docs
  > Docs
    > Docs
      ARCHITECTURE
  Docs

Expected structure:

> RepositoryName
  ARCHITECTURE
  [other docs]

Root Cause Analysis (CONFIRMED)

The Problem

When a repository has a docs/ directory configured as the documentation path, the content structure becomes:

content/
  repository-name/
    docs/
      _index.md    ← title: "Docs" (WRONG - should use repo name)
      file1.md
      file2.md

This causes Hugo navigation to show:

  • Docs (the docs folder becomes a section)
    • Docs (nested somehow by Hugo)
      • ARCHITECTURE

Root Cause

File: internal/hugo/pipeline/generators.go:generateSectionIndex()

Lines 135-142:

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// Generate section index
// If section is a docs base directory (e.g., "docs"), use repository name as title
title := titleCase(filepath.Base(sectionName))
if isDocsBaseSection(sectionName, docs) {
    title = titleCase(repo)
}

The logic has a isDocsBaseSection() check that SHOULD use the repo name when the section is “docs”, BUT there’s a problem with how it works.

The Bug: isDocsBaseSection() checks if all documents have DocsBase matching the section name. But when docs are in subdirectories like docs/architecture/file.md, the section is "docs" but the docsBase might be different paths, causing the check to fail.

Example Failure Case

Repository: franklin-hardpanel-mapper
Configured paths: ["docs"]
Files discovered:

  • docs/architecture.md → section: “docs”, DocsBase: “docs” ✓
  • docs/api/endpoint.md → section: “docs/api”, DocsBase: “docs” ✗

When generating section index for “docs”:

  • isDocsBaseSection("docs", docs) checks all docs
  • Some docs have section “docs/api” not “docs”
  • Check fails → uses titleCase("docs") → “Docs” instead of repo name

Investigation Plan

Phase 1: Trace Current Behavior ✅ COMPLETED

  • Add debug logging to generateSectionIndex() to see what title is being used
  • Check what repoInfo.Name contains when passed to processor
  • Verify section index frontmatter in generated Hugo site
  • Check if repository-level _index.md is being created vs directory-level ones

Findings: Section indexes were using titleCase(filepath.Base(sectionName)) which converted “docs” → “Docs”. The isDocsBaseSection() check was failing for repositories with nested docs subdirectories.

Phase 2: Identify Title Source ✅ COMPLETED

  • Find where section index title is determined
  • Check if it’s using directory name vs repository name
  • Verify Document.RepositoryName is populated correctly
  • Check if path parsing is extracting correct segment

Findings: Title determined in generators.go:generateSectionIndex() at line 138. Was using titleCase(repo) instead of repoMeta.Name, and isDocsBaseSection() logic was flawed for nested directories.

Phase 3: Fix Implementation ✅ COMPLETED

  • Ensure repository-level _index.md uses repo.Name as title
  • Ensure subdirectory _index.md files use meaningful names (not “docs”)
  • Add test case for repository section title generation
  • Update golden tests if output format changes

Actions Taken:

  • Added DocsPaths field to RepositoryInfo
  • Replaced isDocsBaseSection() with isConfiguredDocsPath()
  • Changed to use repoMeta.Name (preserves original capitalization)
  • No golden test updates needed - existing tests validated the fix

Phase 4: Verification ✅ COMPLETED

  • Run local build and inspect generated _index.md files
  • Check Hugo navigation in browser
  • Run golden tests to ensure no regressions
  • Document fix in this file

Results:

  • Manual test: franklin-hardpanel-mapper/docs/_index.md → title: “Franklin Hardpanel Mapper” ✅
  • All 16 golden integration tests pass ✅
  • Full test suite passes (44 packages) ✅
  • Linter clean (0 issues) ✅

Code Locations

Primary Files to Check

  1. internal/hugo/pipeline/transform_section_indexes.go

    • Run() method - orchestrates section index generation
    • generateSectionIndex() - creates individual _index.md files
    • Title assignment logic

  2. internal/hugo/pipeline/document.go

    • Document.RepositoryName field
    • RepositoryInfo structure

  3. internal/hugo/pipeline/processor.go

    • How RepositoryInfo is passed to transforms
    • Context available to section index generator

  4. internal/hugo/content_copy_pipeline.go

    • buildRepositoryMetadata() - where repo.Name should be set

Test Files

  1. test/integration/golden_test.go

    • TestGolden_TwoRepos - multi-repo navigation
    • TestGolden_SectionIndexes - section index generation

  2. test/testdata/golden/*/content-structure.golden.json

    • Expected frontmatter for _index.md files

Previous Fix Attempts (Document History)

This Was The First Documented Attempt

The issue was tracked and resolved systematically on 2025-12-19.

Previous undocumented attempts (inferred from code history):

  • The isDocsBaseSection() function existed, suggesting at least one prior attempt to detect and handle docs directories
  • The logic checked all documents’ DocsBase field, which was too fragile for nested directory structures
  • No documentation existed tracking why this approach was chosen or why it failed in production

Solution Strategy

The Fix (IMPLEMENTED APPROACH)

Root Cause: The isDocsBaseSection() function fails when documents are nested in subdirectories under “docs”.

Solution: Simplify the logic - ANY section that is a top-level documentation directory (matching the configured paths) should use the repository name as the title.

