MkDocs/Material Skill

MkDocs with Material theme expertise for Python-centric documentation.

Capabilities

• Configure mkdocs.yml with Material theme features
• Set up navigation and table of contents
• Enable and configure MkDocs plugins (search, macros, mermaid)
• Admonition and code annotation usage
• Configure multi-language support
• Generate PDF export configurations
• Integrate with GitHub Pages deployment
• Enable blog and versioning features

Usage

Invoke this skill when you need to:

• Set up MkDocs with Material theme
• Configure advanced theme features
• Add plugins for extended functionality
• Set up multi-language documentation
• Enable versioning with mike

Inputs

Input Example

{
  "action": "configure",
  "projectPath": "./docs",
  "config": {
    "site_name": "My Documentation",
    "site_url": "https://docs.example.com",
    "theme": "material"
  },
  "plugins": ["search", "mermaid2"]
}

Project Configuration

mkdocs.yml

site_name: My Documentation
site_url: https://docs.example.com
site_description: Developer documentation for My Product
site_author: My Team

repo_name: my-org/my-project
repo_url: https://github.com/my-org/my-project
edit_uri: edit/main/docs/

theme:
  name: material
  language: en
  palette:
    - scheme: default
      primary: indigo
      accent: indigo
      toggle:
        icon: material/brightness-7
        name: Switch to dark mode
    - scheme: slate
      primary: indigo
      accent: indigo
      toggle:
        icon: material/brightness-4
        name: Switch to light mode
  font:
    text: Roboto
    code: Roboto Mono
  features:
    - navigation.instant
    - navigation.tracking
    - navigation.tabs
    - navigation.tabs.sticky
    - navigation.sections
    - navigation.expand
    - navigation.indexes
    - navigation.top
    - search.suggest
    - search.highlight
    - search.share
    - content.code.copy
    - content.code.annotate
    - content.tabs.link
  icon:
    repo: fontawesome/brands/github

plugins:
  - search:
      separator: '[\s\-,:!=\[\]()"/]+|(?!\b)(?=[A-Z][a-z])|\.(?!\d)|&[lg]t;'
  - minify:
      minify_html: true
  - git-revision-date-localized:
      enable_creation_date: true
      type: timeago
  - tags:
      tags_file: tags.md

markdown_extensions:
  - abbr
  - admonition
  - attr_list
  - def_list
  - footnotes
  - md_in_html
  - tables
  - toc:
      permalink: true
      toc_depth: 3
  - pymdownx.arithmatex:
      generic: true
  - pymdownx.betterem:
      smart_enable: all
  - pymdownx.caret
  - pymdownx.details
  - pymdownx.emoji:
      emoji_index: !!python/name:material.extensions.emoji.twemoji
      emoji_generator: !!python/name:material.extensions.emoji.to_svg
  - pymdownx.highlight:
      anchor_linenums: true
      line_spans: __span
      pygments_lang_class: true
  - pymdownx.inlinehilite
  - pymdownx.keys
  - pymdownx.mark
  - pymdownx.smartsymbols
  - pymdownx.superfences:
      custom_fences:
        - name: mermaid
          class: mermaid
          format: !!python/name:pymdownx.superfences.fence_code_format
  - pymdownx.tabbed:
      alternate_style: true
  - pymdownx.tasklist:
      custom_checkbox: true
  - pymdownx.tilde

extra:
  social:
    - icon: fontawesome/brands/github
      link: https://github.com/my-org
    - icon: fontawesome/brands/twitter
      link: https://twitter.com/my-org
  version:
    provider: mike
  analytics:
    provider: google
    property: G-XXXXXXXXXX
  consent:
    title: Cookie consent
    description: We use cookies to improve your experience.

extra_css:
  - stylesheets/extra.css

extra_javascript:
  - javascripts/extra.js

nav:
  - Home: index.md
  - Getting Started:
    - Installation: getting-started/installation.md
    - Quick Start: getting-started/quick-start.md
    - Configuration: getting-started/configuration.md
  - User Guide:
    - user-guide/index.md
    - Authentication: user-guide/authentication.md
    - API Usage: user-guide/api-usage.md
  - API Reference:
    - api/index.md
    - Client: api/client.md
    - Resources: api/resources.md
  - Contributing: contributing.md
  - Changelog: changelog.md

Admonitions

Standard Admonitions

!!! note "Custom Title"
    This is a note with a custom title.

