Explore

The browse-everything section of a hub page. It is a titled band holding a stack of collapsible accordions, and it wraps one or more {card-group} directives.

A hub's full link list can run to nine or ten sections. Without grouping that is a very long page, so {explore} collapses it into a scannable stack.

See the docs-builder documentation hub for a rendered stack.

Basic

		:::::{explore}
:id: explore
:title: Explore the docs toolchain
:intro: Find what you need, organized by task.

::::{card-group}
:title: Quick links
:id: quick-links

:::{link-card}
title: Releases and APIs
links:
  - label: Exporters
    url: /data/exporters/index.md
  - label: API reference
    url: /data/api.md
:::
::::

::::{card-group}
:title: Authoring
:id: authoring

:::{link-card}
title: Syntax
links:
  - label: Directives
    url: /syntax/directives.md
:::
::::
:::::
		
	

Options

Option	Notes
`:title:`	Required. H2 heading, for example "Explore Elasticsearch".
`:intro:`	Intro paragraph below the heading.
`:id:`	Section anchor. Use `explore` so `{hero}`'s tertiary action can jump to it.
`:mode:`	Which accordions are open on load: `collapsed`, `first`, or `expanded`. Defaults to `collapsed`. See Modes.
`:level:`	Heading level of the section title: `2` (default) or `3`. See Nested sections.

What nesting changes

{explore} carries no options for individual accordions. Nesting drives everything:

Each {card-group} inside becomes one accordion. Its :title: is the accordion header.
All accordions start collapsed. Set :mode: on the {explore} to open the first one or all of them.
A reader can expand as many accordions as they want. Expanding one does not collapse the others.
Each {link-card} inside renders as a link column rather than a bordered card.

Toggling uses native <details> and <summary>, so it works without JavaScript.

Modes

The :mode: option sets which accordions are open when the page loads. A reader can still open and close any accordion.

Mode	Behavior
`collapsed`	Every accordion is closed. This is the default.
`first`	The first accordion is open. The rest are closed.
`expanded`	Every accordion is open.

An unknown value produces a warning, and the section renders as collapsed.

Several Explore sections on one page

Every {explore} section applies its own mode. To keep a single accordion open on a page with more than one {explore}, set :mode: first on one section and leave the others at the default:

		:::::{explore}
:id: explore
:title: Explore the docs toolchain
:mode: first

::::{card-group}
:title: Quick links
...
::::
:::::

:::::{explore}
:id: explore-advanced
:title: Go further

::::{card-group}
:title: Extending
...
::::
:::::
		
	

Fence depth

Nesting three directives needs three fence widths. The outer fence always needs one more colon than its deepest child:

Directive	Fence
`{explore}`	`:::::`
`{card-group}`	`::::`
`{link-card}`	`:::`

Nested sections

By default the section title is an H2. A hub with several Explore sections can group them under one H2 and render the others as H3s. Set :level: 3 on each section that belongs under the H2.

		:::::{explore}
:id: explore
:title: Explore Kibana docs
:intro: Find the app or task you need.

::::{card-group}
:title: Quick links
...
::::
:::::

:::::{explore}
:id: use-kibana
:title: Use Kibana
:level: 3

::::{card-group}
:title: Explore and analyze data
...
::::
:::::
		
	

The level moves the whole outline with it:

`:level:`	Section title	Accordion title	Link column title
`2`	H2	H3	H4
`3`	H3	H4	H5

An H3 section also renders a step smaller than an H2 section and sits closer to the section above it. A level other than 2 or 3 produces a warning, and the section renders as 2.