@order — sort any symbol within its group

@order N is a standalone within-group sort key for any symbol. The inline @category … order= only applies to a symbol that has a @category; @order works on a symbol that lives in its plain kind section too — a @module, @class, @namespace, etc. with no category:

CODE
/**
 * @module config
 * @order 1
 */

config now sorts first among the modules in the Modules section, instead of falling back to alphabetical order.

@order is an unknown tag — set tags.allowUnknownTags: true in your jsdoc.json or JSDoc strips it. See the overview. (TypeDoc needs no flag.)

When to use which

SituationUse
The symbol has a @categoryorder=N inline on that @category
The symbol sits in its kind section (no category)the standalone @order N
The symbol has bothboth are read — see precedence below

A missing or non-numeric value is left undefined, so the symbol sorts last (alphabetically). @order is read by readOrder in generate-site.ts.

Precedence: @category … order= wins

When a symbol carries both a @category … order= option and a standalone @order, the inline @category order wins — it's the more specific, co-located declaration. The resolved value is computed as category?.order ?? readOrder(doclet) in renderContainerPage, and both feed the same frontmatter.order the sidebar reads.

CODE
/**
 * `order=1` (from @category) wins; the `@order 9` below is ignored here.
 * @category Core order=1
 * @order 9
 */
export class Parser {}

So reach for the standalone @order precisely when there's no category to hang an order= off of.

The prose counterpart

On a guide page (prose), the equivalent is the order frontmatter field, which sorts the page within its group exactly like @order sorts a symbol — see Build a guides site.

See also