Docboot

Turn an existing Markdown folder into production-ready documentation.
Don't create a docs project. Point Docboot at your Markdown.

npx docboot .

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💡 Why Docboot?

Traditional documentation frameworks require initializing a dedicated frontend application, configuring complex bundlers (Vite, Webpack, Astro), managing JavaScript framework dependencies, and moving your documentation files into framework-specific folder structures.

Docboot is different:

Traditional docs tools:
  npm create docs-app ──► Configure framework ──► Move files ──► Maintain dependencies

Docboot workflow:
  cd your-project ──► npx docboot .

• No separate docs project to scaffold and maintain
• No framework setup (React, Vue, or JSX)
• No file migration — point directly at your existing Markdown directory
• No required configuration — sensible defaults for routes, navigation, search, and themes

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⚡ Core Pillars

1. Zero-Config by Default

Point Docboot at any Markdown folder. Clean URLs, numeric prefix sorting, hierarchical sidebars, breadcrumbs, table-of-contents scroll spy, and search indexes are built automatically.

2. Static by Default

Markdown files and code blocks are compiled ahead of time into portable, standalone static HTML with zero client-side parser dependencies.

3. In-Browser Local Search

No external search services and no per-query network requests. The pre-compiled index is loaded on demand and queried locally in memory with MiniSearch (Cmd + K).

4. Built-in Docs Tooling

Validate internal cross-links, redirects & aliases, missing images, and route conflicts with docboot doctor, and inspect documentation metrics with docboot stats. Redirects and aliases keep old documentation links working after reorganizing content.

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🚀 Quick Start

1. Local Development

Start the development server with live reload:

cd my-project
npx docboot .

Or target a specific folder and open your browser automatically:

npx docboot ./docs -o

2. Static Production Build

Compile standalone static assets to ./dist:

npx docboot build

Preview compiled output locally:

npx docboot serve

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🧩 Rich Primitives Without MDX

Build expressive technical documentation using native Markdown directives without JSX:

:::tabs group="package-manager" ::tab npm

npm install docboot

::tab pnpm

pnpm add docboot

:::

• Callouts: :::note, :::tip, :::warning, :::danger, :::info
• Tabs & Synced Groups: Synchronized tab selection across articles with group="..."
• Code Groups: Tabbed multi-language snippets (:::code-group)
• Collapsible Details: Native accessible <details> sections (:::details)
• Mermaid Diagrams: Interactive flowcharts and sequence graphs with dark/light mode awareness
• Safe Embeds: Sandboxed video and interactive demos with strict domain allowlists
• Galleries & Lightbox: Responsive image grids and zoom-in lightbox modals

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🩺 Built-in Diagnostics & Tooling

docboot doctor

Inspects documentation health and flags broken links, anchor mismatches, missing images, and route conflicts:

docboot doctor

  ▲ Docboot Doctor — Health Check

  ✔ 12 pages scanned
  ✔ 48 internal links verified
  ✔ 8 local image references verified
  
  Found 0 errors in 18ms.

docboot stats

Analyzes documentation metrics, bundle weights, and cache hit rates:

docboot stats

docboot setup github

Generates an official GitHub Actions workflow (.github/workflows/docs.yml) for publishing to GitHub Pages:

docboot setup github

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🛠️ CLI Reference

Command	Description
docboot [dir]	Starts local development server with SSE live reload
docboot build [dir]	Compiles static HTML and assets to dist/
docboot serve [dir]	Serves the static dist/ folder locally
docboot doctor [dir]	Diagnoses broken links, missing assets, and route collisions
docboot stats [dir]	Inspects page/word counts, bundle weights, and build duration
docboot setup github	Generates GitHub Actions workflow for GitHub Pages
docboot generate assets	Generates SVG favicons, social preview banners, and PWA manifests
docboot clean [dir]	Clears the local .docboot/ incremental cache folder

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⚙️ Configuration (docboot.config.js)

Docboot works with zero configuration. When customization is required, create an optional docboot.config.js:

export default {
  title: "My Project Documentation",
  description: "High-performance developer documentation",
  docs: "./docs",
  out: "./dist",
  repo: "https://github.com/org/my-project",
  theme: {
    preset: "zinc",          // "zinc" | "ocean" | "emerald" | "violet" | "amber" | "rose"
    defaultMode: "system",   // "system" | "dark" | "light"
    themeToggle: true,       // Dark/light mode switcher
    presetMenu: true,        // Palette and font customizer
    fontSizeControl: true    // A- / A+ reading font-size stepper
  },
  search: {
    fuzzy: 0.2,
    prefix: true,
    maxResults: 10
  },
  pwa: true,
  analytics: {
    google: { id: "G-XXXXXXXXXX" },
    plausible: { domain: "docs.example.com" }
  }
};

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📚 Complete Documentation

Explore the full documentation site at https://litepacks.github.io/docboot/:

• Getting Started:
  • Quick Start
  • Why Docboot?
  • Project Structure & Routing
• Guide:
  • Installation & Setup
  • Rich Content Primitives
  • Local Search Architecture
  • Themes & Customization
  • Mermaid Diagrams
  • PWA & Offline Reading
  • Analytics Integration
• Tooling:
  • Docboot Doctor
  • Docboot Stats
  • Incremental Build Cache
  • GitHub Pages Setup
  • Production Assets
• Advanced:
  • Architecture & Runtime
  • Performance & Benchmarks
• Reference:
  • CLI Reference
  • Configuration Reference
  • Directives Reference

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📄 License

MIT © 2026 Docboot