# Configuration

Guide to all available configuration settings.

## Introduction

Project settings are always configured by using a YAML configuration file in the project directory named `mkdocs.yml`.

As a minimum this configuration file must contain the `site_name` setting. All other settings are optional.

## Project information

### site_name

This is a required setting, and should be a string that is used as the main title for the project documentation. For example:

    site_name: Marshmallow Generator

When rendering the theme this setting will be passed as the `site_name` context variable.

### site_url

Set the canonical URL of the site. This will add a link tag with the canonical URL to the generated HTML header.

default: `null`

### repo_url

When set, provides a link to your repository (GitHub, Bitbucket, GitLab, ...) on each page.

    repo_url: https://github.com/example/repository/

default: `null`

### repo_name

When set, provides the name for the link to your repository on each page.

default: `'GitHub'`, `'Bitbucket'` or `'GitLab'` if the `repo_url` matches those domains, otherwise the hostname from the `repo_url`.

### edit_uri

Path from the base `repo_url` to the docs directory when directly viewing a page, accounting for specifics of the repository host (e.g. GitHub, Bitbucket, etc), the branch, and the docs directory itself. MkDocs concatenates `repo_url` and `edit_uri`, and appends the input path of the page.

When set, and if your theme supports it, provides a link directly to the page in your source repository. This makes it easier to find and edit the source for the page. If `repo_url` is not set, this option is ignored. On some themes, setting this option may cause an edit link to be used in place of a repository link. Other themes may show both links.

The `edit_uri` supports query ('?') and fragment ('#') characters. For repository hosts that use a query or a fragment to access the files, the `edit_uri` might be set as follows. (Note the `?` and `#` in the URI...)

    # Query string example
    edit_uri: '?query=root/path/docs/'

    # Hash fragment example
    edit_uri: '#root/path/docs/'

For other repository hosts, simply specify the relative path to the docs directory.

    # Query string example
    edit_uri: root/path/docs/

Note

On a few known hosts (specifically GitHub, Bitbucket and GitLab), the `edit_uri` is derived from the 'repo_url' and does not need to be set manually. Simply defining a `repo_url` will automatically populate the `edit_uri` configs setting.

For example, for a GitHub- or GitLab-hosted repository, the `edit_uri` would be automatically set as `edit/master/docs/` (Note the `edit` path and `master` branch).

For a Bitbucket-hosted repository, the equivalent `edit_uri` would be automatically set as `src/default/docs/` (note the `src` path and `default` branch).

To use a different URI than the default (for example a different branch), simply set the `edit_uri` to your desired string. If you do not want any "edit URL link" displayed on your pages, then set `edit_uri` to an empty string to disable the automatic setting.

Warning

On GitHub and GitLab, the default "edit" path (`edit/master/docs/`) opens the page in the online editor. This functionality requires that the user have and be logged in to a GitHub/GitLab account. Otherwise, the user will be redirected to a login/signup page. Alternatively, use the "blob" path (`blob/master/docs/`) to open a read-only view, which supports anonymous access.

default: `edit/master/docs/` for GitHub and GitLab repos or `src/default/docs/` for a Bitbucket repo, if `repo_url` matches those domains, otherwise `null`

### site_description

Set the site description. This will add a meta tag to the generated HTML header.

default: `null`

### site_author

Set the name of the author. This will add a meta tag to the generated HTML header.

default: `null`

### copyright

Set the copyright information to be included in the documentation by the theme.

default: `null`

### google_analytics

Set the Google analytics tracking configuration.

    google_analytics: ['UA-36723568-3', 'mkdocs.org']

default: `null`

### remote_branch

Set the remote branch to commit to when using `gh-deploy` to deploy to Github Pages. This option can be overridden by a command line option in `gh-deploy`.

default: `gh-pages`

### remote_name

Set the remote name to push to when using `gh-deploy` to deploy to Github Pages. This option can be overridden by a command line option in `gh-deploy`.

default: `origin`

## Documentation layout

### nav

This setting is used to determine the format and layout of the global navigation for the site. For example, the following would create "Introduction", "User Guide" and "About" navigation items.

    nav:
        - 'Introduction': 'index.md'
        - 'User Guide': 'user-guide.md'
        - 'About': 'about.md'

All paths must be relative to the `mkdocs.yml` configuration file. See the section on configuring pages and navigation for a more detailed breakdown, including how to create sub-sections.

