diff --git a/linkerd.io/.gitignore b/linkerd.io/.gitignore
index 1c3fa7397f..b42f06a485 100644
--- a/linkerd.io/.gitignore
+++ b/linkerd.io/.gitignore
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
 public/
 resources/
 .hugo_build.lock
+public-plaintext
diff --git a/linkerd.io/config/_default/outputformats.yaml b/linkerd.io/config/_default/outputformats.yaml
index 60aaa1b31a..81905affea 100644
--- a/linkerd.io/config/_default/outputformats.yaml
+++ b/linkerd.io/config/_default/outputformats.yaml
@@ -6,3 +6,11 @@ RSS:
 SearchIndex:
   baseName: search
   mediaType: application/json
+
+# Plain-text output with shortcodes expanded — consumed by the Linky
+# doc indexer so that shortcode content (CLI tables, notes, warnings)
+# is included in the search index.
+Plaintext:
+  baseName: index
+  mediaType: text/plain
+  notAlternative: true
diff --git a/linkerd.io/config/_default/outputs.yaml b/linkerd.io/config/_default/outputs.yaml
index 43c6c78541..9f1c44e7ba 100644
--- a/linkerd.io/config/_default/outputs.yaml
+++ b/linkerd.io/config/_default/outputs.yaml
@@ -1,8 +1,10 @@
 # Turn off RSS by default; an individual section can choose to enable it
 page:
   - HTML
+  - Plaintext
 home:
   - HTML
   - SearchIndex
 section:
   - HTML
+  - Plaintext
diff --git a/linkerd.io/layouts/_default/list.plaintext.txt b/linkerd.io/layouts/_default/list.plaintext.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..0b2951bf72
--- /dev/null
+++ b/linkerd.io/layouts/_default/list.plaintext.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+---
+title: {{ .Title }}
+{{- with .Date }}
+date: {{ .Format "2006-01-02" }}
+{{- end }}
+{{- with .Description }}
+description: {{ . }}
+{{- end }}
+---
+{{ .Content }}
diff --git a/linkerd.io/layouts/_default/single.plaintext.txt b/linkerd.io/layouts/_default/single.plaintext.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..0b2951bf72
--- /dev/null
+++ b/linkerd.io/layouts/_default/single.plaintext.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+---
+title: {{ .Title }}
+{{- with .Date }}
+date: {{ .Format "2006-01-02" }}
+{{- end }}
+{{- with .Description }}
+description: {{ . }}
+{{- end }}
+---
+{{ .Content }}