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mdPress

mdPress Logo

Go Version License: MIT Platform

中文说明

Publish Markdown as a polished docs site, printable PDF, portable HTML, and ePub.

$ mdpress build --format site,pdf,html,epub

  [1/5] Initializing theme system ... ✓ technical
  [2/5] Parsing chapters (4 top-level) ... ✓ 4 chapters
  [3/5] Generating cover and TOC ... ✓
  [4/5] Assembling HTML ... ✓
  [5/5] Generating output (site, pdf, html, epub) ... ✓

  ✅ Build completed (elapsed 845ms)
  ✓ Generated pdf   → /home/you/my-book/my-book.pdf
  ✓ Generated html  → /home/you/my-book/my-book.html
  ✓ Generated site  → /home/you/my-book/_book/index.html
  ✓ Generated epub  → /home/you/my-book/my-book.epub

Use book.yaml for full control, SUMMARY.md for GitBook-style projects, or zero-config discovery for a focused docs folder. For large repositories, point mdPress at the specific docs/book directory instead of the repo root.

Why Teams Use mdPress

  • One source, multiple outputs: build a docs site, a shareable HTML file, a PDF, and an ePub from the same Markdown project.
  • Fast writing loop: mdpress serve gives you live preview, search, sidebar navigation, and dark mode while you edit.
  • Works with existing Markdown: use book.yaml, SUMMARY.md, or a clean folder of Markdown files.
  • Fits publishing workflows: migrate from GitBook/HonKit, export for review, or deploy the generated static site anywhere.

Best Fit

  • Technical documentation that needs a deployable static site and a printable PDF
  • Internal handbooks and playbooks maintained in Git
  • Guides and books that should also ship as HTML or ePub

Showcase

Technical Docs

  • Theme: technical
  • Best output: site + pdf
  • Good for product docs, API guides, operations runbooks

Team Handbook

  • Theme: minimal
  • Best output: site + html
  • Good for onboarding, internal standards, process docs

Book or Essay

  • Theme: elegant
  • Best output: pdf + epub
  • Good for long-form writing, essays, and narrative documentation

What the output looks like

mdpress serve generates a documentation site with sidebar navigation, chapter structure, and built-in themes:

mdPress site preview — sidebar navigation with chapters and content area

mdpress build --format site produces a polished multi-page site, ready for hosting:

mdPress site — command reference page with tables and navigation

Generated sites include:

  • full-text search with Cmd/Ctrl+K
  • sidebar navigation and per-page table of contents
  • dark mode

Installation

Homebrew (macOS)

brew tap yeasy/tap
brew install --cask mdpress

The Homebrew cask clears the macOS quarantine flag automatically, so Gatekeeper will not block it.

Go Install

go install github.com/yeasy/mdpress@latest

Docker

# Minimal image (~15 MB) — no Chromium, so pick a format that does not need it
docker run --rm --user "$(id -u):$(id -g)" -v "$(pwd):/book" \
  ghcr.io/yeasy/mdpress build --format site

# Full image (~300 MB) — bundles Chromium, so PDF works
docker run --rm --user "$(id -u):$(id -g)" -v "$(pwd):/book" \
  ghcr.io/yeasy/mdpress:full build --format pdf

build defaults to PDF, which the minimal image cannot produce. Use site, html, or epub there, or switch to the :full tag.

Both images run as an in-image mdpress user whose UID does not exist on your host, so without --user the container either cannot write into the mounted directory at all or leaves the generated files owned by an unrelated UID. --user "$(id -u):$(id -g)" makes the outputs yours. On Docker Desktop for macOS and Windows the mapping is handled for you and --user can be omitted.

Download Binary or Package

Download a pre-built binary for your platform from GitHub Releases.

Supported platforms: macOS (amd64 / arm64), Linux (amd64 / arm64), Windows (amd64 / arm64).

Since v0.7.12, releases also ship Linux packages (.deb, .rpm, .apk) and a checksummed source tarball.

