foliate 0.4.4

Minimal static site generator for markdown vaults

Foliate

A static site generator for your markdown vault. A flexible, configurable alternative to Obsidian Publish.

cd my-vault
uvx foliate init   # Create .foliate/config.toml
uvx foliate build  # Generate site to .foliate/build/

Why Foliate?

• Everything in your vault - All content, config, and output stay in your vault
• Single executable - One tool to generate your website, no complex setup
• Flexible - Just markdown files in, a website out

Features

• Zero config - Works out of the box with sensible defaults
• Vault-native - Everything lives in .foliate/ inside your vault
• Two-tiered visibility - Control what's public vs. published
• Incremental builds - Only rebuilds changed files (auto-rebuilds on config/template changes)
• Watch mode - Auto-rebuild on file changes
• Works with any markdown - Obsidian, Logseq, or plain markdown files
• Obsidian syntax - Supports ![alt|width](url) image sizing
• Quarto support - Preprocess .qmd files (optional)
• Deploy command - Built-in GitHub Pages deployment

Quick Start

# Initialize in your vault
cd my-vault
uvx foliate init

# Build
uvx foliate build

# Watch mode (build + serve + auto-rebuild)
uvx foliate watch

Directory Structure

my-vault/
├── .foliate/
│   ├── config.toml      # Configuration
│   ├── build/           # Generated site
│   ├── cache/           # Build cache
│   ├── templates/       # Custom templates (optional)
│   └── static/          # Custom CSS/JS (optional)
├── _private/            # Ignored - never built
├── _homepage/           # Site root (/, /about/, etc.)
│   └── about.md         # → example.com/about/
├── assets/              # Images, PDFs
├── Home.md              # → example.com/wiki/Home/
└── Notes/
    └── ideas.md         # → example.com/wiki/Notes/ideas/

Special Directories

Directory	Purpose
_private/	Never built, regardless of frontmatter. Configurable via ignored_folders in config.
_homepage/	Content deployed to site root (/) instead of /wiki/ (or other prefix). Excluded from normal wiki generation.

Visibility System

Control what gets built and listed:

---
public: true       # Built and accessible via direct link
published: true    # Also appears in listings and search
---

• No frontmatter or public: false → Not built (private)
• public: true → Built, accessible via URL
• public: true, published: true → Built AND visible in listings

Configuration

.foliate/config.toml:

[site]
name = "My Wiki"
url = "https://example.com"

[build]
ignored_folders = ["_private", "drafts"]
wiki_prefix = "wiki"  # URL prefix for wiki content (set to "" for root)

[nav]
items = [
    { url = "/about/", label = "About" },
    { url = "/wiki/Home/", label = "Wiki" },
]

Commands

foliate init      # Create .foliate/config.toml
foliate build     # Build site
foliate watch     # Build + serve + auto-rebuild
foliate deploy    # Deploy to GitHub Pages
foliate clean     # Remove build artifacts

Options

foliate build --force      # Force full rebuild
foliate build --verbose    # Detailed output
foliate build --serve      # Start server after build
foliate watch --port 3000  # Custom port
foliate deploy --dry-run   # Preview deploy without executing
foliate deploy -m "msg"    # Custom commit message

Deployment

Foliate generates static files in .foliate/build/. Deploy anywhere that serves static files.

GitHub Pages (Built-in)

Configure in .foliate/config.toml:

[deploy]
method = "github-pages"
target = "../username.github.io"  # Path to your GitHub Pages repo
exclude = ["CNAME", ".gitignore", ".gitmodules"]

Then deploy:

foliate deploy           # Sync, commit, and push
foliate deploy --dry-run # Preview changes first

rsync (VPS/Server)

rsync -avz --delete .foliate/build/ user@server:/var/www/mysite/

Simple local copy

cp -r .foliate/build/* /path/to/webserver/

Customization

Foliate is designed to be customized via template and CSS overrides.

Quick Start

my-vault/
└── .foliate/
    ├── templates/     # Override layout.html, page.html
    └── static/        # Override main.css, add custom assets

Files in these directories take precedence over Foliate's defaults.

Documentation

See docs/customization.md for the full guide, including:

• Template variables reference
• CSS variables for theming
• Common customization examples:
  • Newsletter signup forms
  • Custom footer with social links
  • Adding analytics
  • Adding a sidebar

Quarto Support (Optional)

Foliate can preprocess .qmd files (Quarto markdown) to .md before building:

# Install with quarto support
pip install foliate[quarto]

Configure in .foliate/config.toml:

[advanced]
quarto_enabled = true
quarto_python = "/path/to/python"  # Optional: Python for Quarto

Development / CI

Foliate uses a cross-platform GitHub Actions CI workflow on pull requests and main pushes:

• Test matrix: Linux, macOS, Windows on Python 3.12 and 3.13
• Build + smoke matrix: Linux, macOS, Windows (Python 3.13), including wheel install and CLI smoke checks

Releases remain manual via:

make publish

For the complete maintainer release process, see docs/releasing.md.

License

MIT