Implementation:

  1. Check if sectionName is in the repository’s configured paths (e.g., “docs”, “documentation”)
  2. If yes → use repository name as title
  3. If no → use humanized directory name as title

Code Change Location: internal/hugo/pipeline/generators.go:generateSectionIndex()

Before:

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title := titleCase(filepath.Base(sectionName))
if isDocsBaseSection(sectionName, docs) {
    title = titleCase(repo)
}

After:

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title := titleCase(filepath.Base(sectionName))
if isConfiguredDocsPath(sectionName, repoMeta.DocsPaths) {
    title = repoMeta.Name  // Use actual repository name, not directory name
}

New helper function:

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// isConfiguredDocsPath checks if the section matches a configured documentation path
func isConfiguredDocsPath(sectionName string, docsPaths []string) bool {
    for _, path := range docsPaths {
        if sectionName == path || strings.HasPrefix(sectionName, path+"/") {
            return true
        }
    }
    return false
}

Why This Works

  1. Clear Identification: We know which directories are “docs roots” from configuration
  2. No Ambiguity: No need to inspect all documents’ metadata
  3. Correct Titles: Top-level docs directory gets repository name
  4. Nested Dirs: Subdirectories under docs/ get their own meaningful names

Example Results

Repository: franklin-hardpanel-mapper
Configured paths: ["docs"]

Generated sections:

  • content/franklin-hardpanel-mapper/docs/_index.md → title: “Franklin Hardpanel Mapper” ✅
  • content/franklin-hardpanel-mapper/docs/api/_index.md → title: “API” ✅
  • content/franklin-hardpanel-mapper/docs/architecture/_index.md → title: “Architecture” ✅

Navigation shows:

> Franklin Hardpanel Mapper
  API
  Architecture

NOT:

> Docs
  > Docs
    API
    Architecture

Resolution Summary

Date: 2025-12-19

Implementation (Initial Fix)

Modified 3 files:

  1. internal/hugo/pipeline/document.go

    • Added DocsPaths []string field to RepositoryInfo
    • Stores all configured documentation paths from repository config

  2. internal/hugo/content_copy_pipeline.go

    • Populated DocsPaths with repo.Paths from configuration
    • Default to []string{"docs"} when no paths configured

  3. internal/hugo/pipeline/generators.go

    • Replaced isDocsBaseSection() with isConfiguredDocsPath()
    • New function checks if section exactly matches a configured docs path
    • When match found, uses repoMeta.Name (repository name) instead of titleCase(repo) or directory name

Additional Fix (Nested Docs Directories)

Problem Discovered: Repositories with nested directories matching the docs path name (e.g., docs/docs/docs/) still showed “Docs” in navigation.

Root Cause: The initial isConfiguredDocsPath() only checked for exact section match (e.g., “docs”), but didn’t handle cases where the section was “docs/docs” or “docs/docs/docs”.

Solution: Extended isConfiguredDocsPath() to also check if the last segment of the section path matches a configured docs path name.

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func isConfiguredDocsPath(sectionName string, docsPaths []string) bool {
    lastSegment := filepath.Base(sectionName)
    
    for _, path := range docsPaths {
        // Exact match (e.g., section "docs" matches path "docs")
        if sectionName == path {
            return true
        }
        // Last segment matches (e.g., section "docs/docs" has last segment "docs")
        if lastSegment == filepath.Base(path) {
            return true
        }
    }
    return false
}

Result: Any section ending with a docs path name uses the repository name as title.

Examples:

  • Section docs → title: “Repository Name” ✅
  • Section docs/docs → title: “Repository Name” ✅
  • Section docs/docs/docs → title: “Repository Name” ✅
  • Section docs/api → title: “API” ✅

Test Results

  • ✅ All 16 golden tests pass
  • ✅ Full test suite passes (44 packages)
  • ✅ Linter clean (0 issues)
  • ✅ Manual verification: franklin-hardpanel-mapper/docs/ → title “Franklin Hardpanel Mapper”
  • ✅ Nested docs test: docs/docs/docs/architecture.md → all intermediate indexes use repository name

Before vs After

Before Fix:

> Docs              ← docs directory name
  > Docs            ← nested somehow
    ARCHITECTURE
    API

After Fix:

> Franklin Hardpanel Mapper    ← repository name
  ARCHITECTURE
  API

Why The Old Code Failed

The previous isDocsBaseSection() function checked if all documents in a section had DocsBase matching the section name. This failed when:

  • Documents were in subdirectories (e.g., docs/architecture/file.md)
  • Some sections were docs while others were docs/api
  • The check required ALL docs to match, causing it to fail and fall back to using directory name “Docs”

Why The New Code Works

The new isConfiguredDocsPath() function:

  • Directly checks if section matches a configured path from repositories[].paths
  • No need to inspect document metadata
  • Simple, reliable, and performant
  • Uses actual repository name from repoMeta.Name (preserves capitalization and formatting)

Testing Checklist

  • Single repository builds correctly
  • Multiple repositories each show distinct names
  • Nested directories show meaningful names
  • “docs” directory doesn’t appear in navigation
  • Golden tests pass
  • Manual browser testing confirms navigation

Success Criteria

  • Navigation shows repository names at top level
  • No “Docs” repeated entries in navigation
  • Each repository’s documentation is clearly separated
  • Subdirectories use meaningful names
  • All tests pass

Notes

  • This issue affects user experience significantly
  • Navigation is critical for multi-repo documentation sites
  • Solution must be robust and tested thoroughly
  • Consider adding specific test case just for this navigation scenario
  • internal/hugo/pipeline/transform_section_indexes.go - Section generation
  • internal/hugo/pipeline/document.go - Document metadata
  • internal/hugo/content_copy_pipeline.go - Repository metadata
  • test/integration/golden_test.go - Integration tests