mkdocs2confluence 0.6.3

Publish MkDocs Material pages to Confluence Cloud — admonitions, Mermaid diagrams, tabs, page properties and more

mk2conf — MkDocs to Confluence

A Python CLI tool that compiles MkDocs-flavoured Markdown into native Confluence storage XHTML and publishes it to Confluence.

It is a compiler/transpiler, not an HTML converter — every Markdown construct is mapped to the equivalent native Confluence macro or element, so pages look and behave like hand-authored Confluence content.

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Architecture

Each stage is a separate Python module under src/mkdocs_to_confluence/. The plan phase makes all API read calls (find existing pages); the execute phase makes all write calls, ensuring parents always exist before children.

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Installation

Requires Python 3.12+.

From PyPI:

pip install mkdocs2confluence

Or with pipx for an isolated install:

pipx install mkdocs2confluence

From source (see Setup.md):

git clone https://github.com/jeckyl2010/mkdocs2confluence.git
cd mkdocs2confluence
pip install -e ".[dev]"

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Quick start

# Print Confluence storage XHTML to stdout
mk2conf preview --config mkdocs.yml --page index.md

# Open a browser-friendly HTML preview
mk2conf preview --config mkdocs.yml --page index.md --html --out /tmp/preview.html

# Dry-run: see what would be published without touching Confluence
mk2conf publish --config mkdocs.yml --dry-run

# Publish all nav pages to Confluence
CONFLUENCE_API_TOKEN=your_token mk2conf publish --config mkdocs.yml

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Commands

mk2conf preview

Compile a single page and inspect the output — no network connection required.

mk2conf preview [--config PATH] --page PATH [--out FILE] [--html]

Flag	Default	Description
--config PATH	./mkdocs.yml	Path to your mkdocs.yml
--page PATH	(required)	Relative path to the Markdown file
--out FILE	stdout	Write output to a file
--html	off	Render macros as styled HTML for local browser review

The --html flag renders Confluence macros as visual HTML panels so you can review a page locally without a Confluence instance. It is for review only — the actual storage XHTML is always the --html-free output.

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mk2conf publish

Compile all pages listed in nav: and publish them to Confluence Cloud.

mk2conf publish [--config PATH] [--page PATH] [--section PATH] [--dry-run] [--report FILE] [--prune]

Flag	Default	Description
--config PATH	./mkdocs.yml	Path to your mkdocs.yml
--page PATH	(all nav pages)	Publish a single page only
--section PATH	(whole nav)	Publish only a nav subtree (e.g. Guide or Guide/Setup)
--dry-run	off	Print the publish plan without making any API calls
--report FILE	(none)	Write a JSON publish report to FILE
--prune	off	Delete managed Confluence pages no longer in nav: (see Orphan pruning)

Configuration

Add a confluence: block to your mkdocs.yml:

confluence:
  base_url: https://yourorg.atlassian.net
  space_key: TECH
  email: [e-mail]
  token: !ENV CONFLUENCE_API_TOKEN   # never hardcode the token
  parent_page_id: "123456"           # optional root page
  mermaid_render: kroki              # optional: "kroki" (default), "kroki:https://your-kroki" or "none"
  full_width: true                   # optional: publish pages in full-width layout (default: true)

The API token is read from (in priority order):

1. The token: field in mkdocs.yml (typically via !ENV CONFLUENCE_API_TOKEN)
2. CONFLUENCE_API_TOKEN environment variable
3. MK2CONF_TOKEN environment variable

Publish rules

• Only pages in nav: are published — the nav is the publish gate. Pages not listed in the nav are never touched, keeping drafts and WIP content private.
• Pages with ready: false in their YAML front matter are skipped, even if listed in the nav.
• Section nodes (nav groups without a page) become empty parent pages in Confluence, mirroring the nav hierarchy.
• All locally linked assets are uploaded as Confluence page attachments automatically.
• Smart update detection — before calling the Confluence update API, mk2conf compares a sha256 hash of the compiled output against the hash stored from the previous run (kept as a hidden Confluence page property mk2conf-content-hash). Pages whose content has not changed are skipped entirely — no version bump, no watcher notification.
• Orphan pruning — every page created by mk2conf is stamped with a hidden mk2conf-managed property. Pass --prune to automatically delete managed pages that have been removed from nav:. Manually-created Confluence pages are never deleted.

Orphan pruning

mk2conf publish --prune

After each publish run, --prune fetches all descendants of the configured parent_page_id, diffs them against the pages just published, and deletes any managed orphans — i.e. pages that carry the mk2conf-managed stamp but are no longer in the MkDocs nav.

Safety: Only pages stamped by mk2conf are eligible for deletion. Any page created directly in Confluence will never be touched, even if it sits inside the managed hierarchy.

Partial runs: --prune is silently ignored when --page or --section is used, because a partial publish would only cover a subset of the nav and would incorrectly identify out-of-scope pages as orphans.

Mermaid rendering

mermaid_render value	Behaviour
kroki (default)	Render via https://kroki.io. PNGs are cached in ~/.cache/mk2conf/mermaid/.
kroki:https://your-kroki	Render via a self-hosted Kroki instance.
none	Skip rendering — fall back to a code macro labelled mermaid.

If Kroki is unreachable the run continues, falling back to the code macro for affected diagrams.

Styling from extra.css

If your mkdocs.yml has an extra_css: list, mk2conf reads those files and applies a whitelisted set of CSS properties as inline style="..." attributes in the Confluence output.

