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Building the MkDocs Site

To build the MegaDetector docs site locally, follow these steps.

1. Install System Dependencies

Install Python and pipx via Homebrew (one-time setup):

brew bundle

Then install MkDocs and its plugins globally:

pipx install mkdocs-material --include-deps
pipx inject mkdocs-material pymdown-extensions mkdocstrings mkdocstrings-python
pipx ensurepath

Open a new terminal after running pipx ensurepath so the mkdocs command is on your PATH.

2. Build the Site

mkdocs build

This generates the static site in the site/ directory.

3. Preview Locally

mkdocs serve

The site is available at http://127.0.0.1:8000/.

4. Deploy to GitHub Pages

Push any change to docs/**, mkdocs.yml, or requirements.txt on the main branch, GitHub Actions deploys automatically.

To deploy manually:

mkdocs gh-deploy --force

Notes

  • The site/ directory is auto-generated and excluded from version control via .gitignore
  • Documentation source files live in docs/
  • Site config is in mkdocs.yml at the repo root