zensical-setup

Zensical Site Setup & Configuration

Zensical is a modern static site generator for project documentation, built by the creators of Material for MkDocs. It uses TOML configuration (zensical.toml) and supports mkdocs.yml for migration. This skill covers installation, configuration, theming, navigation, deployment, and customization.

Quick Start

# Install
python3 -m venv .venv && source .venv/bin/activate && pip install zensical
# Or with uv:
uv init && uv add --dev zensical

# Create project
zensical new .

# Preview
zensical serve

# Build
zensical build

Generated structure:

.
├─ .github/        # GitHub Actions workflow
├─ docs/
│  ├─ index.md
│  └─ markdown.md
└─ zensical.toml

Configuration File

Zensical uses zensical.toml (recommended) or mkdocs.yml (for migration). All settings live under the [project] scope.

Essential Settings

[project]
site_name = "My Site"                    # Required
site_url = "https://example.com"         # Strongly recommended
site_description = "Project docs"        # For HTML meta
site_author = "Jane Doe"                 # For HTML meta
copyright = "© 2025 Jane Doe"       # Footer copyright
docs_dir = "docs"                        # Source directory (default)
site_dir = "site"                        # Output directory (default)
use_directory_urls = true                # Pretty URLs (default)
dev_addr = "localhost:7860"              # Dev server address (default)

Theme Variant

Two variants: modern (default, fresh design) and classic (matches Material for MkDocs).

[project.theme]
variant = "classic"   # Use "classic" for Material for MkDocs look

Navigation

Automatic Navigation

By default, Zensical generates navigation from the folder structure.

Explicit Navigation

[project]
nav = [
  { "Home" = "index.md" },
  { "About" = [
    "about/index.md",
    "about/vision.md",
    "about/team.md"
  ]},
  { "GitHub Repo" = "https://github.com/org/repo" }  # External links
]

Navigation Features

Enable features under [project.theme]:

[project.theme]
features = [
  # Instant navigation (SPA-like behavior, requires site_url)
  "navigation.instant",
  "navigation.instant.prefetch",     # Prefetch on hover
  "navigation.instant.progress",     # Progress bar on slow connections

  # Navigation structure
  "navigation.tabs",                 # Top-level sections as tabs
  "navigation.tabs.sticky",          # Sticky tabs on scroll
  "navigation.sections",             # Render top-level as groups
  "navigation.expand",               # Expand all subsections by default
  "navigation.indexes",              # Section index pages
  "navigation.path",                 # Breadcrumb navigation
  "navigation.prune",                # Reduce HTML size ~33%
  "navigation.top",                  # Back-to-top button
  "navigation.footer",               # Previous/next page links in footer
  "navigation.tracking",             # Update URL with active anchor

  # Table of contents
  "toc.follow",                      # Auto-scroll TOC to active anchor
  "toc.integrate",                   # TOC in left sidebar (incompatible with navigation.indexes)

  # Instant previews (experimental, headerlinks only)
  # Configured via markdown extension, see below
]

Incompatibilities:

• navigation.prune ↔ navigation.expand
• navigation.indexes ↔ toc.integrate

Instant Previews

[project.markdown_extensions.zensical.extensions.preview]
configurations = [
  { targets.include = ["setup/extensions/*", "customization.md"] }
]

Hiding Sidebars (per page, via front matter)

---
hide:
  - navigation
  - toc
  - path
  - footer
  - tags
  - feedback
---

Colors

Color Scheme

[project.theme.palette]
scheme = "default"     # Light mode
# scheme = "slate"     # Dark mode
primary = "indigo"     # Header/sidebar/links color
accent = "indigo"      # Interactive elements color

Available primary colors: red, pink, purple, deep-purple, indigo, blue, light-blue, cyan, teal, green, light-green, lime, yellow, amber, orange, deep-orange, brown, grey, blue-grey, black, white, custom.

Available accent colors: red, pink, purple, deep-purple, indigo, blue, light-blue, cyan, teal, green, light-green, lime, yellow, amber, orange, deep-orange.

Color Palette Toggle (light/dark switch)

[[project.theme.palette]]
scheme = "default"
toggle.icon = "lucide/sun"
toggle.name = "Switch to dark mode"

[[project.theme.palette]]
scheme = "slate"
toggle.icon = "lucide/moon"
toggle.name = "Switch to light mode"

System Preference + Automatic Mode

[[project.theme.palette]]
media = "(prefers-color-scheme)"
toggle.icon = "lucide/sun-moon"
toggle.name = "Switch to light mode"

[[project.theme.palette]]
media = "(prefers-color-scheme: light)"
scheme = "default"
toggle.icon = "lucide/sun"
toggle.name = "Switch to dark mode"