Selector	Applied to
th, thead th	Table header cells
td	Table body cells
h1 – h6	Headings
code (not pre code)	Inline code spans

Supported properties: background-color, color, font-weight, font-style, font-size, text-align, border.

CSS custom properties (var(--name)) are resolved automatically, including chained variables and var(--name, fallback) syntax.

Works best with simple, flat CSS. Complex Material for MkDocs theme overrides — compound selectors (.md-typeset table:not([class]) thead th), color-mix(), @media blocks, :has() etc. — are silently skipped. For these, maintain a small separate file:

/* confluence-overrides.css */
:root { --primary: #d20014; }
th  { background-color: var(--primary); color: white; font-weight: 600; }
h1, h2, h3 { color: var(--primary); }
code { background-color: #f5f5f5; }

extra_css:
  - stylesheets/extra.css             # full Material theme
  - stylesheets/confluence-overrides.css  # simple Confluence-targeted styles

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Supported Markdown features

Block elements

Feature	Confluence output
ATX headings # – ######	<h1> – <h6>
Paragraphs	<p>
Fenced code blocks	code macro with language, title, and line numbers
Bullet lists	<ul>/<li>
Ordered lists	<ol>/<li>
Task lists - [x] / - [ ]	Native <ac:task-list> / <ac:task> macros
Tables (GFM pipe syntax)	<table> with header and column alignment
Blockquotes	<blockquote>
Horizontal rules ---	<hr/>

Inline elements

Feature	Confluence output
**bold** / __bold__	<strong>
*italic*	<em>
~~strikethrough~~	<s>
`inline code`	<code>
[text](url)	<a href="...">
[text](file.pdf)	<ac:link><ri:attachment .../> (uploaded as attachment)
	<ac:image> with <ri:attachment> (local) or <ri:url> (remote)
{ width="400" }	<ac:image ac:width="400"> — also supports height and align
<br> / <br/>	<br />
<sub> / <sup> / <u> / <small>	Direct XHTML passthrough
<mark>text</mark>	<span style="background-color: yellow;">
<kbd>text</kbd>	<code>
++ctrl+alt+del++	<code>Ctrl</code>+<code>Alt</code>+<code>Del</code> (pymdownx.keys)
<s>text</s> / <del>text</del>	<span style="text-decoration: line-through;">

MkDocs / Material extensions

Feature	Confluence output
--8<-- file includes	Resolved before parsing
Admonitions !!! type "title"	info / tip / warning / note macro
Danger admonitions (danger, error, bug)	Red panel macro with 🚨 prefix
Collapsible admonitions ??? type	expand macro
Content tabs === "Label"	expand macros (one per tab)
Details blocks ??? "title"	expand macro
Footnotes [^1]	Superscript anchor links + Footnotes section at page bottom
Mermaid diagrams	PNG via Kroki, uploaded as attachment (<ac:image ac:align="center">)
Internal links [text](page.md)	Native Confluence page link; #fragment anchors preserved
awesome-pages nav (.pages files)	Fully supported
Edit link banner	info macro linking back to source in GitHub/GitLab

YAML front matter → Page Properties

A YAML front matter block is converted to a Confluence Page Properties macro, making it queryable via the Page Properties Report macro.

---
title: "Architecture Proposal – IAM"
subtitle: "Hybrid Identity Hub"
documentId: AP-IAM-2026
version: "0.1"
lastUpdated: 2026-01-12
author: "Anders Hybertz"
tags: [architecture, iam]
ready: true
---

Field	Notes
title	Used as the Confluence page title on publish
subtitle	Rendered as italic lead paragraph above the properties table
tags	Also applied as Confluence page labels
ready	true → ✅ Ready · false → 📝 Draft (skips publish)
source	Stripped (internal tooling field)
other fields	Title-cased key, value stringified

If repo_url + edit_uri are set in mkdocs.yml, an Edit Source row links to the source file. If site_url is set, a Published Page row links to the rendered MkDocs site.

Abbreviation expansion

MkDocs abbreviation definitions (*[ABBR]: Full term) are expanded inline — Confluence has no native <abbr> tooltip. The first occurrence in body text is expanded as IAM (Identity and Access Management); subsequent occurrences are left as-is. Abbreviations that only appear in headings or code are collected into an auto-appended Glossary section.

Graceful degradation

Any unrecognised block is preserved as a visible warning macro — no content is silently lost.

<div class="grid" markdown> (Material grid cards) has no Confluence equivalent. The wrapper is stripped; inner admonitions render sequentially.

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Known limitations

Feature	Behaviour
Admonition styling	Native macros (tip, info, warning, note) use Confluence's fixed theme styling — no custom header/body colours.
Abbreviation tooltips	No native tooltip support. First occurrence expanded inline; remainder left as-is.
Grid cards	Wrapper stripped; inner admonitions rendered individually.
Page width	Confluence defaults to a narrow fixed-width column. mk2conf publishes with fullWidth: true by default (configurable).
Page ordering	Confluence sorts child pages alphabetically. The v2 REST API has no write endpoint for child ordering; nav order cannot be enforced.
Code language aliases	Pygments short aliases (py, js, yml, ts, sh) are passed through as-is; Confluence requires full language names for syntax highlighting.

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Roadmap

• Delete orphaned pages — --prune detects and removes managed Confluence pages that have been removed from nav:. Manually-created pages are never deleted.

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Development

See Setup.md for environment setup.

pytest              # run tests
ruff check src      # lint
mypy src            # type-check
bandit -r src -ll   # security scan