!!! tip
    This is a helpful tip.

!!! warning
    This is a warning message.

!!! danger "Critical"
    This is a critical danger message.

!!! info
    This is an informational note.

!!! success
    This indicates success.

!!! question
    This poses a question.

!!! quote
    This is a quotation.

??? example "Collapsible Example"
    This content is collapsible (closed by default).

???+ example "Collapsible Example (Open)"
    This content is collapsible (open by default).

Code Annotations

Annotated Code Blocks

```python
import requests

# (1)!
response = requests.get(
    "https://api.example.com/users",
    headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {token}"}  # (2)!
)

data = response.json()  # (3)!
```

1. Import the requests library for HTTP calls
2. Include authentication token in headers
3. Parse the JSON response

Content Tabs

Tabbed Content

=== "Python"
    ```python
    import requests
    response = requests.get("https://api.example.com")
    ```

=== "JavaScript"
    ```javascript
    const response = await fetch("https://api.example.com");
    ```

=== "cURL"
    ```bash
    curl https://api.example.com
    ```

Versioning with Mike

mike Configuration

# Deploy version
mike deploy --push --update-aliases 1.0 latest

# Set default version
mike set-default --push latest

# List versions
mike list

# Delete version
mike delete 0.9

Versioned Docs Structure

# mkdocs.yml
extra:
  version:
    provider: mike
    default: latest

Multi-language (i18n)

mkdocs.yml i18n

plugins:
  - i18n:
      default_language: en
      languages:
        - locale: en
          name: English
          build: true
        - locale: es
          name: Español
          build: true
        - locale: ja
          name: 日本語
          build: true
      nav_translations:
        es:
          Home: Inicio
          Getting Started: Empezando
        ja:
          Home: ホーム
          Getting Started: 始めよう

PDF Export

pdf-export Plugin

plugins:
  - pdf-export:
      verbose: true
      media_type: print
      combined: true
      combined_output_path: pdf/complete-documentation.pdf

Mermaid Diagrams

Mermaid Integration

```mermaid
sequenceDiagram
    participant U as User
    participant A as API
    participant D as Database

    U->>A: Request
    A->>D: Query
    D-->>A: Result
    A-->>U: Response
```

Macros Plugin

Custom Macros

# mkdocs.yml
plugins:
  - macros:
      module_name: docs/macros

# docs/macros.py
def define_env(env):
    @env.macro
    def version():
        return "1.0.0"

    @env.macro
    def include_file(filename):
        with open(filename, 'r') as f:
            return f.read()

<!-- Usage in docs -->
Current version: {{ version() }}

{{ include_file("examples/config.yaml") }}

Workflow

1. Initialize project - Create MkDocs project structure
2. Configure theme - Set up Material theme
3. Add plugins - Enable required plugins
4. Structure navigation - Configure nav in mkdocs.yml
5. Add content - Write Markdown documentation
6. Build - Generate static site
7. Deploy - Publish to hosting

Dependencies

# requirements.txt
mkdocs>=1.5.0
mkdocs-material>=9.4.0
mkdocs-material-extensions>=1.3.0
mkdocs-minify-plugin>=0.7.0
mkdocs-git-revision-date-localized-plugin>=1.2.0
mkdocs-macros-plugin>=1.0.0
mike>=2.0.0

CLI Commands

# Create new project
mkdocs new my-docs

# Start development server
mkdocs serve

# Build static site
mkdocs build

# Deploy to GitHub Pages
mkdocs gh-deploy

# Deploy versioned docs with mike
mike deploy --push --update-aliases 1.0 latest

Best Practices Applied

• Use navigation tabs for top-level sections
• Enable instant loading for SPA experience
• Configure search suggestions
• Add code copy buttons
• Use admonitions for callouts
• Enable dark/light mode toggle
• Add social links in footer

References

• MkDocs: https://www.mkdocs.org/
• Material for MkDocs: https://squidfunk.github.io/mkdocs-material/
• PyMdown Extensions: https://facelessuser.github.io/pymdown-extensions/
• mike: https://github.com/jimporter/mike

Target Processes

• docs-as-code-pipeline.js
• docs-versioning.js
• knowledge-base-setup.js
• how-to-guides.js