Martin Donath
@squidfunk.com
Founder of @zensical.org, creator of Material for MkDocs
Pinned
Martin Donath
@squidfunk.com
· Nov 5
Zensical - A modern static site generator - Material for MkDocs
We are thrilled to announce Zensical, our next-gen static site generator that addresses and overcomes the technical limitations of MkDocs
squidfunk.github.io
Zensical – a modern static site generator.
We're excited to release @zensical.org, our new SSG that is compatible with Material for MkDocs:
– 5x faster rebuilds
– Modern design
– Blazing-fast search
Read the full announcement on our blog:
squidfunk.github.io/mkdocs-mater...
A thread ⬇ 1/7
We're excited to release @zensical.org, our new SSG that is compatible with Material for MkDocs:
– 5x faster rebuilds
– Modern design
– Blazing-fast search
Read the full announcement on our blog:
squidfunk.github.io/mkdocs-mater...
A thread ⬇ 1/7
🎄 Merry Christmas 🎅
Zensical 0.0.15 brings fuzzy search support, and improves tooltip behavior on touch devices. The Zensical team wishes you a joyful holiday season and a fantastic new year! 🎄✨
github.com/zensical/zen...
Zensical 0.0.15 brings fuzzy search support, and improves tooltip behavior on touch devices. The Zensical team wishes you a joyful holiday season and a fantastic new year! 🎄✨
github.com/zensical/zen...
December 24, 2025 at 11:45 AM
🎄 Merry Christmas 🎅
Zensical 0.0.15 brings fuzzy search support, and improves tooltip behavior on touch devices. The Zensical team wishes you a joyful holiday season and a fantastic new year! 🎄✨
github.com/zensical/zen...
Zensical 0.0.15 brings fuzzy search support, and improves tooltip behavior on touch devices. The Zensical team wishes you a joyful holiday season and a fantastic new year! 🎄✨
github.com/zensical/zen...
Started prototyping a module system for @zensical.org, and it's so much fun to do this in Rust, just wow! Our aim is to release the first previews early next year in Zensical Spark, so members can try them out for early feedback 🚀
Here are our design goals:
zensical.org/about/roadma...
Here are our design goals:
zensical.org/about/roadma...
Zensical
Adaptive systems for evolving ideas – Zensical creates scalable Open Source systems for technical writing that always keep you in the flow
zensical.org
December 23, 2025 at 12:27 PM
Started prototyping a module system for @zensical.org, and it's so much fun to do this in Rust, just wow! Our aim is to release the first previews early next year in Zensical Spark, so members can try them out for early feedback 🚀
Here are our design goals:
zensical.org/about/roadma...
Here are our design goals:
zensical.org/about/roadma...
We'll soon ship support for fat fingers – aka fuzzy search.
Fuzzy search is particularly tricky to get right, since enabling it generally deteriorates exact or prefix matches quite significantly. Disco only uses it as a fallback, combining it with other matched terms. No special syntax necessary.
Fuzzy search is particularly tricky to get right, since enabling it generally deteriorates exact or prefix matches quite significantly. Disco only uses it as a fallback, combining it with other matched terms. No special syntax necessary.
December 22, 2025 at 11:00 AM
We'll soon ship support for fat fingers – aka fuzzy search.
Fuzzy search is particularly tricky to get right, since enabling it generally deteriorates exact or prefix matches quite significantly. Disco only uses it as a fallback, combining it with other matched terms. No special syntax necessary.
Fuzzy search is particularly tricky to get right, since enabling it generally deteriorates exact or prefix matches quite significantly. Disco only uses it as a fallback, combining it with other matched terms. No special syntax necessary.
Has somebody figured out how to properly cache downloaded and compiled artifacts when using PyO3/maturin-action?
github.com/PyO3/maturin...
github.com/PyO3/maturin...
