Docs: Python API page navigation is broken; hide: navigation front matter is inconsistent across MkDocs pages

[RamyaGuru]

Summary

The MkDocs Material site has two related navigation defects on the API Reference → Python API Usage page, plus a broader front-matter inconsistency behind one of them:

1. Python API Usage is the only page in the API Reference section that renders a left-hand nav menu. The site convention is to hide the LHS nav (top tabs + in-page links handle navigation); python.md is missing the hide: navigation front matter its siblings all have.
2. The Python API Usage page is not listed in the top-down (left-hand) navigation menu of the MkDocs site, even though mkdocs.yml declares it under the API Reference section. So the one page that does show a menu is also the page missing from it.

These may share a root cause or be distinct — see Open questions.

Reproduction

1. Open the live docs, visit API Reference → C++ API Usage — no left-hand nav menu (expected).
2. Visit API Reference → Python API Usage — a left-hand nav tree appears (symptom 1).
3. In that menu, note that Python API Usage itself is not listed as an entry (symptom 2).
4. The visible-menu mismatch from step 2 also exists across the Benchmarking section and one Tutorials page (see inventory).

Inventory (hide: navigation front matter)

Convention is "hide the LHS nav." Pages that already follow it:

• docs/getting-started.md
• docs/concepts.md
• docs/api-reference/index.md
• docs/api-reference/configuration.md
• docs/api-reference/cpp.md
• docs/tutorials/configuration-walkthrough.md
• docs/tutorials/system_configuration.md

Pages missing the front matter (they render a LHS menu out of step with their siblings):

• docs/api-reference/python.md ← originally reported; only API Reference page with a LHS menu
• docs/benchmarks/benchmarks.md
• docs/benchmarks/raw_benchmarking.md
• docs/benchmarks/socket_benchmarking.md
• docs/tutorials/bare-metal-cmake-build.md

Proposed fix

For symptom 1 and the broader inconsistency, add the standard front matter to the top of each of the 5 pages above:

---
hide:
  - navigation
---

docs/tutorials/configuration-walkthrough.md is the precedent that this is the right direction: it hides the LHS nav and keeps a "Previous/Next" footer, so the Benchmarking and bare-metal pages stay uniform without losing their sequential footers.

For symptom 2, confirm mkdocs.yml lists Python API Usage: api-reference/python.md under the API Reference nav block (it currently does), then verify whether the missing menu entry is a side effect of the inconsistent front matter / build state or a separate rendering issue, and fix accordingly.

Open questions

• Is symptom 2 ("not listed in the top-down menu") resolved by the front-matter fix, or is it an independent mkdocs.yml / theme nav issue? Needs a mkdocs build + render check after the front-matter change.

Acceptance criteria

• All 5 pages carry hide: navigation.
• No page in any section is the lone one rendering a LHS nav menu (verify API Reference, Benchmarking, Tutorials).
• Python API Usage appears in the navigation wherever the section's pages are listed.
• Existing "Previous/Next" footers on the Benchmarking and bare-metal pages are preserved.
• mkdocs build --strict passes (CI docs gate stays green).