README

A fast, flat-file documentation engine for PHP 8. Write Markdown in folders, get a docs site with search, versions and a sidebar. No database, no Node build step, no admin panel.

PHP renders each page once and writes plain HTML to public/cache. After that Apache or nginx serves the file directly, so PHP never starts. A cheap shared host answers like a CDN.

Features

Folders become the sidebar. Number prefixes set the order and disappear from URLs (02-guide/01-install.md → /guide/install).
Versioned docs. content/v2, content/v1, a version switcher that keeps you on the same page, and a banner on old versions.
Instant search. A prebuilt index searched in the browser. Results jump to the matching section. Ctrl K or / to open.
Docs that also work on GitHub. Link to ../install.md; Inkdocs rewrites it to the page URL. Callouts use GitHub's > [!NOTE] syntax.
Zero JS for code. Syntax highlighting happens on the server (180+ languages), with file titles and copy buttons.
Broken-link checker. bin/inkdocs check fails CI when a page links to a missing file.
AI-ready. /llms.txt, /llms-full.txt, and the raw Markdown of any page at page.md.
Deploy anywhere. Apache and LiteSpeed (.htaccess included), nginx (config included), or bin/inkdocs build for GitHub Pages, Netlify and S3.
Two themes, no outside requests. Bold (black and white, based on wayan.cc) or Neutral, each with light and dark mode. Inter and Mermaid are bundled, so pages never call Google Fonts or a CDN.
Small and hackable. Under 2,000 lines of PHP including templates. One CSS and one JS file, plus a design-tokens file you can override.

Quick start

composer create-project wayancc/inkdocs my-docs
cd my-docs
php bin/inkdocs serve        # http://127.0.0.1:8000

Add a page:

php bin/inkdocs new v2/02-writing/04-faq "FAQ"

The starter content is the Inkdocs documentation itself. Replace content/ with yours.

How it works

Request ─┬─▶ public/cache/<path>/index.html exists? ──▶ web server sends it (no PHP)
         │
         └─▶ index.php ─┬─▶ cached file exists? ──▶ readfile() before autoload (~0.6 ms)
                        └─▶ render Markdown → write cache → respond (~15–25 ms, once)

Measured on the bundled docs with PHP 8.3 and OPcache, PHP built-in server:

Request	Time
First render of a page (Markdown, highlighting, layout)	16–23 ms
Cached page via the PHP fast path	0.5–0.8 ms
Cached page via Apache/nginx	static file speed
Full static build, 15 pages, 2 versions	0.09 s

Project layout

bin/inkdocs        CLI: serve, build, cache:warm, cache:clear, check, new
config.php         Site settings (all optional)
content/           Markdown, one folder per version
public/            Web root: index.php, .htaccess, assets/, cache/
src/               The engine
theme/             layout.php and nav.php
deploy/nginx.conf  nginx server block
tests/run.php      Test suite (no dependencies)

Design

Set 'theme' => 'wayan' (Bold, the default) or 'neutral' in config.php. Readers switch between light and dark with the sun/moon button.

Every color, font and border width lives in public/assets/wyn-tokens.css.
Every theme class and data attribute starts with wyn-, so your own CSS never collides with it.
See content/v2/04-reference/03-theming.md for brand overrides.

Configuration

return [
    'site_name' => 'Acme Docs',
    'site_url'  => 'https://docs.acme.dev',
    'base_url'  => '/',                       // '/docs/' for a subfolder install
    'versions'  => ['v2' => 'v2.x', 'v1' => 'v1.x'],
    'edit_url'  => 'https://github.com/acme/docs/edit/main/content/{path}',
    'nav_links' => ['GitHub' => 'https://github.com/acme/docs'],
    'cache'     => true,
];

Every option is documented in content/v2/04-reference/01-configuration.md.

Deploying

Host	What to do
Shared hosting (cPanel, Plesk)	Upload, point the document root at `public/`. The `.htaccess` serves cached pages.
nginx + PHP-FPM	Use `deploy/nginx.conf`. Run `php bin/inkdocs cache:warm` after each deploy.
GitHub Pages	Enable Pages → GitHub Actions. `.github/workflows/pages.yml` builds and publishes on push.
Netlify, Cloudflare Pages, S3	`php bin/inkdocs build --out=dist` and upload `dist/`.

Development

composer install
composer test               # 39 checks: routing, caching, Markdown, design, build
php bin/inkdocs check       # broken links

Roadmap

Tabs and code groups (::: tabs)
i18n folders (content/en, content/id)
Webhook endpoint to rebuild the cache on git push
Theme packages via Composer

License

MIT

wayancc / inkdocs

Package info

Security

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