in tsconfig.json we can see that it is a paths alias to something generated at build (?) time

    "paths": {
      "contentlayer/generated": ["./.contentlayer/generated"]
    },

It seems to maybe be indexing the MDX files to aid in navigation?

It uses the actual Next built-in MDX support to finally render it though https://github.com/leerob/leerob.io/blob/3038b518f3e6746a9e6f7bb790d80ece37b484f8/app/blog/%5Bslug%5D/page.tsx#L110C10-L110C36

This is definitely a pretty complicated way if you want do just load some static MDX files, but a pretty good example of how to do a blog with metadata from the MDX posts like

---
title: 'Programming Portfolios'
publishedAt: '2017-02-24'
summary: 'Tips for creating a portfolio that stands out.'
---

it actually still uses contentlayer to render... https://github.com/leerob/leerob.io/blob/main/app/components/mdx.tsx#L102

see contentlayer docs for how it works: [[docs](https://contentlayer.dev/docs/environments/nextjs-dcf8e39e)] [[nextjs example](https://contentlayer.dev/examples/nextjs)]

i would argue its actually easier as you don't need to implement your own file api

but it might require some more understanding to initially work it out (for markdown, id say better, but just pages with jsx, harder)

Yes, I concur. Not sure how I missed it.

in either case, try the built in Next MDX support first, it is pretty good

@ascee are you there/ do you understand what minabot and I shared...

Absolutely sorry for not replying! Was Trying these as you shared thank you so much

ahh yeah thats understandable

(i just wanted to make sure you didn't leave the server or give up like some do)

contentlayer is very good when you need typed metadata for mdx files

we holding strong here