CLI Commands

DocAnvil provides three subcommands: init, serve, and build.

Global Flags

docanvil init

Scaffold a new documentation project.

docanvil init <name>

Creates a project directory with:

• docanvil.toml — project configuration
• nav.toml — navigation structure
• docs/ — content directory with starter pages
• theme/custom.css — empty custom stylesheet

# Create a docs project
docanvil init my-docs

# Create and immediately start serving
docanvil init my-docs && cd my-docs && docanvil serve

docanvil serve

Start a development server with live reload.

docanvil serve [--host <address>] [--port <port>]

The server:

• Builds the site on startup
• Watches all project files for changes (Markdown, TOML, CSS, templates)
• Rebuilds affected pages on file change
• Notifies the browser via WebSocket at /__docanvil_ws
• The browser reloads automatically — no manual refresh needed

# Default: localhost:3000
docanvil serve

# Custom host and port
docanvil serve --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8080

# Verbose output to see rebuild events
docanvil serve --verbose

docanvil build

Generate the static HTML site for deployment.

docanvil build [--out <path>] [--clean]

The build pipeline processes each page through:

1. Directive expansion (components)
2. Popover conversion
3. Markdown rendering (comrak with GFM)
4. Wiki-link resolution
5. Inline attribute injection
6. Template wrapping (Tera layout)

Static assets (custom CSS, images) are copied to the output directory.

# Default build to dist/
docanvil build

# Clean build to a custom directory
docanvil build --out public --clean

Related Pages

• Installation — install and create your first project
• Configuration — docanvil.toml and nav.toml reference