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
I still can’t believe a language like Rust exists. It lets you be incredibly productive, compiles to native code, and provides strong safety guarantees. It really feels like a new era of programming.
Roughly 3,000 hours in, it keeps getting better.
Roughly 3,000 hours in, it keeps getting better.
January 9, 2026 at 9:20 PM
I still can’t believe a language like Rust exists. It lets you be incredibly productive, compiles to native code, and provides strong safety guarantees. It really feels like a new era of programming.
Roughly 3,000 hours in, it keeps getting better.
Roughly 3,000 hours in, it keeps getting better.
MkDocs hasn't had a plugin system for the first three years. We're working very hard to deliver a battle-tested module system for @zensical.org this summer, at latest.
January 9, 2026 at 9:19 AM
MkDocs hasn't had a plugin system for the first three years. We're working very hard to deliver a battle-tested module system for @zensical.org this summer, at latest.
Using a u64 as a stack to evaluate a tree of ANY/ALL/NOT conditions. Zero allocations and probably pretty optimal already.
January 7, 2026 at 7:07 PM
Using a u64 as a stack to evaluate a tree of ANY/ALL/NOT conditions. Zero allocations and probably pretty optimal already.
Reposted by Martin Donath
ZRX 0.0.7 makes selector matching 1,000 faster. We're currently working on a module system prototype, and selectors are the way how modules interconnect. This release lays the foundation for extremely large module graphs.
github.com/zensical/zrx...
github.com/zensical/zrx...
Release 0.0.7 · zensical/zrx
Summary
This version improves performance of selector matching by up to a factor of 1,000, especially when many components are empty, which is the norm. Additionally, it includes several breaking c...
github.com
January 6, 2026 at 5:05 PM
ZRX 0.0.7 makes selector matching 1,000 faster. We're currently working on a module system prototype, and selectors are the way how modules interconnect. This release lays the foundation for extremely large module graphs.
github.com/zensical/zrx...
github.com/zensical/zrx...
Reposted by Martin Donath
📮 The next edition of Zensical Monthly goes out tomorrow! We’ll be sharing the most important recent updates, behind-the-scenes work, and the occasional exclusive goodie!
You can subscribe to Zensical Monthly here:
zensical.org/about/newsle...
You can subscribe to Zensical Monthly here:
zensical.org/about/newsle...
Zensical
Adaptive systems for evolving ideas – Zensical creates scalable Open Source systems for technical writing that always keep you in the flow
zensical.org
January 6, 2026 at 9:29 AM
📮 The next edition of Zensical Monthly goes out tomorrow! We’ll be sharing the most important recent updates, behind-the-scenes work, and the occasional exclusive goodie!
You can subscribe to Zensical Monthly here:
zensical.org/about/newsle...
You can subscribe to Zensical Monthly here:
zensical.org/about/newsle...
Reposted by Martin Donath
Rubyists, I just updated the Nokogiri docs site nokogiri.org to use Zensical. Let me know if anything looks wonky!
Shout out to @squidfunk.com and the @zensical.org crew! Good stuff.
Shout out to @squidfunk.com and the @zensical.org crew! Good stuff.
Nokogiri - Nokogiri
The Official Tutorial Archive™ of Nokogiri®
nokogiri.org
January 5, 2026 at 9:30 PM
Rubyists, I just updated the Nokogiri docs site nokogiri.org to use Zensical. Let me know if anything looks wonky!
Shout out to @squidfunk.com and the @zensical.org crew! Good stuff.
Shout out to @squidfunk.com and the @zensical.org crew! Good stuff.
Reposted by Martin Donath
The documentation system dilemma: powerful but complex (Sphinx) or simple but limited (MkDocs).
Why compromise? With Zensical, we're finally solving this. Full power, zero friction. Here's our roadmap:
zensical.org/about/roadmap/
Why compromise? With Zensical, we're finally solving this. Full power, zero friction. Here's our roadmap:
zensical.org/about/roadmap/
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 30, 2025 at 9:25 AM
The documentation system dilemma: powerful but complex (Sphinx) or simple but limited (MkDocs).
Why compromise? With Zensical, we're finally solving this. Full power, zero friction. Here's our roadmap:
zensical.org/about/roadmap/
Why compromise? With Zensical, we're finally solving this. Full power, zero friction. Here's our roadmap:
zensical.org/about/roadmap/
🎄 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??