[[project.theme.palette]]
media = "(prefers-color-scheme: dark)"
scheme = "slate"
toggle.icon = "lucide/moon"
toggle.name = "Switch to system preference"

Custom Colors via CSS

Set primary = "custom" then define CSS variables:

/* docs/stylesheets/extra.css */
:root > * {
  --md-primary-fg-color:        #EE0F0F;
  --md-primary-fg-color--light: #ECB7B7;
  --md-primary-fg-color--dark:  #90030C;
}

Custom Color Scheme

[data-md-color-scheme="my-scheme"] {
  --md-primary-fg-color: #EE0F0F;
  /* ... */
}

/* Tune dark scheme hue */
[data-md-color-scheme="slate"] {
  --md-hue: 210;  /* 0-360 */
}

Fonts

[project.theme]
font.text = "Inter"            # Body text (any Google Font)
font.code = "JetBrains Mono"   # Code blocks (any Google Font)
# font = false                 # Disable Google Fonts, use system fonts

Custom fonts via CSS:

:root {
  --md-text-font: "My Custom Font";
  --md-code-font: "My Mono Font";
}

Logo & Icons

[project.theme]
logo = "images/logo.png"            # Image file in docs/
favicon = "images/favicon.png"

[project.theme.icon]
logo = "lucide/smile"               # Or use a bundled icon
repo = "fontawesome/brands/github"  # Repository icon
edit = "material/pencil"            # Edit page button
view = "material/eye"               # View source button
previous = "fontawesome/solid/angle-left"
next = "fontawesome/solid/angle-right"

[project.extra]
homepage = "https://example.com"    # Override logo link target

Bundled Icon Sets

• Lucide, Material Design, FontAwesome, Octicons, Simple Icons
• Over 10,000 icons available

Adding Custom Icons

Place SVGs in overrides/.icons/<set-name>/:

[project.theme]
custom_dir = "overrides"

[project.markdown_extensions.pymdownx.emoji]
emoji_index = "zensical.extensions.emoji.twemoji"
emoji_generator = "zensical.extensions.emoji.to_svg"
options.custom_icons = ["overrides/.icons"]

Language

[project.theme]
language = "en"       # 60+ languages supported
direction = "ltr"     # or "rtl"

Language Selector

[project.extra]
alternate = [
  { name = "English", link = "/en/", lang = "en" },
  { name = "Deutsch", link = "/de/", lang = "de" }
]

Repository Integration

[project]
repo_url = "https://github.com/org/repo"
repo_name = "org/repo"
edit_uri = "edit/main/docs/"

[project.theme]
features = [
  "content.action.edit",   # Edit this page button
  "content.action.view"    # View source button
]

Footer

[project]
copyright = "Copyright © 2025 My Company"

[project.theme]
features = ["navigation.footer"]

[[project.extra.social]]
icon = "fontawesome/brands/github"
link = "https://github.com/org"

[[project.extra.social]]
icon = "fontawesome/brands/x-twitter"
link = "https://x.com/handle"
name = "Company on X"

[project.extra]
generator = false    # Remove "Made with Zensical" (consider keeping it!)

Search

Built-in, enabled by default. English only currently.

[project.theme]
features = ["search.highlight"]   # Highlight search terms on result pages

Header

[project.theme]
features = [
  "header.autohide",     # Hide header on scroll down
  "announce.dismiss"     # Dismissable announcement bar
]

Announcement bar via template override:

<!-- overrides/main.html -->
{% extends "base.html" %}
{% block announce %}
  Your announcement here!
{% endblock %}

Analytics

[project.extra.analytics]
provider = "google"
property = "G-XXXXXXXXXX"

[project.extra.analytics.feedback]
title = "Was this page helpful?"

[[project.extra.analytics.feedback.ratings]]
icon = "material/emoticon-happy-outline"
name = "This page was helpful"
data = 1
note = "Thanks for your feedback!"

[[project.extra.analytics.feedback.ratings]]
icon = "material/emoticon-sad-outline"
name = "This page could be improved"
data = 0
note = "Thanks for your feedback!"

Data Privacy / Cookie Consent

[project.extra.consent]
title = "Cookie consent"
description = "We use cookies to measure our docs effectiveness."
actions = ["accept", "manage"]

[project.extra.consent.cookies]
analytics = "Google Analytics"
custom = "Custom cookie"

Change cookie settings link in footer:

[project]
copyright = """
  Copyright © 2025 –
  <a href="#__consent">Change cookie settings</a>
"""

Tags

Tags work by default. Add to pages via front matter:

---
tags:
  - Setup
  - Getting started
---

Tag icons:

[project.extra.tags]
HTML5 = "html"

[project.theme.icon.tag]
default = "lucide/hash"
html = "fontawesome/brands/html5"

Offline Usage

[project.plugins.offline]
# enabled = false  # To disable

Limitations: disable instant navigation, analytics, repo info, comments.

