Gain access to the generated Sidebar config for non-Sidebar usage

[brian-montgomery]

What version of starlight are you using?

0.30.3

What is your idea?

I want to create a splash page that uses the generated <Sidebar> navigation data structure (complete with internationalization support) as a "table of contents" on a landing page. This is similar to #2146, only the generated configuration is not available for slots when the <StarlightPage> generates it.

Another use case is re-using this same structure in a customized navigation menu on a webpage sitting "outside" the documentation section of the site. If #959 is implemented, having access to subsections would also be helpful.

I submitted a PR for exposing the necessary navigation functions, but that was rejected.

Why is this feature necessary?

The "sidebar" configuration is a great way to autogenerate a navigation structure for the entire project, especially when internationalization is included. Unfortunately, the generated data structure (SidebarEntry[]) and functions (that convert SidebarItem[] to SidebarEntry[] are completely limited to the <Sidebar> component and developers have to currently recreate all of that functionality to do something custom with that generated sidebar navigation structure.

Do you have examples of this feature in other projects?

• https://www.ta11y.org/learning
• https://dateutil.readthedocs.io/en/stable/#documentation

Participation

• I am willing to submit a pull request for this feature.

[HiDeoo]

Thanks for describing your use case 🙌

This is indeed one that would be unlocked by this PR. In any Astro component, even the one rendered inside a custom <StarlightPage>, you will have access to all Starlight route data which includes the site navigation sidebar entries.

The API is not yet finalized and it's currently a work in progress, but this should look like accessing something like Astro.locals.starlightRoute.sidebar in your component and you would get access to the SidebarEntry array. Basically all props at the moment described in this section would be available everywhere using the Astro.locals.starlightRoute object.

[brian-montgomery]

Thank you. Is there anyway I can help move that PR along with testing or feedback?

[HiDeoo]

Chris is still actively working on the core changes as we speak which are quite broad considering the scope of the changes.

I'd recommend subscribing to the PR and as soon as it's marked as ready for a review, if you're interested in trying it out or giving feedback on the documentation changes that will come with it, or just taking a look, that would be amazing. 🙌