Verify Your Download

Every release publishes a checksums.txt with a SHA-256 for each asset. Verify what you downloaded before running it — this is also the check to add to any CI step that installs mdPress with curl:

VERSION=0.8.2
BASE=https://github.com/yeasy/mdpress/releases/download/v${VERSION}

curl -fsSLO "${BASE}/mdpress_${VERSION}_linux_amd64.tar.gz"
curl -fsSLO "${BASE}/checksums.txt"

# Linux
sha256sum --ignore-missing -c checksums.txt
# macOS
shasum -a 256 --ignore-missing -c checksums.txt

The command must print OK for the file you downloaded. --ignore-missing lets you verify a single asset against the full list.

Releases are not signed and the macOS binaries are not notarized yet, so checksums.txt protects against a corrupted or truncated download, not against a compromised release. Build from source if you need a stronger guarantee.

macOS Gatekeeper note: binaries are not notarized yet. The Homebrew cask clears the quarantine flag for you; if you download the binary directly and macOS blocks it, clear the flag once:

xattr -d com.apple.quarantine ./mdpress

Get Started In 60 Seconds

# 1. Install mdpress (see Installation above)

# 2. Create a sample book and preview it
mdpress quickstart my-book
cd my-book
mdpress serve

Open http://127.0.0.1:9000 in your browser to see the live-preview site. Edit any .md file and the browser refreshes automatically. If you want mdPress to launch the browser for you, run mdpress serve --open:

flowchart LR
    A["Edit .md file"] --> B["mdPress detects change"]
    B --> C["Rebuilds HTML"]
    C --> D["Browser auto-refreshes"]
Loading

When you are ready to publish:

mdpress build --format pdf,html

That's it. You now have a printable PDF and a single-file HTML document.

Existing Projects

Already have a Markdown book project? Just point mdPress at it:

# Serve an existing project with live preview
mdpress serve ~/my-book/

# Build HTML output
mdpress build --format html ~/my-book/

# Build from a GitHub repository
mdpress build https://github.com/user/repo

# Migrate from GitBook/HonKit
mdpress migrate ~/my-gitbook-project/

mdPress automatically detects book.yaml, book.json, or SUMMARY.md. Zero-config discovery works best when a directory clearly maps to a single docs set or book.

What You Get

Format Command Result
PDF mdpress build --format pdf A printable book with cover, TOC, page numbers, margins, and optional watermarks
HTML mdpress build --format html A single .html file you can email or upload (math and diagrams load from a CDN — see below)
Site mdpress build --format site A multi-page website ready for GitHub Pages or Netlify
ePub mdpress build --format epub An ebook for Kindle, Apple Books, etc.
Typst mdpress build --format typst PDF backend via the Typst CLI as a Chromium-free alternative
Preview mdpress serve A local website with live reload

HTML vs Site: What's the difference?

  • html produces a single .html file with all chapters on one page, a sidebar for navigation, and images, styles and scripts inlined. Great for sharing via email or uploading to a file host.

    One caveat: a book containing math or Mermaid diagrams loads KaTeX and Mermaid from a public CDN when the reader opens it. Those requests are version-pinned and integrity-checked, and a reader who cannot reach the CDN sees an explanatory notice and the raw source rather than a blank space — but the page is not fully offline, and opening it tells the CDN the reader's IP. A book with neither math nor diagrams makes no network requests at all.

  • site produces a multi-page static website with one HTML file per chapter, an index page, and sidebar navigation. Designed for deployment to GitHub Pages, Netlify, or any static hosting platform.

Use html when you need a single portable file. Use site when you want a proper documentation website.

Three Ways To Use It

mdPress figures out your project structure automatically:

flowchart TD
    A["Your project folder"] --> B{"What's inside?"}
    B -->|"Has book.yaml"| C["Use the explicit config\n(full control)"]
    B -->|"Has SUMMARY.md"| D["Use GitBook-style TOC\n(great for migration)"]
    B -->|"Just .md files"| E["Auto-discover chapters\n(best for a focused docs folder)"]
    C --> F["Build any format"]
    D --> F
    E --> F
Loading

Already have a docs folder?

mdpress build ./docs --format html
mdpress serve ./docs

Migrating from GitBook?

If your project has a SUMMARY.md, mdPress picks it up automatically:

mdpress build    # reads SUMMARY.md, just works
mdpress serve    # live preview

See the full GitBook migration guide.

