📚 Rhyla Documentation

Modern, Fast, and Simple Documentation Generator

Rhyla is a lightweight, template-driven documentation generator that transforms your Markdown files into beautiful, searchable documentation sites. Write in Markdown, organize in folders, and deploy anywhere.

✨ Why Rhyla?

⚡️ Quick Start

Get started in less than a minute:

1. Initialize Your Project

rhyla init

This creates a rhyla-docs/ folder with everything you need.

2. Start Development Server

rhyla dev

Preview at http://localhost:3333. Changes reflect instantly!

3. Build for Production

rhyla build

Generates a dist/ folder ready to deploy.

📁 How It Works

Rhyla automatically creates your documentation site from your file structure:

rhyla-docs/
├── body/                    # Your documentation
│   ├── home.md             # Home page
│   ├── quickstart.md       # → /quickstart
│   ├── guide/              # Guide section
│   │   ├── installation.md # → /guide/installation
│   │   └── config.md       # → /guide/config
│   └── api/                # API reference
│       ├── auth.md         # → /api/auth
│       └── users.md        # → /api/users
├── public/                 # Static assets (images, fonts)
├── styles/                 # Themes (light.css, dark.css)
├── config.json            # Configuration
└── header.html            # Header template

That's it! The sidebar, search index, and navigation are generated automatically.

🎯 Key Features

📑 Smart Sidebar with Groups

Organize your documentation with custom groups:

{
  "sidebar": [
    "home",
    {
      "title": "Getting Started",
      "children": ["installation", "quickstart"]
    },
    {
      "title": "API Reference",
      "children": ["api/auth", "api/users", "api/posts"]
    }
  ]
}

Features:

Learn more about sidebar customization

🔍 Instant Search

Built-in search with:

No configuration needed — just start writing!

🔒 Password Protection (New in v1.0.8)

Protect your documentation with password authentication:

{
  "password_doc": {
    "enabled": true,
    "passwords": ["yourPassword123", "anotherPassword"]
  }
}

Features:

View release notes

🎨 Beautiful Themes

Switch between light and dark modes with one click:

Customize with CSS variables:

[data-theme="light"] {
  --bg-primary: #ffffff;
  --text-primary: #1a1a1a;
  --accent: #007acc;
}

🏷 Smart Tags

Rhyla automatically recognizes special file patterns:

Example:

api/
├── get-users.md        → GET tag (green)
├── post-login.md       → POST tag (blue)
├── delete-user.md      → DELETE tag (red)
└── api-v2-new.md       → v2 + NEW badges

Learn more about the tag system

⚡️ SPA Navigation

Page transitions feel instant:

🛠 Commands Reference

Command Description
rhyla init Initialize a new documentation project
rhyla dev Start development server with hot reload
rhyla dev --port 8080 Start on custom port
rhyla build Build static site for production
rhyla serve Serve the built files locally

📖 Writing Documentation

Markdown Files (.md)

Write natural Markdown and Rhyla handles the rest:

# API Authentication

Use JWT tokens for authentication.

## Getting a Token

Send a POST request to `/auth/login`:

\`\`\`json
{
  "username": "user",
  "password": "pass"
}
\`\`\`

## Using the Token

Include in headers:

\`\`\`
Authorization: Bearer <token>
\`\`\`

HTML Files (.html)

For custom layouts, use raw HTML:

Naming Best Practices

✅ Good:

❌ Avoid:

Pro tip: Use lowercase with hyphens for consistency and clean URLs.

🎓 Learn More

📚 Documentation

🔧 Advanced Topics

Explore the full guide →

🚀 Deployment

Deploy your documentation anywhere:

GitHub Pages

rhyla build
# Push dist/ folder to gh-pages branch

Vercel

rhyla build
vercel deploy dist/

Netlify

rhyla build
# Point Netlify to dist/ folder

Any Static Host

Just upload the dist/ folder!

💡 Tips & Tricks

Development

Organization

Performance

❓ Common Questions

Can I customize the header?

Yes! Edit rhyla-docs/header.html to customize the header, logo, and navigation.

How do I change the theme colors?

Modify CSS variables in styles/light.css and styles/dark.css.

Can I use custom domains?

Yes! Deploy to any static host and configure your domain DNS.

Is it SEO-friendly?

Yes! The build generates static HTML with full content — perfect for SEO.

Can I add custom JavaScript?

Yes! Include scripts in your header or individual pages.

Does it support code syntax highlighting?

Yes! Code blocks are automatically highlighted with language detection.

🆕 What's New in v1.0.8

🔒 Password Authentication System

📑 Enhanced Sidebar Groups

Read full release notes →

🤝 Contributing

Rhyla is open source! Contributions are welcome:

📄 License

MIT License - Free to use for any project!

🎉 Get Started Now

# Install globally
npm install -g rhyla

# Or use with npx
npx rhyla init

Start documenting in seconds. Deploy anywhere in minutes.

Made with ❤️ by developers, for developers.