Custom CSS & JavaScript

[project]
extra_css = ["stylesheets/extra.css"]
extra_javascript = ["javascripts/extra.js"]

JavaScript modules:

[[project.extra_javascript]]
path = "javascripts/extra.js"
type = "module"

Async scripts:

[[project.extra_javascript]]
path = "javascripts/extra.js"
async = true

Important: use document$ observable for instant navigation compatibility:

document$.subscribe(function() {
  console.log("Initialize third-party libraries here")
})

Template Overrides

[project.theme]
custom_dir = "overrides"

Override Blocks (recommended)

<!-- overrides/main.html -->
{% extends "base.html" %}

{% block htmltitle %}
  <title>Custom Title</title>
{% endblock %}

Available blocks: analytics, announce, config, container, content, extrahead, fonts, footer, header, hero, htmltitle, libs, outdated, scripts, site_meta, site_nav, styles, tabs.

Override Partials

Place files in overrides/partials/ matching the theme's partial structure.

Custom Templates (per page)

---
template: my_template.html
---

Custom 404 Page

Place 404.html in the overrides directory.

Markdown Extensions (Default Configuration)

Zensical has sensible defaults. If you need to customize, here is the full default expansion you can use as a starting point:

[project.markdown_extensions.abbr]
[project.markdown_extensions.admonition]
[project.markdown_extensions.attr_list]
[project.markdown_extensions.def_list]
[project.markdown_extensions.footnotes]
[project.markdown_extensions.md_in_html]
[project.markdown_extensions.toc]
permalink = true
[project.markdown_extensions.pymdownx.arithmatex]
generic = true
[project.markdown_extensions.pymdownx.betterem]
smart_enable = "all"
[project.markdown_extensions.pymdownx.caret]
[project.markdown_extensions.pymdownx.details]
[project.markdown_extensions.pymdownx.emoji]
emoji_generator = "zensical.extensions.emoji.to_svg"
emoji_index = "zensical.extensions.emoji.twemoji"
[project.markdown_extensions.pymdownx.highlight]
[project.markdown_extensions.pymdownx.inlinehilite]
[project.markdown_extensions.pymdownx.keys]
[project.markdown_extensions.pymdownx.mark]
[project.markdown_extensions.pymdownx.smartsymbols]
[project.markdown_extensions.pymdownx.superfences]
[project.markdown_extensions.pymdownx.tabbed]
alternate_style = true
[project.markdown_extensions.pymdownx.tasklist]
custom_checkbox = true
[project.markdown_extensions.pymdownx.tilde]

To reset to MkDocs defaults (no extensions):

[project]
markdown_extensions = {}

Deployment

GitHub Pages (GitHub Actions)

# .github/workflows/docs.yml
name: Documentation
on:
  push:
    branches: [master, main]
permissions:
  contents: read
  pages: write
  id-token: write
jobs:
  deploy:
    environment:
      name: github-pages
      url: ${{ steps.deployment.outputs.page_url }}
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/configure-pages@v5
      - uses: actions/checkout@v5
      - uses: actions/setup-python@v5
        with:
          python-version: 3.x
      - run: pip install zensical
      - run: zensical build --clean
      - uses: actions/upload-pages-artifact@v4
        with:
          path: site
      - uses: actions/deploy-pages@v4
        id: deployment

Site appears at <username>.github.io/<repository>.

GitLab Pages

# .gitlab-ci.yml
pages:
  stage: deploy
  image: python:latest
  script:
    - pip install zensical
    - zensical build --clean
  pages:
    publish: public
  rules:
    - if: '$CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == $CI_DEFAULT_BRANCH'

Important: Set site_dir = "public" for GitLab Pages.

Site appears at <username>.gitlab.io/<repository>.

Content Area Width

/* docs/stylesheets/extra.css */
.md-grid {
  max-width: 1440px;
  /* Or: max-width: initial; for full width */
}

mkdocstrings (API docs)

pip install mkdocstrings-python

[project.plugins.mkdocstrings.handlers.python]
paths = ["src"]
inventories = ["https://docs.python.org/3/objects.inv"]

[project.plugins.mkdocstrings.handlers.python.options]
docstring_style = "google"
inherited_members = true
show_source = false

Comment System (Giscus example)

Override partials/comments.html with the Giscus script, then enable per page:

---
comments: true
---

CLI Reference

Command	Purpose
zensical new <dir>	Create new project
zensical serve	Preview with live reload
zensical serve -o	Preview and open browser
zensical serve -a localhost:3000	Custom address
zensical build	Build static site
zensical build --clean	Build with cache cleaning
zensical build -f path/to/config	Use specific config file