Links

Links are a standard markdown element used to navigate between pages or external resources. In Robindoc, all links inside markdown items are rendered through a unified link component, which gives you consistent styling, safe handling of external links, and correct integration with your app’s router.

By default, markdown links like [Overview](/docs/overview) or [GitHub](https://github.com/…) are rendered as standard HTML <a> elements. When you provide a NavigationProvider (or use a ready-made wrapper such as @robindoc/next), those links are rendered through your preferred link implementation (for example, next/link).

Robindoc distinguishes links based on the href value and adjusts behavior accordingly:

Internal links (for example, /docs/overview or /guides/getting-started):
- Are treated as part of your documentation site.
- Use your router-aware link component when available (for example, Next.js Link).
- Keep navigation inside the SPA when used with router link.
External links (for example, https://github.com/..., https://example.com):
- Are automatically opened in a new tab.
- Get safe attributes like rel="noopener noreferrer".
- Are visually marked as external with a small icon so users clearly see they are leaving your docs.

You do not have to mark links as internal or external in markdown — Robindoc detects this based on the URL (absolute vs relative, scheme, etc.).

Using Robindoc with Next.js (`@robindoc/next`)

When you use the @robindoc/next integration, Robindoc plugs directly into the Next.js router:

@robindoc/next provides a NavigationProvider that wires Robindoc to:
- next/navigation’s usePathname for active path detection.
- Next.js Link for client-side navigation.
After you wrap your app with this provider, all links rendered from markdown automatically use next/link under the hood.

import { NavigationProvider } from "@robindoc/next";

export default function RootLayout({ children }: { children: React.ReactNode }) {
  return (
    <html>
      <body>
        <NavigationProvider>
          {children}
        </NavigationProvider>
      </body>
    </html>
  );
}

Customization and styling

Robindoc uses a shared link component for all in-content links, which is styled with the r-content-link CSS class.
You can customize its appearance globally in your theme/styles (colors, underline, focus ring, hover state, external icon, etc.).
If you build a custom integration (for example, another framework), you can provide your own navigation provider similar to @robindoc/next that supplies:
- A hook for the current pathname.
- A link component that matches your router.

Recommendations

Prefer relative paths for internal docs (for example, /docs/intro) so they take advantage of SPA navigation and stay inside your site.
Avoid hard-coding full absolute URLs for internal pages (https://your-site.com/docs/...), or they will be treated as external and opened in a new tab.
Let Robindoc manage external behavior — you usually do not need to add target="_blank" or rel in markdown; they are applied automatically when needed.

Customization

The ContentLink component can be customized by overwriting tags. See Tags for more details.

Code Blocks Headings