create-specra

The fastest way to create a new Specra documentation site. Scaffold a complete documentation project with a single command.

What is Specra?

Specra is a modern documentation library for SvelteKit that provides:

• Multi-version documentation support
• API reference generation
• Full-text search
• MDX-powered content
• Beautiful UI components

The official Specra site (specra-docs) also offers a SaaS platform with paid tiers (Starter, Pro, Enterprise) including authentication, Stripe/M-Pesa billing, and a user dashboard. The CLI scaffolds free, self-hosted documentation sites — no billing features are included in generated projects.

Usage

With npx (recommended)

npx create-specra my-docs

With npm

npm create specra my-docs

With yarn

yarn create specra my-docs

With pnpm

pnpm create specra my-docs

Options

npx create-specra [project-directory] [options]

Arguments

• [project-directory] - The directory to create the project in (optional, will prompt if not provided)

Options

• --template <template> - Template to use: minimal, book-docs, jbrains-docs (will prompt if not provided)
• --use-npm - Use npm as the package manager
• --use-pnpm - Use pnpm as the package manager
• --use-yarn - Use yarn as the package manager
• --skip-install - Skip package installation

Templates

Minimal (Default)

Minimal setup to get started quickly:

• Basic documentation structure
• Essential configuration
• Clean starting point
• Ready to customize

Book Docs

Knowledge base style inspired by popular docs platforms:

• Dark theme by default
• Categorized sidebar with section headers (Content, Customization)
• Site-wide banner
• Flush sidebar layout (attached to screen edge)
• Version badge in sidebar

JBrains Docs

Reference documentation style with tabbed navigation:

• Light theme by default
• Tab groups for organizing content (Language, Multiplatform)
• Collapsible tree-style sidebar
• No table of contents (right panel)
• Flush sidebar layout
• Version badge in sidebar

Examples

Create a new project with interactive prompts:

npx create-specra

Create a project with the minimal template using npm:

npx create-specra my-docs --template minimal --use-npm

Create a project with the book-docs template:

npx create-specra my-docs --template book-docs

Create a project and skip installation:

npx create-specra my-docs --skip-install

What's Created

The CLI creates a new SvelteKit project with Specra pre-configured:

my-docs/
├── src/
│   ├── routes/
│   │   ├── +layout.svelte
│   │   ├── +page.svelte
│   │   └── docs/
│   │       └── [version]/[...slug]/
│   │           ├── +page.svelte
│   │           └── +page.ts
│   └── app.html
├── docs/
│   └── v1.0.0/
│       └── index.mdx
├── static/
├── specra.config.json
├── svelte.config.js
├── vite.config.ts
└── package.json

After Creation

Once your project is created, you can:

1. Start the development server:

   cd my-docs
   npm run dev

2. Open http://localhost:5173 in your browser

3. Edit your documentation in the docs/ directory

4. Customize your site in specra.config.json

Deployment

Specra projects are standard SvelteKit apps, so you can deploy anywhere SvelteKit runs.

Static Hosting (Vercel, Netlify, Cloudflare Pages)

Install the appropriate SvelteKit adapter:

# Vercel
npm install -D @sveltejs/adapter-vercel

# Netlify
npm install -D @sveltejs/adapter-netlify

# Cloudflare Pages
npm install -D @sveltejs/adapter-cloudflare

Update svelte.config.js to use the adapter:

import adapter from '@sveltejs/adapter-vercel'; // or adapter-netlify, etc.

export default {
  kit: {
    adapter: adapter()
  }
};

Then push to your Git provider — the platform handles the rest.

Node Server (VPS, Docker, Railway)

Use @sveltejs/adapter-node (included by default):

npm run build
node build

The server listens on port 3000 by default. Configure with environment variables:

PORT=8080 HOST=0.0.0.0 node build

Static Site Generation

For fully static docs with no server needed:

npm install -D @sveltejs/adapter-static

Update svelte.config.js:

import adapter from '@sveltejs/adapter-static';

export default {
  kit: {
    adapter: adapter({
      fallback: '404.html'
    })
  }
};

npm run build

Upload the build/ directory to any static host (GitHub Pages, S3, etc.).

Learn More

• Specra on npm
• SvelteKit Documentation
• MDX Documentation

License

MIT with Branding Requirement — see LICENSE.MD.

All documentation sites generated with create-specra display a "Powered by Specra" watermark by default. Removing the watermark requires an active paid subscription (Starter tier or above) at specra-docs.com. Unauthorized removal is a copyright violation.

Authors

dalmasonto, arthur-kamau