mkdocs-simple-plugin

This plugin enables you to build documentation from markdown files interspersed within your code using mkdocs. It is designed for the way developers commonly write documentation in their own code -- with simple markdown files.

About

You may be wondering why you would want to generate a static site for your project, without doing the typical "wiki" thing of consolidating all documentation within a single docs folder or using a single README file.

My repository is too big for a single documentation source.

Sometimes it isn't really feasible to consolidate all documentation within an upper level docs directory. This is often the case with medium/large repositories. In general, if your code base is too large to fit well within a single include directory, your code base is probably also too large for documentation to fit within a single docs directory.

Since it's typically easier to keep documentation up to date when it lives as close to the code as possible, it is better to create multiple sources for documentation.
My repository is too simple for advanced documentation.

If your code base is very very large, something like the monorepo plugin might better fit your needs.

For most other medium+ repositories that have grown over time, you probably have scattered documentation throughout your code. By combining all of that documentation while keeping folder structure, you can better surface and collaborate with others. And, let's face it. That documentation is probably all in markdown, since github renders it nicely.
I want a pretty documentation site without the hassle.

Finally, you may be interested in this plugin if you have a desire for stylized documentation, but don't want to invest the time/energy in replicating information you already have in your README.md files, and you want to keep them where they are (thank you very much).

Getting Started

This plugin was made to be super simple to use.

Install the plugin with pip.

pip install mkdocs-simple-plugin

Python 3.x, 3.5, 3.6, 3.7, 3.8 supported.

Build the docs

It's easy to use this plugin. You can either use the generation script included, or set up your own custom config.

Basic

Basic usage was optimized around ease of use. Simply run

mkdocs_simple_gen

and you're all set!

See mkdocs_simple_gen for more info.

Advanced

Advanced usage is also easy.

Create a mkdocs.yml file in the root of your directory and add this plugin to it's plugin list.

site_name: your_site_name
plugins:
  - simple

See mkdocs-simple-plugin for more info.

Then, you can build the mkdocs from the command line.

mkdocs build

Run a local server

One of the best parts of mkdocs is it's ability to serve (and update!) your documentation site locally.

mkdocs serve

Run in a docker container

Additionally, you can use this plugin with the athackst/mkdocs-simple-plugin docker image.

By using the docker image, you don't need to have the plugin or its dependencies installed on your system.

Install, build and serve your docs:

docker run --rm -it --network=host -v ${PWD}:/docs --user $(id -u):$(id -g) -e HOME=/tmp athackst/mkdocs-simple-plugin

Explanation of docker command line options

command	description
`--rm`	[optional] remove the docker image after it finishes running.
`-it`	[optional] run in an interactive terminal.
`--network=host`	[required] Attach to the host network (needed for serving the doc site locally).
`-v ${PWD}:/docs`	[required] Mount the local directory into the docs directory to build site.
`--user $(id -u):$(id -g)`	[recommended] Run the docker container with the current user and group.
`-e HOME=/tmp`	[recommended] Use the tmp directory for the home directory for the user (needed if you need to install dependencies).
`-e PATH=/tmp/.local/bin:$PATH`	[recommended] Set the path to point to the home directory (needed for installing some dependencies).

See mkdocs_simple_gen for a list of command line options you can set.

!!! tip Add an alias for the docker command to serve docs from any workspace.

```bash
echo 'function mkdocs_simple() { 
    docker run --rm -it --network=host -v ${PWD}:/docs --user $(id -u):$(id -g) -e HOME=/tmp -e PATH=/tmp/.local/bin:$PATH athackst/mkdocs-simple-plugin $@ 
}' >> ~/.bashrc
```

Deploy

Enable GitHub pages

First, set up your github repository to enable gh-pages support.

See Github Pages for more information.

Deploy from the command line

Mkdocs includes an easy command to initialize your deployment from the command line. This will set up the gh-pages branch and copy the site over.

mkdocs gh-deploy

Then push the results to your repository (or wherever you'd like to host your site).

Deploy from GitHub Actions

Create a yaml file with the following contents in the .github/workflows directory in your repository

name: Docs

on:
  push:
    branches: [master]

jobs:
  docs:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v2
      - name: Set up Python
        uses: actions/setup-python@v1
        with:
          python-version: "3.x"
      - name: Install dependencies
        run: |
          python -m pip install --upgrade pip
          if [ -f requirements.txt ]; then pip install -r requirements.txt; fi
      - name: Build Docs
        run: |
          mkdocs_simple_gen
      - name: Deploy to GitHub Pages
        uses: peaceiris/actions-gh-pages@v3
        with:
          github_token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
          publish_branch: gh-pages
          publish_dir: ./site

Build plugin from source

Prerequisites

You will need to have mkdocs installed on your system. I recommend installing it via pip to get the latest version.

sudo apt-get install python-pip
pip install --upgrade pip --user
pip install mkdocs --user

If you want to run the test suite, you'll also need 'bats'

sudo apt-get install bats

Develop

Install the package locally with

pip install -e .

Testing involves both linting with flake8

./tests/test_flake8.sh

and testing with bats

./tests/integration/test.bats

If you want to test against all the different versions of python, run the local test script.

./tests/test_local.sh

License

This software is licensed under Apache 2.0

tsvi/mkdocs-simple-plugin