diff --git a/packages/gitbook/src/components/PageBody/PageHeader.tsx b/packages/gitbook/src/components/PageBody/PageHeader.tsx
index 4b7d822e6..dc1138639 100644
--- a/packages/gitbook/src/components/PageBody/PageHeader.tsx
+++ b/packages/gitbook/src/components/PageBody/PageHeader.tsx
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ import { categorizeVariants } from '../SpaceLayout/categorizeVariants';
 import { BreadcrumbItemDropdown, type BreadcrumbSibling } from './BreadcrumbItemDropdown';
 import { PageTags } from './PageTags';
 import type { GitBookSiteContext, SiteStructureNode } from '@/lib/context';
-import { type AncestorRevisionPage, resolveFirstDocument } from '@/lib/pages';
+import { getPageDescription, type AncestorRevisionPage, resolveFirstDocument } from '@/lib/pages';
 import { getLocalizedTitle, getSiteSpaceURL } from '@/lib/sites';
 import { tcls } from '@/lib/tailwind';
 import { getPageRSSURL } from '@/routes/rss';
@@ -132,6 +132,7 @@ export async function PageHeader(props: {
     }
     const hasContextCrumbs = contextCrumbs.length > 0;
     const showBreadcrumbs = hasAncestors || hasContextCrumbs;
+    const description = getPageDescription(page);
 
     const pageActionsEnabled = page.layout.actions !== false;
 
@@ -148,7 +149,7 @@ export async function PageHeader(props: {
     ].some((type) => isPageActionEnabled(context.customization, type));
     const hasPageActions = pageActionsEnabled && (hasConfiguredPageActions || withRSSFeed);
 
-    if (!page.layout.title && !page.layout.description && !hasPageActions) {
+    if (!page.layout.title && !description && !hasPageActions) {
         return null;
     }
 
@@ -265,7 +266,7 @@ export async function PageHeader(props: {
                     {page.title}
                 </h1>
             ) : null}
-            {page.description && page.layout.description ? (
+            {description ? (
                 <p
                     data-cover-aware-text
                     data-over-cover
@@ -277,7 +278,7 @@ export async function PageHeader(props: {
                         'clear-both'
                     )}
                 >
-                    {page.description}
+                    {description}
                 </p>
             ) : null}
         </>
diff --git a/packages/gitbook/src/lib/markdownPage.test.ts b/packages/gitbook/src/lib/markdownPage.test.ts
index f7eb9d955..c0a5e8253 100644
--- a/packages/gitbook/src/lib/markdownPage.test.ts
+++ b/packages/gitbook/src/lib/markdownPage.test.ts
@@ -1,8 +1,10 @@
 import { describe, expect, it } from 'bun:test';
 
-import type { GitBookAnyContext } from './context';
+import type { RevisionPageDocument } from '@gitbook/api';
+
+import type { GitBookAnyContext, GitBookSiteContext } from './context';
 import { createLinker, linkerWithDirectPagePaths, linkerWithMarkdownPages } from './links';
-import { fromPageMarkdown, toPageMarkdown } from './markdownPage';
+import { fromPageMarkdown, getMarkdownForPage, toPageMarkdown } from './markdownPage';
 
 const page = {
     id: 'designer',
@@ -32,6 +34,84 @@ async function rewrite(markdown: string) {
     return toPageMarkdown(await fromPageMarkdown(context, { markdown, pagePath: 'workflows' }));
 }
 
+async function renderPage(
+    markdown: string,
+    pageOverrides: Omit<Partial<RevisionPageDocument>, 'layout'> & {
+        layout?: Partial<RevisionPageDocument['layout']>;
+    }
+) {
+    const page = {
+        ...pageBase,
+        ...pageOverrides,
+        layout: {
+            ...pageBase.layout,
+            ...pageOverrides.layout,
+        },
+    } as RevisionPageDocument;
+
+    return getMarkdownForPage(
+        {
+            ...context,
+            revisionId: 'revision',
+            dataFetcher: {
+                getRevisionPageMarkdown: async () => ({ data: markdown }),
+            },
+        } as unknown as GitBookSiteContext,
+        { page, ancestors: [] }
+    );
+}
+
+const pageBase = {
+    ...page,
+    layout: {
+        description: true,
+    },
+} as RevisionPageDocument;
+
+describe('page descriptions in markdown', () => {
+    it('renders visible descriptions immediately after the H1', async () => {
+        expect(
+            await renderPage('# About the Workflow Designer\n\nSome content.', {
+                description: 'Design workflows visually.',
+            })
+        ).toBe('# About the Workflow Designer\n\nDesign workflows visually.\n\nSome content.\n');
+    });
+
+    it('omits hidden and missing descriptions', async () => {
+        const pageMarkdown = '# About the Workflow Designer\n\nSome content.';
+        const markdown = await renderPage(pageMarkdown, {
+            description: 'Design workflows visually.',
+            layout: { description: false },
+        });
+
+        expect(markdown).toBe('# About the Workflow Designer\n\nSome content.\n');
+        expect(await renderPage(pageMarkdown, {})).toBe(
+            '# About the Workflow Designer\n\nSome content.\n'
+        );
+    });
+
+    it('keeps child links for an otherwise empty parent page', async () => {
+        const markdown = await renderPage('# Workflows\n', {
+            title: 'Workflows',
+            description: 'Build and manage workflows.',
+            pages: [
+                {
+                    ...pageBase,
+                    id: 'child',
+                    title: 'First workflow',
+                    path: 'first-workflow',
+                    slug: 'first-workflow',
+                    pages: [],
+                },
+            ],
+        });
+
+        expect(markdown).toContain('# Workflows');
+        expect(markdown).toContain('Build and manage workflows.');
+        expect(markdown).toContain('First workflow');
+    });
+});
+
 describe('HTML links in page markdown', () => {
     it.each([
         ['/pages/designer', linker.toPathForPagePath({ path: page.path })],
diff --git a/packages/gitbook/src/lib/markdownPage.ts b/packages/gitbook/src/lib/markdownPage.ts
index 75590995e..92929cb7a 100644
--- a/packages/gitbook/src/lib/markdownPage.ts
+++ b/packages/gitbook/src/lib/markdownPage.ts
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ import {
 } from '@/lib/context';
 import { DataFetcherError, throwIfDataError } from '@/lib/data';
 import type { ResolvedPagePath } from '@/lib/pages';
+import { getPageDescription } from '@/lib/pages';
 import { getIndexablePages } from '@/lib/sitemap';
 import { getMarkdownForPagesTree } from '@/routes/llms';
 
