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Version: Canary 🚧

CLI

Docusaurus provides a set of scripts to help you generate, serve, and deploy your website.

Once your website is bootstrapped, the website source will contain the Docusaurus scripts that you can invoke with your package manager:

package.json
{
// ...
"scripts": {
"docusaurus": "docusaurus",
"start": "docusaurus start",
"build": "docusaurus build",
"swizzle": "docusaurus swizzle",
"deploy": "docusaurus deploy",
"clear": "docusaurus clear",
"serve": "docusaurus serve",
"write-translations": "docusaurus write-translations",
"write-heading-ids": "docusaurus write-heading-ids"
}
}

Docusaurus CLI commands

Below is a list of Docusaurus CLI commands and their usages:

docusaurus start [siteDir]

Builds and serves a preview of your site locally with Webpack Dev Server.

Options

NameDefaultDescription
--devBuilds in dev mode, including full React error messages.
--port3000Specifies the port of the dev server.
--hostlocalhostSpecify a host to use. For example, if you want your server to be accessible externally, you can use --host 0.0.0.0.
--hot-onlyfalseEnables Hot Module Replacement without page refresh as a fallback in case of build failures. More information here.
--no-openfalseDo not open the page automatically in the browser.
--configundefinedPath to Docusaurus config file, default to [siteDir]/docusaurus.config.js
--poll [optionalIntervalMs]falseUse polling of files rather than watching for live reload as a fallback in environments where watching doesn't work. More information here.
--no-minifyfalseBuild website without minimizing JS/CSS bundles.
info

Please note that some functionality (for example, anchor links) will not work in development. The functionality will work as expected in production.

Development over network

When forwarding port 3000 from a remote server or VM (e.g. GitHub Codespaces), you can run the dev server on 0.0.0.0 to make it listen on the local IP.

npm run start -- --host 0.0.0.0

Enabling HTTPS

There are multiple ways to obtain a certificate. We will use mkcert as an example.

  1. Run mkcert localhost to generate localhost.pem + localhost-key.pem

  2. Run mkcert -install to install the cert in your trust store, and restart your browser

  3. Start the app with Docusaurus HTTPS env variables:

HTTPS=true SSL_CRT_FILE=localhost.pem SSL_KEY_FILE=localhost-key.pem yarn start
  1. Open https://localhost:3000/

docusaurus build [siteDir]

Compiles your site for production.

Options

NameDefaultDescription
--bundle-analyzerfalseAnalyze your bundle with the webpack bundle analyzer.
--out-dirbuildThe full path for the new output directory, relative to the current workspace.
--configundefinedPath to Docusaurus config file, default to [siteDir]/docusaurus.config.js
--no-minifyfalseBuild website without minimizing JS/CSS bundles.
info

For advanced minification of CSS bundle, we use the advanced cssnano preset (along with additional several PostCSS plugins) and level 2 optimization of clean-css. If as a result of this advanced CSS minification you find broken CSS, build your website with the environment variable USE_SIMPLE_CSS_MINIFIER=true to minify CSS with the default cssnano preset. Please fill out an issue if you experience CSS minification bugs.

You can skip the HTML minification with the environment variable SKIP_HTML_MINIFICATION=true.

docusaurus swizzle [themeName] [componentName] [siteDir]

Swizzle a theme component to customize it.

npm run swizzle [themeName] [componentName] [siteDir]

# Example (leaving out the siteDir to indicate this directory)
npm run swizzle @docusaurus/theme-classic Footer -- --eject

The swizzle CLI is interactive and will guide you through the whole swizzle process.

Options

NameDescription
themeNameThe name of the theme to swizzle from.
componentNameThe name of the theme component to swizzle.
--listDisplay components available for swizzling
--ejectEject the theme component
--wrapWrap the theme component
--dangerAllow immediate swizzling of unsafe components
--typescriptSwizzle the TypeScript variant component
--configPath to docusaurus config file, default to [siteDir]/docusaurus.config.js
warning

Unsafe components have a higher risk of breaking changes due to internal refactorings.

docusaurus deploy [siteDir]

Deploys your site with GitHub Pages. Check out the docs on deployment for more details.

Options

NameDefaultDescription
--out-dirbuildThe full path for the new output directory, relative to the current workspace.
--skip-buildfalseDeploy website without building it. This may be useful when using a custom deploy script.
--configundefinedPath to Docusaurus config file, default to [siteDir]/docusaurus.config.js

docusaurus serve [siteDir]

Serve your built website locally.

NameDefaultDescription
--port3000Use specified port
--dirbuildThe full path for the output directory, relative to the current workspace
--buildfalseBuild website before serving
--configundefinedPath to Docusaurus config file, default to [siteDir]/docusaurus.config.js
--hostlocalhostSpecify a host to use. For example, if you want your server to be accessible externally, you can use --host 0.0.0.0.
--no-openfalse locally, true in CIDo not open a browser window to the server location.

docusaurus clear [siteDir]

Clear a Docusaurus site's generated assets, caches, build artifacts.

We recommend running this command before reporting bugs, after upgrading versions, or anytime you have issues with your Docusaurus site.

docusaurus write-translations [siteDir]

Write the JSON translation files that you will have to translate.

By default, the files are written in website/i18n/<defaultLocale>/....

NameDefaultDescription
--locale<defaultLocale>Define which locale folder you want to write translations the JSON files in
--overridefalseOverride existing translation messages
--configundefinedPath to Docusaurus config file, default to [siteDir]/docusaurus.config.js
--messagePrefix''Allows adding a prefix to each translation message, to help you highlight untranslated strings

docusaurus write-heading-ids [siteDir] [files]

Add explicit heading IDs to the Markdown documents of your site.

NameDefaultDescription
filesAll MD files used by pluginsThe files that you want heading IDs to be written to.
--maintain-casefalseKeep the headings' casing, otherwise make all lowercase.
--overwritefalseOverwrite existing heading IDs.