Turso is multi-tenant database platform built for all types of apps, including AI apps with on-device RAG, local-first vector search, that enables on-device RAG, local-first vector search, offline writes, and privacy-focused data access with low-latency.

When Jamie Barton joined Turso as a Developer Experience (DX) Engineer, he knew his first priority would be to address a critical gap—documentation. With developers making up a significant portion of their user base, the existing documentation felt outdated and not representative of Turso’s recent product innovations.

The challenge

Turso’s previous setup using Docusaurus had its limitations. Most critically, the design of the documentation was not the polished look and feel that the team wanted to convey in their product identity. Modernizing the design would require engineering bandwidth that was simply not possible.

Additionally, there was no out-of-the-box search functionality, so Turso had to stitch together a solution with Algolia. Without a dedicated owner to manage multiple tools, small issues could quickly cascade and require tedious troubleshooting.

Searching for a solution

Jamie had previously built custom documentation sites, so his initial approach at Turso was to do the same. However, after spending two days attempting to develop an in-house solution, he realized that this would be a time sink. He would be better off writing and organizing content, not maintaining infrastructure.

Evaluating different options, Jamie found Mintlify the most comprehensive solution. Its out-of-the-box functionality offered everything Turso needed without the technical debt of maintaining a custom build.

Modern look and feel, right out-of-the-box

Migrating to Mintlify immediately elevated the quality of Turso’s documentation. The platform’s built-in components gave Turso a modern, polished look right out of the box, without the need for additional engineering effort. Documentation now looked like a natural extension of the product that Turso could confidently showcase.

“Once we migrated our documentation to Mintlify, we were getting compliments all the time.”

Instead of spending weeks building and styling a custom site, Jamie could focus his time on what mattered most: revamping the content and improving the information hierarchy. Within his first month, he had completely overhauled Turso’s documentation, surprising his team with the speed and quality of the transformation.

Mintlify’s API playground is another highlight. Previously, the Turso team had to build a custom plugin to allow developers to test APIs, which introduced more maintenance burden. With Mintlify, Turso now provides an interactive API experience, without any added overhead for engineering.

“With Mintlify, it’s made the process of writing and previewing the documentation so much better.”

Mintlify also equips Turso with built-in analytics, a valuable tool to identify how their documentation is performing. Seeing which pages and search terms are most popular has helped their team understand which user experiences to prioritize.

What’s next

The new documentation workflow has been a game-changer for Turso. Jamie can now maintain clear, well-structured documentation without maintenance overhead, helping Turso ensure their documentation keeps up with their fast-evolving product.

Want to revamp your documentation like Turso? Request a preview of what your docs would look like in Mintlify, or sign up to get started today.

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