Want full control?

Create a book.yaml:

book:
  title: "My Book"
  author: "Author Name"

chapters:
  - title: "Preface"
    file: "README.md"
  - title: "Getting Started"
    file: "chapter01/README.md"

style:
  theme: "technical"    # or "elegant", "minimal"

output:
  toc: true
  cover: true

Then mdpress build --format pdf generates a professional PDF with cover page, table of contents, and syntax highlighting.

Build from a GitHub repo

mdpress build https://github.com/yeasy/agentic_ai_guide --format html
mdpress serve https://github.com/yeasy/agentic_ai_guide

Built-In Themes

mdPress ships with three themes. List them with mdpress themes list:

$ mdpress themes list
Available themes:

1. Technical (technical) [default]
   Description: Clean, professional style for technical documentation and IT books
   Colors: #12344D (heading) / #1C5A9E (link) / #1C5A9E (accent) / #FFFFFF (background)
   Properties:
     - Font: -apple-system
     - Base size 11pt, line height 1.75
     - Code highlighting: github
     - Page A4, margins 20/20/20/20 mm (top/right/bottom/left)

2. Elegant (elegant)
   Description: Elegant serif-based style for fiction, essays, and publishing
   Colors: #1B0000 (heading) / #8B6914 (link) / #A87B3B (accent) / #FFFBF0 (background)
   Properties:
     - Font: Songti SC
     - Base size 12pt, line height 1.80
     - Code highlighting: github
     - Page A4, margins 25/25/25/25 mm (top/right/bottom/left)

3. Minimal (minimal)
   Description: Minimal style with generous whitespace and high readability
   Colors: #000000 (heading) / #0000EE (link) / #1A1A1A (accent) / #FFFFFF (background)
   Properties:
     - Font: -apple-system
     - Base size 10pt, line height 1.70
     - Code highlighting: bw
     - Page A4, margins 30/30/30/30 mm (top/right/bottom/left)

Run 'mdpress themes show <theme-name>' to view theme details.
Example: mdpress themes show elegant

Set style.theme in book.yaml to switch themes. Custom themes are supported too: place a themes/<name>.yaml file in your project to define (or override) a theme, or point style.theme directly at a YAML theme file (e.g. style.theme: mytheme.yaml).

All Commands

Command What it does
mdpress build [source] Build PDF, HTML, site, or ePub
mdpress serve [source] Start live preview with auto-reload
mdpress quickstart [directory] Create a complete sample project
mdpress migrate [directory] Migrate from GitBook/HonKit to mdPress
mdpress init [directory] Generate book.yaml from existing Markdown files
mdpress validate [directory] Check your config and files for errors (--strict fails on warnings too, for CI)
mdpress doctor [directory] Verify your environment is set up correctly
mdpress config show [directory] Print the configuration a build would actually use
mdpress cache info|clear Inspect or delete the build cache
mdpress upgrade Check for and install a newer version of mdpress
mdpress completion <shell> Generate shell completion scripts
mdpress themes list|show|preview Explore built-in themes
mdpress version Print the current version (--json for scripts)

Requirements

  • Go 1.26+ for installation
  • Chrome or Chromium — only needed for PDF output with the default backend. HTML, site, and ePub work without it.
  • Typst CLI (optional) — enables the --format typst backend as a Chromium-free alternative when Typst is installed.

Chrome/Chromium Installation

System Chrome install
macOS brew install chromium or install Chrome
Ubuntu/Debian sudo apt install chromium-browser
Windows Install Google Chrome

Typst Installation (Optional)

For the Typst backend alternative, install Typst from typst.app.

Run mdpress doctor to check if everything is ready.

Learn More

Document Description
User Manual Complete guide to using mdPress
Command manuals Every flag and option explained
GitBook migration Step-by-step migration guide
Architecture How mdPress works internally
Roadmap What's coming next
Changelog Release history

Build From Source

git clone https://github.com/yeasy/mdpress.git
cd mdpress
make build        # binary at bin/mdpress
make test         # run all tests

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md.

License

MIT License

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Modern publishing system for books and documentations in markdown

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