Zensical – A modern static site generator built by the Material for MkDocs team
13 days ago
- #documentation
- #static-site-generator
- #open-source
- Zensical is a new static site generator developed by the Material for MkDocs team to overcome MkDocs' limitations.
- Built from scratch for modern authoring and developer experiences, with plans for a module system for customization.
- Offers compatibility with existing Material for MkDocs projects, supporting mkdocs.yml configurations with minimal changes.
- Fully Open Source under MIT license, with a new professional offering called Zensical Spark for enterprise users.
- Introduces ZRX, a differential build engine, for faster builds and improved performance.
- Features Disco, a new client-side search engine, with plans to release it as a standalone project in 2026.
- Focuses on improving the authoring experience with faster feedback loops and future plans for a Rust-based Markdown toolchain.
- Aims for maximum compatibility with Material for MkDocs, including support for existing plugins through a new module system.
- Material for MkDocs enters maintenance mode due to MkDocs being unmaintained, with Zensical presented as the future path.
- Announces team growth, including Timothée Mazzucotelli, to enhance API documentation features.
- Transitions from GitHub Sponsors to a professional business model to sustain Open Source development.
- Plans for the next 12 months include introducing module and component systems, and CommonMark support.