Protecting your documentation and controlling who has access is a critical part of managing your project. GitDocAI provides flexible security settings that allow you to toggle between public and private access, as well as granular controls over what information is visible to your readers.
Public vs. Private Access
The most important security decision for your documentation is whether it should be publicly accessible on the internet or restricted to authorized users. You can configure this at the project or section level.
| Access Level | Description | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| Public | Anyone with the link can view the documentation. No login is required. | Open-source projects, public API references, and user manuals. |
| Private | Only authenticated users with the correct permissions can view the content. | Internal company wikis, private beta documentation, and sensitive architecture guides. |
If you switch a Private documentation section to Public, all underlying pages and resources immediately become accessible to anyone on the internet. Always double-check your content before making this change.
Access Flow
Here is how the system determines if a user can view a specific documentation page:
flowchart TD
A["User requests page"] --> B{"Is section Public?"}
B -- Yes --> C["Grant Access"]
B -- No --> D{"Is user logged in?"}
D -- Yes --> E{"Check Permissions"}
E -- "Authorized" --> C
E -- "Unauthorized" --> F["Deny Access (403)"]
D -- No --> G["Redirect to Login"]Configuring Metadata Visibility
Sometimes, security isn't just about who can see the page, but what details they can see about it. To protect author privacy or hide internal tracking details, you can toggle specific metadata fields on or off for your pages.
By default, GitDocAI tracks the following metadata, which you can choose to hide:
Author (
show_author)Reading Time (
show_reading_time)Publish Date (
show_publish_date)Update Date (
show_update_date)Tags (
show_tags)
Hiding the Author and Update Date is a common practice for public-facing documentation where you want the content to appear as a unified brand voice rather than individual contributions.
How to Update Security Settings
Follow these steps to update your access controls and metadata preferences:
- 1
Navigate to Access Control & Security
Open your project dashboard and click on the Access Control & Security folder (look for the shield icon in your sidebar).
- 2
Select your target section
Choose the specific folder or page you want to secure. Security settings can be applied globally or inherited by child pages.
- 3
Toggle Visibility
Set the primary access level to either Public or Private.
- 4
Adjust Metadata Preferences
Scroll down to the Metadata Visibility section and uncheck any fields (like Author or Publish Date) that you want to hide from readers.
- 5
Save and Publish
Click Save to apply your new security configuration. If your site is already live, the changes will take effect immediately.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I make a single page private within a public folder?
Currently, access control is managed at the folder or section level. If a folder is public, all published pages within it are public. To restrict a specific page, move it to a Private section.
If I hide the author metadata, is it deleted?
No. Toggling show_author to false only hides the author's name from the published, reader-facing documentation. The author information is still safely stored in your GitDocAI workspace for internal auditing.