GitHub - PyO3/maturin-action: GitHub Action to install and run a custom maturin command with built-in support for cross compilation
GitHub Action to install and run a custom maturin command with built-in support for cross compilation - PyO3/maturin-action
github.com
December 20, 2025 at 5:57 PM
Has somebody figured out how to properly cache downloaded and compiled artifacts when using PyO3/maturin-action?
github.com/PyO3/maturin...
github.com/PyO3/maturin...
Reposted by Martin Donath
⚠️ Warning
We’ve been made aware of a crypto coin falsely using the name “Zensical.” To be clear: this is a scam, unauthorized, and not affiliated with us in any way.
Please avoid and report.
We’ve been made aware of a crypto coin falsely using the name “Zensical.” To be clear: this is a scam, unauthorized, and not affiliated with us in any way.
Please avoid and report.
December 20, 2025 at 9:39 AM
⚠️ Warning
We’ve been made aware of a crypto coin falsely using the name “Zensical.” To be clear: this is a scam, unauthorized, and not affiliated with us in any way.
Please avoid and report.
We’ve been made aware of a crypto coin falsely using the name “Zensical.” To be clear: this is a scam, unauthorized, and not affiliated with us in any way.
Please avoid and report.
Reposted by Martin Donath
Zensical 0.0.13 is out – our second release today.
This release fixes all known issues in the user interface, which means we'll now focus again on the runtime, so we can start working on the module system very soon.
github.com/zensical/zen...
This release fixes all known issues in the user interface, which means we'll now focus again on the runtime, so we can start working on the module system very soon.
github.com/zensical/zen...
Release 0.0.13 · zensical/zensical
Summary
This release updates the user interface to v0.0.2, which includes various improvements and bug fixes, and ships 132 new icons. It might be a breaking change, as Simple icons removed 37 icon...
github.com
December 18, 2025 at 8:09 PM
Zensical 0.0.13 is out – our second release today.
This release fixes all known issues in the user interface, which means we'll now focus again on the runtime, so we can start working on the module system very soon.
github.com/zensical/zen...
This release fixes all known issues in the user interface, which means we'll now focus again on the runtime, so we can start working on the module system very soon.
github.com/zensical/zen...
Reposted by Martin Donath
👋 In case you missed it:
1️⃣ MkDocs unmaintained since 1,5 years
2️⃣ Material for MkDocs in maintenance mode
3️⃣ mkdocstrings in maintenance mode
💀 MkDocs is dead.
🚀 2026 will be the year of @zensical.org
1️⃣ MkDocs unmaintained since 1,5 years
2️⃣ Material for MkDocs in maintenance mode
3️⃣ mkdocstrings in maintenance mode
💀 MkDocs is dead.
🚀 2026 will be the year of @zensical.org
December 18, 2025 at 10:00 AM
👋 In case you missed it:
1️⃣ MkDocs unmaintained since 1,5 years
2️⃣ Material for MkDocs in maintenance mode
3️⃣ mkdocstrings in maintenance mode
💀 MkDocs is dead.
🚀 2026 will be the year of @zensical.org
1️⃣ MkDocs unmaintained since 1,5 years
2️⃣ Material for MkDocs in maintenance mode
3️⃣ mkdocstrings in maintenance mode
💀 MkDocs is dead.
🚀 2026 will be the year of @zensical.org
The last two weeks of work just saw the light of day ☺️
We've just released mono, our new mono repository automation toolkit:
- Supports Rust and NPM projects
- Automatic scope detection
- Interactive version bumps
- Beautiful changelogs
- Standalone executable
github.com/zensical/mono
- Supports Rust and NPM projects
- Automatic scope detection
- Interactive version bumps
- Beautiful changelogs
- Standalone executable
github.com/zensical/mono
GitHub - zensical/mono: Mono repository automation toolkit
Mono repository automation toolkit. Contribute to zensical/mono development by creating an account on GitHub.
github.com
December 17, 2025 at 4:22 PM
The last two weeks of work just saw the light of day ☺️
Rust is the Drum & Bass of programming languages. Lightning fast, surgically precise, and engineered to flow.
Incidentally, I love Drum & Bass.
Incidentally, I love Drum & Bass.
