Fast Docs

An ultralight, zero-config markdown documentation viewer and static site generator.

📚 Full Documentation

Quick Start

View your markdown docs instantly:

npx fastdocs serve ./docs

Build a static site for deployment:

npx fastdocs build ./docs ./output

Customize with a config file:

npx fastdocs init ./docs
# Edit .fastdocs, then serve or build

Features

• 🚀 Zero Setup - No installation, no configuration required
• 📁 Auto-Discovery - Automatically builds navigation from your folder structure
• 🔍 Built-in Search - Full-text search out of the box
• 📖 Table of Contents - Automatic TOC from headings
• 🎨 Custom Components - SubPages and FullContents components
• 🎯 Icon Support - Use Lucide icons for logo and favicon
• ⚡ Hot Reload - Instant updates during development
• 🎯 Frontmatter Support - Optional YAML frontmatter for ordering and metadata
• 🏗️ Static Site Generation - Deploy anywhere static hosting works

Installation

No installation needed! Use with npx:

npx fastdocs serve

Or install globally:

npm install -g fastdocs
fastdocs serve ./docs

Documentation

For complete documentation, guides, and examples, visit nldlabs.github.io/fastdocs.

Commands

init

Create a .fastdocs configuration file with default settings in your documentation directory.

fastdocs init [path]

Arguments:

• path - Directory to create config in (default: current directory)

Options:

• -f, --force - Overwrite existing config without confirmation

Examples:

# Create config in current directory
fastdocs init

# Create config in specific directory
fastdocs init ./docs

# Overwrite existing config
fastdocs init --force

The generated .fastdocs file includes all available options with sensible defaults. Edit it to customize your documentation site.

serve

Start a local development server to view your documentation.

fastdocs serve [path] [options]

Arguments:

• path - Path to documentation directory (default: current directory)

Options:

• -p, --port <number> - Port number (default: 5173)
• --no-open - Don't open browser automatically
• --host - Allow external access

Examples:

# Serve current directory
fastdocs serve

# Serve specific directory
fastdocs serve ./my-docs

# Use custom port
fastdocs serve ./docs --port 3000

# Allow external access
fastdocs serve ./docs --host

build

Build a static site from your documentation.

fastdocs build [input] [output] [options]

Arguments:

• input - Source directory (default: current directory)
• output - Output directory (default: ./dist)

Options:

• --base <path> - Base URL path for deployment (default: /)
• --clean - Clean output without confirmation

Examples:

# Build with defaults
fastdocs build

# Specify input and output
fastdocs build ./docs ./public

# Deploy to subdirectory
fastdocs build ./docs ./dist --base /my-project/

# Skip confirmation prompt
fastdocs build ./docs ./dist --clean

Configuration

fastdocs works great with zero configuration, but you can customize it by creating a .fastdocs file in your documentation directory.

Quick start:

# Generate a config file with defaults
fastdocs init

Example .fastdocs:

{
  "title": "My Documentation",
  "description": "Comprehensive project documentation",
  "logo": "lucide:book-open",
  "favicon": "lucide:book-open",
  "search": true,
  "sidebar": {
    "collapseFolders": false
  },
  "outline": {
    "enabled": true,
    "depth": [2, 3],
    "label": "On this page"
  }
}

Configuration Options:

| Option | Type | Default | Description | |--------|------|---------|-------------| | title | string | Folder name | Site title | | description | string | "Documentation" | Site description | | logo | string/object | null | Path to logo file or Lucide icon (e.g., "lucide:book-open", or {"type": "lucide", "icon": "book-open", "color": "#3b82f6"}) | | favicon | string/object | null | Path to favicon or Lucide icon with optional color | | search | boolean | true | Enable search | | sidebar.collapseFolders | boolean | false | Collapse sidebar folders by default | | outline.enabled | boolean | true | Show table of contents | | outline.depth | array | [2, 3] | Heading levels to show | | outline.label | string | "On this page" | TOC heading |

Frontmatter

Add YAML frontmatter to any markdown file for ordering and metadata:

---
title: Getting Started
order: 1
description: Introduction to the project
---

# Getting Started

Your content here...

Frontmatter Fields:

• title - Override page title in navigation
• order - Numeric sort order (lower numbers appear first)
• description - Page description for SEO
• collapsed - (index.md only) Override sidebar folder collapse state

Custom Components

fastdocs includes custom Vue components you can use in your markdown:

SubPages

Show all child pages of the current section:

# My Section

<SubPages />

FullContents

Show the entire site structure (great for index pages):

# Welcome

<FullContents />

Folder Structure

fastdocs automatically generates navigation from your folder structure:

docs/
├── index.md              # Home page
├── guide/
│   ├── index.md         # Guide overview (makes folder clickable)
│   ├── getting-started.md
│   └── advanced.md
└── api/
    ├── index.md
    └── reference.md

Tips:

• Use index.md files as folder landing pages
• Add order in frontmatter to control sort order
• Folders without markdown files are hidden
• Nested folders create nested navigation

Deployment

The build command generates a static site ready for any hosting platform:

GitHub Pages

fastdocs build ./docs ./dist --base /repo-name/
# Deploy ./dist to gh-pages branch

Netlify

fastdocs build ./docs ./dist
# Deploy ./dist directory

Vercel

fastdocs build ./docs ./dist
# Deploy ./dist directory

How It Works

fastdocs creates a temporary VitePress project outside your documentation directory, keeping your docs folder clean. When you run serve or build:

1. Scans your documentation directory
2. Generates VitePress configuration
3. Creates temporary project in system temp directory
4. Runs VitePress with srcDir pointing to your docs
5. Cleans up on exit

Your documentation folder stays pristine - no node_modules, no .vitepress folder, just your markdown files.

Requirements

• Node.js 18 or higher

License

MIT

Credits

Built on VitePress - the Vite & Vue powered static site generator.