[Docs] Improve docs navigation (#22720)

Signed-off-by: Harry Mellor <19981378+hmellor@users.noreply.github.com>

.gitignore

@@ -150,7 +150,8 @@ venv.bak/
 # mkdocs documentation
 /site
 docs/argparse
-docs/examples
+docs/examples/*
+!docs/examples/README.md
 
 # mypy
 .mypy_cache/

docs/.nav.yml

 nav:
-  - Home:
-    - vLLM: README.md
+  - Home: README.md
+  - User Guide:
+    - usage/README.md
     - Getting Started:
       - getting_started/quickstart.md
       - getting_started/installation
     - Examples:
+      - examples/README.md
       - Offline Inference: examples/offline_inference
       - Online Serving: examples/online_serving
       - Others: examples/others
-    - Quick Links:
-      - User Guide: usage/README.md
-      - Developer Guide: contributing/README.md
-      - API Reference: api/README.md
-      - CLI Reference: cli/README.md
-    - Timeline:
-      - Roadmap: https://roadmap.vllm.ai
-      - Releases: https://github.com/vllm-project/vllm/releases
-  - User Guide:
-    - Summary: usage/README.md
-    - usage/v1_guide.md
     - General:
+      - usage/v1_guide.md
       - usage/*
     - Inference and Serving:
       - serving/offline_inference.md
@@ -32,7 +24,7 @@ nav:
       - deployment/integrations
     - Training: training
     - Configuration:
-      - Summary: configuration/README.md
+      - configuration/README.md
       - configuration/*
     - Models:
       - models/supported_models.md
@@ -45,7 +37,7 @@ nav:
       - features/*
       - features/quantization
   - Developer Guide:
-    - Summary: contributing/README.md
+    - contributing/README.md
     - General:
       - glob: contributing/*
         flatten_single_child_sections: true

docs/README.md

@@ -21,6 +21,17 @@ vLLM is a fast and easy-to-use library for LLM inference and serving.
 
 Originally developed in the [Sky Computing Lab](https://sky.cs.berkeley.edu) at UC Berkeley, vLLM has evolved into a community-driven project with contributions from both academia and industry.
 
+Where to get started with vLLM depends on the type of user. If you are looking to:
+
+- Run open-source models on vLLM, we recommend starting with the [Quickstart Guide](./getting_started/quickstart.md)
+- Build applications with vLLM, we recommend starting with the [User Guide](./usage)
+- Build vLLM, we recommend starting with [Developer Guide](./contributing)
+
+For information about the development of vLLM, see:
+
+- [Roadmap](https://roadmap.vllm.ai)
+- [Releases](https://github.com/vllm-project/vllm/releases)
+
 vLLM is fast with:
 
 - State-of-the-art serving throughput

docs/examples/README.md

+# Examples
+
+vLLM's examples are split into three categories:
+
+- If you are using vLLM from within Python code, see [Offline Inference](./offline_inference/)
+- If you are using vLLM from an HTTP application or client, see [Online Serving](./online_serving/)
+- For examples of using some of vLLM's advanced features (e.g. LMCache or Tensorizer) which are not specific to either of the above use cases, see [Others](./others/)

docs/mkdocs/stylesheets/extra.css

@@ -23,6 +23,13 @@ a:not(:has(svg)):not(.md-icon):not(.autorefs-external) {
     }
 }
 
+a[href*="localhost"]::after,
+a[href*="127.0.0.1"]::after,
+a[href*="org.readthedocs.build"]::after,
+a[href*="docs.vllm.ai"]::after {
+    display: none !important;
+}
+
 /* Light mode: darker section titles */
 body[data-md-color-scheme="default"] .md-nav__item--section > label.md-nav__link .md-ellipsis {
   color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.7) !important;

docs/usage/README.md

 # Using vLLM
 
-vLLM supports the following usage patterns:
+First, vLLM must be [installed](../getting_started/installation) for your chosen device in either a Python or Docker environment.
+
+Then, vLLM supports the following usage patterns:
 
 - [Inference and Serving](../serving/offline_inference.md): Run a single instance of a model.
 - [Deployment](../deployment/docker.md): Scale up model instances for production.

mkdocs.yaml

@@ -34,13 +34,14 @@ theme:
     - content.action.edit
     - content.code.copy
     - content.tabs.link
+    - navigation.instant
+    - navigation.instant.progress
     - navigation.tracking
     - navigation.tabs
     - navigation.tabs.sticky
     - navigation.sections
-    - navigation.prune
-    - navigation.top
     - navigation.indexes
+    - navigation.top
     - search.highlight
     - search.share
     - toc.follow