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Astro Starlight
What it is
Astro Starlight is a free theme for building documentation websites with the Astro framework. It includes site navigation, full-text search, internationalization, SEO, code highlighting, and dark mode. Authors can write in Markdown, with support extendable to MDX and Markdoc. Starlight can also use UI components from React, Vue, Svelte, Solid, and other frameworks. It works with Astro integrations and plugins, including community options and an official Algolia DocSearch plugin that can replace Pagefind, its default search provider. Community tools listed by the maker cover uses such as OpenAPI documentation, blogs, comments, and broken-link checking. Start a new project with an Astro project command and a Starlight template, or add Starlight as an integration to an existing Astro project. Projects can be created with npm, pnpm, or Yarn and previewed with Astro’s development server. Starlight supports documentation versioning and is MIT licensed. Its documentation points users to the Astro Discord support forum and Starlight channel. The Getting Started guide describes it as beta software and recommends regular updates.
For and against
For
- Includes navigation, full-text search, and dark mode.
- Supports Markdown, with MDX and Markdoc extensions.
- Can use components from several UI frameworks.
- Works with Astro integrations and plugins.
- Supports documentation versioning.
Against
- Getting Started describes it as beta software.
- The guide recommends regular updates.
- Requires an Astro project or Astro integration.
The verdict
Starlight provides documentation-focused features and several ways to extend content and UI. Its beta status and update recommendation are worth considering before adopting it.
Who it suits
Starlight suits teams building documentation websites with Astro. Its framework component options may also suit teams that want to incorporate UI components from other frameworks.
On the record
- Built-in features
- It includes site navigation, search, internationalization, SEO, code highlighting, and dark mode.starlight.astro.build · read 7 Oct 2026
- Community integrations
- The maker’s catalog lists community plugins and tools for uses including OpenAPI documentation, blogs, comments, and broken-link checking.starlight.astro.build · read 7 Oct 2026
- Content formats
- It supports Markdown, Markdoc, and MDX, with built-in frontmatter validation and TypeScript type safety.starlight.astro.build · read 7 Oct 2026
- Customization
- Starlight plugins can customize its configuration, UI, and behavior.starlight.astro.build · read 7 Oct 2026
- Deployment
- The getting-started guide directs users to Astro’s documentation for publishing a Starlight site.starlight.astro.build · read 7 Oct 2026
- Existing projects
- Starlight can be added to an existing Astro project as an integration.starlight.astro.build · read 7 Oct 2026
- Extensions
- Starlight supports Astro integrations and plugins, including community plugins and an official Algolia DocSearch plugin.starlight.astro.build · read 7 Oct 2026
- Getting started
- A new project can be created with the Astro project command and a Starlight template.starlight.astro.build · read 7 Oct 2026
- Intended users
- Starlight is for building documentation websites, and the homepage lists teams including OpenAI, GitHub, Netlify, and Microsoft as users.starlight.astro.build · read 7 Oct 2026
- License
- The Starlight project is released under the MIT License, which permits use, copying, modification, and distribution subject to its terms.github.com · read 7 Oct 2026
- Local development
- Starlight projects can be created with npm, pnpm, or Yarn and previewed with Astro’s development server.starlight.astro.build · read 7 Oct 2026
- Maturity
- The Getting Started guide describes Starlight as beta software and advises regular updates.starlight.astro.build · read 7 Oct 2026
- Project status
- The getting-started page describes Starlight as beta software and recommends updating it regularly.starlight.astro.build · read 7 Oct 2026
- Purpose
- Starlight is a full-featured documentation theme built on the Astro framework.starlight.astro.build · read 7 Oct 2026
- Search integration
- The official Algolia DocSearch plugin can replace Pagefind, the default search provider.starlight.astro.build · read 7 Oct 2026
- Support
- The documentation directs users to the Astro Discord, including its support forum and Starlight channel, for help.starlight.astro.build · read 7 Oct 2026
- UI framework support
- Starlight can be extended with UI components from React, Vue, Svelte, Solid, and other frameworks.starlight.astro.build · read 7 Oct 2026