December 7, 2025 at 6:41 PM
Rust is the Drum & Bass of programming languages. Lightning fast, surgically precise, and engineered to flow.
Incidentally, I love Drum & Bass.
Incidentally, I love Drum & Bass.
📣 mkdocstrings is now supported in Zensical!
We just shipped Zensical 0.0.11 with initial mkdocstrings support. Features like cross-refs and backlinks are still in progress, but API docs already look great with Zensical.
Give it a spin:
zensical.org/docs/setup/e...
We just shipped Zensical 0.0.11 with initial mkdocstrings support. Features like cross-refs and backlinks are still in progress, but API docs already look great with Zensical.
Give it a spin:
zensical.org/docs/setup/e...
December 3, 2025 at 2:56 PM
📣 mkdocstrings is now supported in Zensical!
We just shipped Zensical 0.0.11 with initial mkdocstrings support. Features like cross-refs and backlinks are still in progress, but API docs already look great with Zensical.
Give it a spin:
zensical.org/docs/setup/e...
We just shipped Zensical 0.0.11 with initial mkdocstrings support. Features like cross-refs and backlinks are still in progress, but API docs already look great with Zensical.
Give it a spin:
zensical.org/docs/setup/e...
New pricing page for @zensical.org is live.
Using instant previews to surface additional context without disrupting the reading flow – they can be quite effective for progressive disclosure.
Documentation for instant previews:
zensical.org/docs/setup/n...
Using instant previews to surface additional context without disrupting the reading flow – they can be quite effective for progressive disclosure.
Documentation for instant previews:
zensical.org/docs/setup/n...
December 1, 2025 at 5:21 PM
New pricing page for @zensical.org is live.
Using instant previews to surface additional context without disrupting the reading flow – they can be quite effective for progressive disclosure.
Documentation for instant previews:
zensical.org/docs/setup/n...
Using instant previews to surface additional context without disrupting the reading flow – they can be quite effective for progressive disclosure.
Documentation for instant previews:
zensical.org/docs/setup/n...
Disco is now 3x faster in Zensical 0.0.10! Comparing it to Lunr.js, used in Material for MkDocs, current results are:
Indexing: 4x faster
Querying: 20x (!) faster
This means that Disco can handle much bigger indexes, e.g., 25 MB which roughly equals ~12.000 printed pages.
Indexing: 4x faster
Querying: 20x (!) faster
This means that Disco can handle much bigger indexes, e.g., 25 MB which roughly equals ~12.000 printed pages.
November 26, 2025 at 2:57 PM
Disco is now 3x faster in Zensical 0.0.10! Comparing it to Lunr.js, used in Material for MkDocs, current results are:
Indexing: 4x faster
Querying: 20x (!) faster
This means that Disco can handle much bigger indexes, e.g., 25 MB which roughly equals ~12.000 printed pages.
Indexing: 4x faster
Querying: 20x (!) faster
This means that Disco can handle much bigger indexes, e.g., 25 MB which roughly equals ~12.000 printed pages.
Reposted by Martin Donath
✨ The first invites for Zensical Spark are going out this week! We're excited to onboard our professional users and begin co-creating the future of Zensical together.
Join the waiting list
zensical.org/spark/join/
Join the waiting list
zensical.org/spark/join/
November 24, 2025 at 11:43 AM
✨ The first invites for Zensical Spark are going out this week! We're excited to onboard our professional users and begin co-creating the future of Zensical together.
Join the waiting list
zensical.org/spark/join/
Join the waiting list
zensical.org/spark/join/
129 people already hanging out in the @zensical.org Discord – a good place to ask questions if you get stuck 👋
discord.gg/hqXRNq9CjT
discord.gg/hqXRNq9CjT
Join the Zensical Discord Server!
This is the official Discord community for Zensical's Open Source projects on GitHub – https://github.com/zensical. A community-driven space where developers, users, and contributors connect to ask q...
discord.gg
November 22, 2025 at 5:40 PM
129 people already hanging out in the @zensical.org Discord – a good place to ask questions if you get stuck 👋
discord.gg/hqXRNq9CjT
discord.gg/hqXRNq9CjT
📣 Material for MkDocs discussion board now read-only.
