April 2020. Video conferencing went from optional to mandatory in two weeks. Zoom was everywhere, but hospitals, governments, and schools needed self-hosted options. Jitsi Meet was the answer. Getting it running was not.
The Documentation Gap
Jitsi’s official docs covered basics. Production deployments (recording, multiple video bridges, authentication, SRTP) required stitching together GitHub issues, stale forum threads, and half-updated blog posts. I was deploying Jitsi for projects and kept hitting the same walls. Each time I solved something, I wrote it down. Those notes became Easy Jitsi.
Starting Small
The first version covered three things: Ubuntu installation, Nginx config, and Jibri setup for recording. I posted it in a few Jitsi community channels.
Pull requests came within days. Typo fixes first, then full guides from people who’d solved problems I hadn’t hit yet. The documentation grew because people were deploying Jitsi and found it useful enough to improve.
What Worked
Structure over completeness. I organized by task: install, configure, secure, scale, record. Not by component. People don’t arrive at documentation knowing the architecture. They arrive with a goal.
Docusaurus. It’s opinionated about structure, which meant contributors could focus on content. Sidebar navigation, search, and versioning came for free.
Treating docs as maintenance. Jitsi changes. Ubuntu versions change. Cloud provider interfaces change. The repos that stay useful are the ones with someone responding to issues.
What I’d Do Differently
More failure mode coverage. Good documentation tells you what to do when things work. Real value is in troubleshooting: what does it look like when Jibri can’t connect? Which logs to check when video bridges stop scaling? That knowledge is the hardest to write because you have to break things on purpose.
The Numbers
155 stars on GitHub, 13 forks. The companion project Awesome Jitsi has 51+ stars.
The number I can’t measure: how many people deployed Jitsi because the docs made it less intimidating. Based on issues and messages, it’s more than a few.
The Takeaway
The best documentation comes from someone who recently struggled with what they’re documenting. Experts forget what’s confusing. Beginners don’t know what to ask. The sweet spot is right after you’ve figured something out and can still remember what not knowing felt like.
If you’re deploying Jitsi, check out docs.easyjitsi.com. If something is wrong or missing, open a PR.