How Jamdesk Works
Git push to live docs in under 60 seconds. Learn how Jamdesk builds, deploys, and optimizes your documentation site with zero infrastructure to manage.
Jamdesk builds documentation sites from MDX files in your GitHub repo. You write Markdown with React components, push to GitHub, and your site is live on a global CDN in under 60 seconds. Your content stays in your repo as plain MDX files, so you can move it to another tool at any time.
Architecture Overview
Your repo is the source of truth. Jamdesk connects to it, builds your site, and deploys to a global edge network. You don't manage any infrastructure.
The Build Pipeline
Typically 30-60 seconds, start to finish. Builds are fast because Jamdesk doesn't pre-render pages. Your raw content goes to the edge, and pages render on-demand when visitors request them.
You push to your connected GitHub branch (or hit Rebuild in the dashboard). Jamdesk clones your repo and finds your docs directory.
Your docs.json config is validated against the schema, and internal links are checked for broken pages and bad anchors.
Content uploads to the CDN and propagates to 300+ edge locations. Only changed files transfer, so redeploys are fast.
Built Into Every Site
Every site includes these features by default. No configuration is required.
What Triggers a Build
A git push to your connected branch, the Rebuild button in the dashboard, or jamdesk deploy from the CLI. If you push multiple commits in quick succession, Jamdesk debounces them into one build so you're not burning resources.
For operational details (status monitoring, rollbacks, environment variables, branch deployments), see Build & Deploy Lifecycle.
Security & Infrastructure
You don't need to think about this stuff, but if your security team asks: builds run in isolated containers and your GitHub App connection is read-only.
Performance
Whether your docs get found depends partly on how fast they load. Google uses Core Web Vitals as a ranking signal, and AI crawlers like GPTBot and ClaudeBot give themselves 1-5 seconds per page. If your docs don't load in that window, they don't get cited.
Every Jamdesk site ships from the edge with sub-50ms time to first byte. That is fast enough for Google's ranking thresholds and for AI crawlers to fetch and cite.
| Metric | Typical Value |
|---|---|
| Build time | 30-60 seconds |
| Deploy propagation | < 30 seconds |
| First byte (edge) | < 50ms |
| Full page load | < 500ms |