---
layout: '~/layouts/Markdown.astro'
title: 'Integrated Wiki'
license: 'CC-BY-SA-4.0'
origin_url: 'https://codeberg.org/Codeberg/Documentation/src/commit/95574213ea1b57f207f60a12557ffbfc349ee274/content/getting-started/wiki.md'
---

A [wiki](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki) is a collaborative space on the web. It is a common practice to use wikis to collect knowledge and share information.  
Codeberg allows you to add a wiki to a repo for additional documentation.

The user in these examples is `knut`, the polar bear and its repository is `foobar`.

## Activation and Permissions

To enable the wiki for a repository, visit the `Settings` page and activate `Enable Repository Wiki` in the `Advanced Section`. It will default to the built-in wiki which is described here, but you can add an URI to an external site the "Wiki" tab should link to.

> **Warning**  
> Be aware that the wiki, once enabled, is accessible for _everyone_ who has `read` access to your repository - on public repositories even anonymous guests can access the wiki.  
> The wiki is _not_ a suitable place for storing private information or secrets (like passwords).

To edit the wiki `write` permission to the repository is required.

## Wiki structure

The wiki is essentially a separate Git repo in your repository with a predefined name in the form of `<your-repository-name>.wiki.git`.

It consists of [Markdown](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Markdown) files (file extension `.md`) and additional assets like images.  
No further stylesheets are needed. The Markdown files are automatically rendered according to the selected Forgejo theme.

## Adding content via web

After you have enabled the wiki you are prompted to create the initial page `Home.md`.

The web UI in your browser is currently limited to adding, updating, and deleting pages; you can't manage assets like images this way.

![Wiki home page with edit buttons](../../../../images/v1.20/user/wiki/wiki_pageview.png)

## Adding content via a local Git client

You can work with the wiki repo as you would with any other Git repo on Forgejo.

```shell
git clone git@codeberg.org:knut/foobar.wiki.git
cd foobar.wiki
nano Home.md # or your editor of choice
git commit -am "create Home page"
```

Editing locally allows you to use your favorite editor (preferably with Markdown syntax check and highlighting) and manage additional assets like images.

### Adding images

You can add images to the root directory or a specific subfolder (like `assets` or `images`) using your local Git client.

A feasible workflow might look like this:

```shell
# create a subfolder for images
mkdir images
cd images
# copy the image into this folder
git add images/image.png
git commit -m "add image"
git push
```

Now, you can reference the image in Markdown, like this:

```markdown
![image alt text](images/image.png 'image title')
```

After saving your changes, the image should be visible.

> In contrast to embedding external images, images in Git are only rendered after saving the wiki or Markdown file changes.

## Adding a sidebar and a footer

To enhance the usability of your wiki you can add a custom sidebar and a footer that are shown on every page. The sidebar will be displayed to the right of the main content and the footer below.

To enable the sidebar, just add a file named `_Sidebar.md` to your wiki. For a footer the file must be named `_Footer.md`.
Both file types allow common Markdown syntax to adjust the presentation to your needs.

Very basic example for a sidebar:

```markdown
- [[Home]]

### Content

- [Page 1](Page-1)

> knuts wiki
```

> These files starting with `_` are hidden, so in the web UI you need to manually browse for the files. E.g. for our user _knut_ and his _foobar_ repo:  
> `https://codeberg.org/knut/foobar/wiki/_Sidebar`