In this fourth and final part of our blog post series, we share our experiences with GitHub Discussions, and what motivated us to rethink the way we work with the community as part of @zensical.org.
squidfunk.github.io/mkdocs-mater...
In this fourth and final part of our blog post series, we share our experiences with GitHub Discussions, and what motivated us to rethink the way we work with the community as part of @zensical.org.
squidfunk.github.io/mkdocs-mater...
Goodbye, GitHub Discussions - Material for MkDocs
As Material for MkDocs entered maintenance mode and we're focusing our efforts on Zensical, our discussion board is now read-only
squidfunk.github.io
November 18, 2025 at 3:22 PM
📣 Material for MkDocs discussion board now read-only.
In this fourth and final part of our blog post series, we share our experiences with GitHub Discussions, and what motivated us to rethink the way we work with the community as part of @zensical.org.
squidfunk.github.io/mkdocs-mater...
In this fourth and final part of our blog post series, we share our experiences with GitHub Discussions, and what motivated us to rethink the way we work with the community as part of @zensical.org.
squidfunk.github.io/mkdocs-mater...
Gosh, it feels so good to finally have released Zensical on November 5! Together with the search, we've basically worked in the dark for 2 years – generally a very bad idea, as you can't know whether you nail the problem you're aiming to solve or not.
A thread ⬇ 1/4
A thread ⬇ 1/4
November 15, 2025 at 12:37 PM
Gosh, it feels so good to finally have released Zensical on November 5! Together with the search, we've basically worked in the dark for 2 years – generally a very bad idea, as you can't know whether you nail the problem you're aiming to solve or not.
A thread ⬇ 1/4
A thread ⬇ 1/4
After a while of Rust, you return to Python or TypeScript with genuine confusion – you can just... pass things around? Without a borrow checker complaining? That's legal?? I mean, who owns that thingy??
November 13, 2025 at 11:40 AM
After a while of Rust, you return to Python or TypeScript with genuine confusion – you can just... pass things around? Without a borrow checker complaining? That's legal?? I mean, who owns that thingy??
Python Markdown Extensions already moved over from MkDocs to @zensical.org 🚀 This demonstrates that existing customizations work nicely in the new design, with only some minor adjustments necessary.
facelessuser.github.io/pymdown-exte...
facelessuser.github.io/pymdown-exte...
November 12, 2025 at 1:10 PM
Python Markdown Extensions already moved over from MkDocs to @zensical.org 🚀 This demonstrates that existing customizations work nicely in the new design, with only some minor adjustments necessary.
facelessuser.github.io/pymdown-exte...
facelessuser.github.io/pymdown-exte...
900 stars 7 days after release – I think it's safe to say we had a very successful launch with @zensical.org. We're super happy and the feedback is overwhelmingly positive. Thank you all for supporting our work ❤️
November 11, 2025 at 5:51 PM
900 stars 7 days after release – I think it's safe to say we had a very successful launch with @zensical.org. We're super happy and the feedback is overwhelmingly positive. Thank you all for supporting our work ❤️
📣 Material for MkDocs Insiders now free for everyone!
With 9.7.0, we release all Insiders features previously exclusive to sponsors! This marks the last version of Material that includes new features, as we now enter maintenance mode.
A thread ⬇ 1/4
squidfunk.github.io/mkdocs-mater...
With 9.7.0, we release all Insiders features previously exclusive to sponsors! This marks the last version of Material that includes new features, as we now enter maintenance mode.
A thread ⬇ 1/4
squidfunk.github.io/mkdocs-mater...
Insiders – Now free for everyone - Material for MkDocs
We just released 9.7.0 – the final version of Material for MkDocs, which includes all features that were previously exclusive to sponsors
squidfunk.github.io
November 11, 2025 at 4:21 PM
📣 Material for MkDocs Insiders now free for everyone!
