---
title: Documentation builds
description: docs-builder is a distributed documentation build system. Rather than pulling all content into a single repository, each team maintains documentation...
url: https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/docs-builder/documentation
products:
  - Elastic Docs Builder
---

# Documentation builds
docs-builder is a distributed documentation build system. Rather than pulling all content into a single repository, each team maintains documentation in their own repo and docs-builder combines the results into cohesive documentation sites.

## Build modes


### Isolated builds

<page-card>
  Build a single repository's documentation for local development, PR previews, or publishing as a standalone static site (e.g. to GitHub Pages). The baseline that assembler and codex extend — content-set and page configuration apply here.
</page-card>


### Distributed builds

Assembler and codex builds compose over many isolated builds — each repository is built independently, then the results are combined into a unified experience.
<page-card>
  Compose a unified documentation website with global navigation across multiple repositories. Used for public documentation sites like elastic.co/docs.
</page-card>

<page-card>
  Create knowledge base environments where multiple repositories publish independently under a shared domain. Simpler setup with no centralized navigation composition.
</page-card>


## How distributed builds work

All three build modes share the same [syntax](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/docs-builder/syntax) foundations. A repository's `docset.yml` defines its documentation set, and the same Markdown content renders identically regardless of build mode.
Cross-repository linking is what makes distributed builds possible. When a repository builds, it publishes a **link index** — a manifest of every page and anchor it contains. Other repositories validate their cross-links against these published indexes, ensuring references stay correct even though repositories build independently.
Learn more about the [link infrastructure](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/docs-builder/documentation/distributed-builds).