---
title: "Class index as JSON"
manual: "Render guides"
version: "0.44"
permalink: "https://docs.typo3.org/permalink/t3renderguides:classindexjson"
source: "Developer/ClassIndex.rst"
rendered: "2026-09-23T14:52:35+00:00"
---

# Class index as JSON {#classindexjson}

Every manual is rendered with a `classes.json` beside its
[toc.json](https://docs.typo3.org/permalink/t3renderguides:tableofcontentsjson): every PHP class the manual speaks of,
and where it does so.

It answers what no rendered file answered before: where a class is explained,
and what else says anything about it. `objects.inv.json` lists what a
manual documents, which is the definitions alone.

```json
{
    "project": {
        "title": "TYPO3 Explained",
        "version": "main",
        "permalink": "https://docs.typo3.org/permalink/t3coreapi:{anchor}@main"
    },
    "classes": {
        "\\TYPO3\\CMS\\Core\\Utility\\GeneralUtility": {
            "type": "class",
            "places": [
                {
                    "path": "ApiOverview/Bootstrapping/Index",
                    "anchor": "bootstrapping-instantiation",
                    "kind": "role",
                    "member": "::makeInstance()"
                },
                {
                    "path": "ApiOverview/Bootstrapping/Index",
                    "anchor": "bootstrapping-instantiation",
                    "kind": "use"
                }
            ]
        }
    }
}
```

The project is described the way `toc.json` describes it, and the
`permalink` there works for the anchors here too.

Each class is named in full, with a leading backslash, and carries what it is
and the places that speak of it:

-   **type**

    What the TYPO3 API says the name is: `class`, `interface`,
    `trait` or `enum`. Left out for a name the API does not know --
    a class of an extension or of another vendor, but below
    `\TYPO3` also a namespace, a typo or an invented example. Nothing
    in the writing tells those apart: a `use` statement imports a
    namespace and a class alike.

-   **places**

    Where the manual speaks of the class, ordered by page and anchor. Each
    place says:

-   **path**

    The page within the manual, relative to this file and without an
    extension, as in `toc.json`.

-   **anchor**

    The label of the section the class is spoken of in, so that a link leads to
    the passage rather than to the top of the page. Fill it into the project's
    `permalink`. For a `definition` it is the anchor of the class
    itself.

-   **kind**

    What the place is:

    -   **role**

        The class is named in the text, with `:php:` or
        `:php-short:`.

    -   **use**

        A PHP example imports the class with a `use` statement. What the
        example then does with it is not counted again.

    -   **definition**

        The manual documents the class itself, with
        `.. php:class::` or one of its siblings.

-   **member**

    The member the text names, as it is written after the class:
    `::makeInstance()`, `->getAttribute()`, `::CONSTANT`.
    Left out where the text names the class alone, and only ever present on a
    `role`.

A class named twice in the same section is one place: an author repeating a
name does not make it a second mention.

A manual interested in one part of the world keeps that part alone, and names
the namespaces it wants. Everything below them is indexed, everything else is
passed over:

```xml
<extension class="\T3Docs\Typo3DocsTheme\DependencyInjection\Typo3DocsThemeExtension"
           indexed-namespaces="TYPO3\CMS, TYPO3Fluid"
/>
```

Unset, which is the default, the index keeps every class a manual speaks of.

In a manual about the past, a missing `type` mostly means the class is
gone rather than misspelled: the API knows the current version, and the
[Changelog](https://docs.typo3.org/permalink/t3renderguides:changelogindex) speaks of 855 classes that no longer
exist. Which release an entry belongs to is in its `path`, as in
`Changelog/12.1/Deprecation-98996-...`.

Classes below `Vendor`, `MyVendor`, `Foo` or
`OriginalVendor` are left out: an example invents them for the reader to
replace with their own, so where they are spoken of says nothing. A manual
that invents other names says so on the extension, and names all of them --
the setting replaces the list above rather than adding to it:

```xml
<extension class="\T3Docs\Typo3DocsTheme\DependencyInjection\Typo3DocsThemeExtension"
           example-vendors="Vendor, MyVendor, Acme"
/>
```

For TYPO3 Explained the file is about 750 KB, with 985 classes in 3083
places.