With 9.7.0, we release all Insiders features previously exclusive to sponsors! This marks the last version of Material that includes new features, as we now enter maintenance mode.
A thread ⬇ 1/4
squidfunk.github.io/mkdocs-mater...
With 9.7.0, we release all Insiders features previously exclusive to sponsors! This marks the last version of Material that includes new features, as we now enter maintenance mode.
A thread ⬇ 1/4
squidfunk.github.io/mkdocs-mater...
Reposted by Martin Donath
We're on the HackerNews front page right now!
news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4586...
news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4586...
Zensical – A modern static site generator built by the Material for MkDocs team | Hacker News
news.ycombinator.com
November 9, 2025 at 6:00 PM
We're on the HackerNews front page right now!
news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4586...
news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4586...
... and the next Zensical release! We'll probably have one every day for the next 10 days, playing whack-a-mole with bugs as they appear, when thousands of Material users test-drive Zensical on their existing projects 😃
Compatibility madness!
github.com/zensical/zen...
Compatibility madness!
github.com/zensical/zen...
Release zensical-0.0.5 · zensical/zensical
Bug fixes
6c47c6d fix - disable tracing by default @squidfunk
27f7f1b fix - extra templates incorrectly handled @squidfunk
083656a fix - add protocol to printed serve URL @squidfunk
fdc412a fix - ...
github.com
November 7, 2025 at 7:08 PM
... and the next Zensical release! We'll probably have one every day for the next 10 days, playing whack-a-mole with bugs as they appear, when thousands of Material users test-drive Zensical on their existing projects 😃
Compatibility madness!
github.com/zensical/zen...
Compatibility madness!
github.com/zensical/zen...
I just closed my GitHub Sponsors account, saying goodbye to over $16k in monthly sponsorships. These sponsorships allowed me to build a team around Material for MkDocs, and now, Zensical.
With Zensical Spark, we're on a new track to OSS sustainability:
zensical.org/spark/
With Zensical Spark, we're on a new track to OSS sustainability:
zensical.org/spark/
Zensical
Adaptive systems for evolving ideas – Zensical creates scalable Open Source systems for technical writing that always keep you in the flow
zensical.org
November 6, 2025 at 12:00 PM
I just closed my GitHub Sponsors account, saying goodbye to over $16k in monthly sponsorships. These sponsorships allowed me to build a team around Material for MkDocs, and now, Zensical.
With Zensical Spark, we're on a new track to OSS sustainability:
zensical.org/spark/
With Zensical Spark, we're on a new track to OSS sustainability:
zensical.org/spark/
Zensical – a modern static site generator.
We're excited to release @zensical.org, our new SSG that is compatible with Material for MkDocs:
– 5x faster rebuilds
– Modern design
– Blazing-fast search
Read the full announcement on our blog:
squidfunk.github.io/mkdocs-mater...
A thread ⬇ 1/7
We're excited to release @zensical.org, our new SSG that is compatible with Material for MkDocs:
– 5x faster rebuilds
– Modern design
– Blazing-fast search
Read the full announcement on our blog:
squidfunk.github.io/mkdocs-mater...
A thread ⬇ 1/7
Zensical - A modern static site generator - Material for MkDocs
We are thrilled to announce Zensical, our next-gen static site generator that addresses and overcomes the technical limitations of MkDocs
squidfunk.github.io
November 5, 2025 at 2:24 PM
Zensical – a modern static site generator.
We're excited to release @zensical.org, our new SSG that is compatible with Material for MkDocs:
– 5x faster rebuilds
– Modern design
– Blazing-fast search
Read the full announcement on our blog:
squidfunk.github.io/mkdocs-mater...
A thread ⬇ 1/7
We're excited to release @zensical.org, our new SSG that is compatible with Material for MkDocs:
– 5x faster rebuilds
– Modern design
– Blazing-fast search
Read the full announcement on our blog:
squidfunk.github.io/mkdocs-mater...
A thread ⬇ 1/7