Navigation items may also include links to external sites. While titles are optional for internal links, they are required for external links. An external link may be a full URL or a relative URL. Any path which is not found in the files is assumed to be an external link.

    nav:
        - Home: index.md
        - User Guide: user-guide.md
        - Bug Tracker: https://example.com/

In the above example, the first two items point to local files while the third points to an external site.

However, sometimes the MkDocs site is hosted in a subdirectory of a project's site and you may want to link to other parts of the same site without including the full domain. In that case, you may use and appropriate relative URL.

    site_url: https://example.com/foo/

    nav:
        - Home: ../
        - User Guide: user-guide.md
        - Bug Tracker: /bugs/

In the above example, two different styles of external links are used. First note that the `site_url` indicates that the MkDocs site is hosted in the `/foo/` subdirectory of the domain. Therefore, the `Home` navigation item is a relative link which steps up one level to the server root and effectively points to `https://example.com/`. The `Bug Tracker` item uses an absolute path from the server root and effectively points to `https://example.com/bugs/`. Of course, the `User Guide` points to a local MkDocs page.

default: By default `nav` will contain an alphanumerically sorted, nested list of all the Markdown files found within the `docs_dir` and its sub-directories. If none are found it will be `[]` (an empty list).

## Build directories

### theme

Sets the theme and theme specific configuration of your documentation site. May be either a string or a set of key/value pairs.

If a string, it must be the string name of a known installed theme. For a list of available themes visit styling your docs.

An example set of key/value pairs might look something like this:

    theme:
        name: mkdocs
        custom_dir: my_theme_customizations/
        static_templates:
            - sitemap.html
        include_sidebar: false

If a set of key/value pairs, the following nested keys can be defined:

#### name:

The string name of a known installed theme. For a list of available themes visit styling your docs.

#### custom_dir:

A directory containing a custom theme. This can either be a relative directory, in which case it is resolved relative to the directory containing your configuration file, or it can be an absolute directory path from the root of your local file system.

See styling your docs for details if you would like to tweak an existing theme.

See custom themes if you would like to build your own theme from the ground up.

#### static_templates:

A list of templates to render as static pages. The templates must be located in either the theme's template directory or in the `custom_dir` defined in the theme configuration.

#### (theme specific keywords)

Any additional keywords supported by the theme can also be defined. See the documentation for the theme you are using for details.

default: `'mkdocs'`

### docs_dir

The directory containing the documentation source markdown files. This can either be a relative directory, in which case it is resolved relative to the directory containing your configuration file, or it can be an absolute directory path from the root of your local file system.

default: `'docs'`

### site_dir

The directory where the output HTML and other files are created. This can either be a relative directory, in which case it is resolved relative to the directory containing your configuration file, or it can be an absolute directory path from the root of your local file system.

default: `'site'`

Note:

If you are using source code control you will normally want to ensure that your build output files are not committed into the repository, and only keep the source files under version control. For example, if using `git` you might add the following line to your `.gitignore` file:

    site/

If you're using another source code control tool, you'll want to check its documentation on how to ignore specific directories.

### extra_css

Set a list of CSS files in your `docs_dir` to be included by the theme. For example, the following example will include the extra.css file within the css subdirectory in your docs_dir.

    extra_css:
        - css/extra.css
        - css/second_extra.css

default: `[]` (an empty list).

### extra_javascript

Set a list of JavaScript files in your `docs_dir` to be included by the theme. See the example in extra_css for usage.

default: `[]` (an empty list).

### extra_templates

Set a list of templates in your `docs_dir` to be built by MkDocs. To see more about writing templates for MkDocs read the documentation about custom themes and specifically the section about the variables that are available to templates. See the example in extra_css for usage.

default: `[]` (an empty list).

### extra

A set of key value pairs, where the values can be any valid YAML construct, that will be passed to the template. This allows for great flexibility when creating custom themes.

For example, if you are using a theme that supports displaying the project version, you can pass it to the theme like this:

    extra:
        version: 1.0

default: By default `extra` will be an empty key value mapping.

