- 5 minutes to read

Write a knowledge base Article

Put the runbook, the operator instruction, or the "how we fixed it last time" note where your whole team finds it. A knowledge base Article in Nodinite is written once in a rich editor, and shows up next to the integrations and Resources it documents.

  • ✅ Create an Article, blank or from a Template or Document Profile
  • ✅ Write formatted content in the WYSIWYG or Markdown editor, with a live preview
  • ✅ Reuse shared text with Snippets instead of copying it

Write a knowledge base Article from Add Article to the saved runbook, animated walkthrough (7.12)
Animated walkthrough: add an Article, type the title, choose HTML, write the steps, save, and read it.

When you need this

You solved a problem, or you know a procedure only you remember, and you want the next person on call to find the answer without asking you.

What you need

  • Access to Articles in the Repository, with Create rights, through your Role. Ask your administrator which Templates and Document Profiles your team uses.

Do it

  1. Open Repository > All Articles and click Add Article.
    Add Article split button with its dropdown arrow (7.12)
    Click Add Article to start a blank Article.

  2. To skip the blank page, open the dropdown next to Add Article instead:

    • From Template… opens Choose Template. Click Use on a Template, and its content and Content Type are copied into your new Article; you fill in the Title and Slug.
    • With Document Profile… starts with a shared section structure, a Document Profile, so you fill in only your own sections. See Write an Article from a Document Profile.
      Add Article dropdown open with From Template and With Document Profile (7.12)
      The two starting points in the Add Article dropdown. Ways to Create an Article lists every starting point.
      Start an Article from a Template, animated walkthrough (7.12)
      Animated walkthrough: choose From Template…, filter on the Template, click Use, type the Title, and save.
      A Template's placeholders, such as {{ Resource.Name }}, stay as text in the editor. The reader fills them in from the Resource the Article is linked to, and shows nothing in their place without one. Link the Resource (Show an Article next to what it documents), or replace the placeholders with your own text.

  3. Type a clear, descriptive Title. The Slug fills in from it, in lower case: INT001 Orders: restart and recover becomes int001-orders-restart-and-recover. Type your own slug to override it. After the first save, renaming the Article never changes the slug, so links to it keep working (Slug Auto-Fill).

  4. Choose the Content Type. A new Article starts as Markdown; pick HTML for the WYSIWYG editor.
    Article editor with Title, Slug, the tags orders and runbook, Content Type HTML, and No profile (7.12)
    Title and Slug are required; Tags, Content Type, and Document Profile follow below them.

  5. Write the content. The editor has a live preview next to it. In the WYSIWYG toolbar, Full Screen gives you more room, Code View edits the HTML source, and Help (?) lists the keyboard shortcuts. A Markdown Article has its own editor and preview.
    WYSIWYG editor with its toolbar and a runbook with a heading and four numbered steps (7.12)
    The WYSIWYG editor with the sample runbook.

  6. To reuse text that already exists, use Snippets. A Snippet is stored once; your Article holds a reference to it, and readers see its current text in place.

    • Insert Snippet in the toolbar adds an existing Snippet at the cursor: type to filter, then click Use.
      Insert a shared Snippet from the toolbar, animated walkthrough (7.12)
      Animated walkthrough: place the cursor, click Insert Snippet, filter, click Use, save, and read the shared text in place.
    • Right-click selected text and choose Create Snippet from Selection to turn it into a new Snippet. Give it a Title (the Slug follows), click Next, review, and click Create Snippet. The selection becomes a reference to the new Snippet.
      Turn selected text into a new Snippet, animated walkthrough (7.12)
      Animated walkthrough: select the text, right-click, Create Snippet from Selection, Title, Next, Create Snippet.
    • Replace Selection with Snippet, in the same menu, swaps the selected text for an existing Snippet.
      Editor right-click menu on a selected step, with Create Snippet from Selection and Replace Selection with Snippet (7.12)
      The right-click menu holds the Snippet actions for selected text.

    When the Snippet has tags your Article lacks, Apply Snippet Tags asks which of them to add.

  7. Click Save, then View to read the Article.

To add pictures, shared files, and links to other Articles, see Add images, files, and links to an Article.

Write content people can use

  • Start with a clear heading, and break procedures into numbered steps.
  • Keep it short: what the reader needs to know, not everything you know.

What you'll see

The Article opens in the reader with its title, when it was created and changed, the reading time, and its slug. It's listed under All Articles (Articles list). From now on, every save that changes the title, the text, the Content Type, or the Document Profile keeps the previous version (Undo or compare changes to an Article).

If it doesn't work

  • There's no Add Article button. Your Role doesn't have Create on Articles; ask your administrator.
  • The Slug stays empty and the Title says The name is in use. Another Article already has that title; change it.
  • A pasted image opens an upload form. Pasted and dropped images go to the Image Library, so they're stored once. Text pasted from Word or Confluence keeps its formatting.
  • A Mermaid diagram shows as text. It's drawn when the Article is read, not in the WYSIWYG editor. In code view, put it in an element with the class mermaid, for example <div class="mermaid">graph LR; A-->B</div>; in a Markdown Article, use a ```mermaid block.

You can also start an Article from a Resource that operators watch; see Show an Article next to what it documents.

Next Steps