How to add permalinks to tree nodes in Markdown nav file (mkdocs.yml)?

Question

The mkdocs.yml nav file I am working with includes a hierarchical tree of a manuals website with several categories and subcategories the content articles fall into; the tre

Answer 1

I have implemented a plugin for this functionality, "mkdocs-section-index", and it works similarly to what @Waylan describes -- or actually more similar to the dropped pull request #1042, because most of the logic is outside of the theme/template. The special sections with a link are explicitly put into the nav and presented as such to the theme, so it doesn't need to find and exclude this "first child" itself.

mkdocs.yml:

plugins:
  - section-index
nav:
  - Frob: index.md
  - Baz: baz.md
  - Borgs:
    - borgs/index.md
    - Bar: borgs/bar.md
    - Foo: borgs/foo.md

That gives you a nav like this:

• Frob
• Baz
• Borgs
  • Bar
  • Foo

It makes sense to me that this functionality couldn't be included by default, but a plugin as a way to opt in seems perfectly fine.