## Preview controls

### use_directory_urls

This setting controls the style used for linking to pages within the documentation.

The following table demonstrates how the URLs used on the site differ when setting `use_directory_urls` to `true` or `false`.

Source file | use_directory_urls: true | use_directory_urls: false
--- | --- | ---
index.md | / | /index.html
api-guide.md | /api-guide/ | /api-guide.html
about/license.md | /about/license/ | /about/license.html

The default style of `use_directory_urls: true` creates more user friendly URLs, and is usually what you'll want to use.

The alternate style can occasionally be useful if you want your documentation to remain properly linked when opening pages directly from the file system, because it creates links that point directly to the target file rather than the target directory.

default: `true`

### strict

Determines how warnings are handled. Set to `true` to halt processing when a warning is raised. Set to `false` to print a warning and continue processing.

default: `false`

### dev_addr

Determines the address used when running `mkdocs serve`. Must be of the format `IP:PORT`.

Allows a custom default to be set without the need to pass it through the `--dev_addr` option every time the `mkdocs serve` command is called.

default: `'127.0.0.1:8000'`

## Formatting options

### markdown_extensions

MkDocs uses the Python Markdown library to translate Markdown files into HTML. Python Markdown supports a variety of extensions that customize how pages are formatted. This setting lets you enable a list of extensions beyond the ones that MkDocs uses by default (`meta`, `toc`, `tables`, and `fenced_code`).

For example, to enable the SmartyPants typography extension, use:

    markdown_extensions:
        - smarty

Some extensions provide configuration options of their own. If you would like to set any configuration options, then you can nest a key/value mapping (`option_name: option value`) of any options that a given extension supports. See the documentation for the extension you are using to determine what options they support.

For example, to enable permalinks in the (included) `toc` extension, use:

    markdown_extensions:
        - toc:
            permalink: True

Note that a colon (`:`) must follow the extension name (`toc`) and then on a new line the option name and value must be indented and separated by a colon. If you would like to define multiple options for a single extension, each option must be defined on a separate line:

    markdown_extensions:
        - toc:
            permalink: True
            separator: "_"

Add an additional item to the list for each extension. If you have no configuration options to set for a specific extension, then simply omit options for that extension:

    markdown_extensions:
        - smarty
        - toc:
            permalink: True
        - sane_lists

See Also:

The Python-Markdown documentation provides a list of extensions which are available out-of-the-box. For a list of configuration options available for a given extension, see the documentation for that extension.

You may also install and use various third party extensions. Consult the documentation provided by those extensions for installation instructions and available configuration options.

default: `[]` (an empty list).

### plugins

A list of plugins (with optional configuration settings) to use when building the site . See the Plugins documentation for full details.

If the `plugins` config setting is defined in the `mkdocs.yml` config file, then any defaults (such as `search`) are ignored and you need to explicitly re-enable the defaults if you would like to continue using them:

    plugins:
        - search
        - your_other_plugin

To completely disable all plugins, including any defaults, set the `plugins` setting to an empty list:

    plugins: []

default: `['search']` (the "search" plugin included with MkDocs).

#### Search

A search plugin is provided by default with MkDocs which uses lunr.js as a search engine. The following config options are available to alter the behavior of the search plugin:

##### separator

A regular expression which matches the characters used as word separators when building the index. By default whitespace and the hyphen (`-`) are used. To add the dot (`.`) as a word separator you might do this:

    plugins:
        - search:
            separator: '[\s\-\.]+'

default: `'[\s\-]+'`

##### prebuild_index

Optionally generates a pre-built index of all pages, which provides some performance improvements for larger sites. Before enabling, check that the theme you are using explicitly supports using a prebuilt index (the builtin themes do). The pre-build script requires that Node.js be installed and the command `node` be on the system path. If this feature is enabled and fails for any reason, a warning is issued. You may use the `--strict` flag when building to cause such a failure to raise an error instead.

Note

On smaller sites, using a pre-built index is not recommended as it creates a significant increase is bandwidth requirements with little to no noticeable improvement to your users. However, for larger sites (hundreds of pages), the bandwidth increase is relatively small and your users will notice a significant improvement in search performance.

default: `False`

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