Goal
Replace the public documentation embedded in a self-hosted instance with your own built documentation static site — for example to add enterprise internal branding, supplement private notes, or preview a new documentation version ahead of time.
When to use this task
- You need to preview a new documentation build before an official release.
- You need to provide customized help documentation for an internal network environment.
Prerequisites
- You already have a built documentation static site.
- You have permission to configure environment variables and restart the service on the Appaloft server.
Inputs and defaults
| Input | Description |
|---|---|
APPALOFT_DOCS_STATIC_DIR | Points to the built documentation site directory; without it set, the embedded default documentation is used |
CLI steps
1. Prepare the static directory
Build the documentation site, keeping index.html, _next/, api/search, llms.txt, and llms-full.txt. If the deploy path isn’t the default /docs/*, build with a matching documentation base path.
2. Upload to the server
Upload the build output to a directory only Appaloft reads from. Don’t upload source code, .env, private keys, or the CI working directory along with it.
3. Point at the override directory
export APPALOFT_DOCS_STATIC_DIR=/opt/appaloft/docs-overrideRestart the Appaloft service after setting this.
Expected output and status
Appaloft serves documentation from the directory APPALOFT_DOCS_STATIC_DIR points to; the Web console keeps using its own independent static asset source, unaffected.
Verification
Open the following addresses in order and confirm the page, search, and LLM entrypoints all come from the new build:
/docs/
/docs/api/search
/docs/llms.txtRollback / recovery
If the new documentation isn’t reachable, remove the APPALOFT_DOCS_STATIC_DIR environment variable, or point it back at the last known-good directory, then restart the service — the Web console’s static assets are unaffected by this operation.