@@ -70,13 +71,14 @@ export async function getMarkdownForPage(
         markdown: rawMarkdown,
         pagePath: page.path,
     });
-    insertDescriptionAfterHeading(tree, page.description);
 
     // Handle empty document pages which have children
     if (isEmptyMarkdownPage(tree) && page.pages.length > 0) {
         return servePageGroup(context, page);
     }
 
+    insertDescriptionAfterHeading(tree, getPageDescription(page));
+
     return toPageMarkdown(tree);
 }
 
@@ -107,13 +109,14 @@ export async function getMarkdownForPageInSpace(
         markdown: rawMarkdown,
         pagePath: page.path,
     });
-    insertDescriptionAfterHeading(tree, page.description);
 
     // Handle empty document pages which have children (same as getMarkdownForPage)
     if (isEmptyMarkdownPage(tree) && page.pages.length > 0) {
         return renderGroupPageMarkdown({ linker: siteSpaceContext.linker, page });
     }
 
+    insertDescriptionAfterHeading(tree, getPageDescription(page));
+
     return toPageMarkdown(tree);
 }
 
@@ -225,7 +228,8 @@ async function renderGroupPageMarkdown(args: {
 }): Promise<string> {
     const { linker, page } = args;
     const indexablePages = getIndexablePages(page.pages);
-    const description = page.type === RevisionPageType.Document ? page.description : undefined;
+    const description =
+        page.type === RevisionPageType.Document ? getPageDescription(page) : undefined;
 
     const markdownTree: Root = {
         type: 'root',
diff --git a/packages/gitbook/src/lib/pages.test.ts b/packages/gitbook/src/lib/pages.test.ts
index f74da9131..d4cdfba7c 100644
--- a/packages/gitbook/src/lib/pages.test.ts
+++ b/packages/gitbook/src/lib/pages.test.ts
@@ -9,12 +9,29 @@ import {
 
 import {
     extractPagePath,
+    getPageDescription,
     getSimilarPages,
     resolveFirstDocument,
     resolvePagePath,
     resolvePagePathDocumentOrGroup,
 } from './pages';
 
+describe('getPageDescription', () => {
+    const page = {
+        description: 'A useful description',
+        layout: { description: true },
+    };
+
+    it('returns the description when it is visible', () => {
+        expect(getPageDescription(page)).toBe(page.description);
+    });
+
+    it('omits hidden and missing descriptions', () => {
+        expect(getPageDescription({ ...page, layout: { description: false } })).toBeUndefined();
+        expect(getPageDescription({ layout: { description: true } })).toBeUndefined();
+    });
+});
+
 describe('extractPagePath', () => {
     const baseURL = 'https://docs.example.com/api/';
 
diff --git a/packages/gitbook/src/lib/pages.ts b/packages/gitbook/src/lib/pages.ts
index 8bcfc60bc..277c68fcf 100644
--- a/packages/gitbook/src/lib/pages.ts
+++ b/packages/gitbook/src/lib/pages.ts
@@ -17,6 +17,15 @@ export type ResolvedPagePath<Page extends RevisionPageDocument | RevisionPageGro
     ancestors: AncestorRevisionPage[];
 };
 
+/** Return the page description when it is configured to be visible. */
+export function getPageDescription(
+    page: Pick<RevisionPageDocument, 'description'> & {
+        layout: Pick<RevisionPageDocument['layout'], 'description'>;
+    }
+): string | undefined {
+    return page.description && page.layout.description ? page.description : undefined;
+}
+
 /**
  * Resolve a page path to a page document.
  */
diff --git a/packages/gitbook/src/routes/llms-full.ts b/packages/gitbook/src/routes/llms-full.ts
index 64fbfbf08..5b6e17de9 100644
--- a/packages/gitbook/src/routes/llms-full.ts
+++ b/packages/gitbook/src/routes/llms-full.ts
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ import {
 import { throwIfDataError } from '@/lib/data';
 import { getMarkdownContentType } from '@/lib/markdown-content-type';
 import { fromPageMarkdown, toPageMarkdown } from '@/lib/markdownPage';
+import { getPageDescription } from '@/lib/pages';
 import { getIndexablePages } from '@/lib/sitemap';
 import { filterSiteSpacesByLocale, getSiteStructureSections } from '@/lib/sites';
 
@@ -199,12 +200,13 @@ async function getMarkdownForPage(
         pagePath: page.path,
     });
 
-    if (page.description) {
+    const description = getPageDescription(page);
+    if (description) {
         // The first node is the page title as a H1, we insert the description as a paragraph
         // after it.
         const descriptionNode: Paragraph = {
             type: 'paragraph',
-            children: [{ type: 'text', value: page.description }],
+            children: [{ type: 'text', value: description }],
         };
         tree.children.splice(1, 0, descriptionNode);
     }