Guide

CLI reference

Every docvia command and flag: init, build, dev, and preview.

The docvia command is provided by @docvia/cli. Install it as a dev dependency and invoke it through your package manager:

pnpm add -D @docvia/cli
npx docvia <command>

Run docvia --version to print the installed version.

flowchart LR
  I["docvia init<br/><i>scaffold docs/ + config</i>"] --> B["docvia build<br/><i>compile once</i>"]
  I --> D["docvia dev<br/><i>build, then watch</i>"]
  B --> P["docvia preview<br/><i>serve .docvia/</i>"]
  D --> P

The four commands

docvia init

Scaffold a new docvia project.

docvia init [-d <dir>] [-r react|svelte|none] [-f]

Flag	Default	Description
`-d, --dir <dir>`	`"."`	Project directory to scaffold into.
`-r, --renderer <name>`	autodetected	`react`, `svelte`, or `none`.
`-f, --force`	`false`	Overwrite an existing `docvia.config.ts`.

When --renderer is omitted, init reads the target package.json: svelte or @sveltejs/kit selects the Svelte template, react or next selects the React template, and anything else falls back to none.

init creates a docs/ directory with sample pages (index.md, getting-started.md, components.md) and a working docvia.config.ts. It refuses to overwrite an existing config unless you pass --force, and prints the install commands for the renderer you chose.

docvia build

Compile every Markdown file once.

docvia build [--docs <dir>] [--out <dir>] [--config <path>] [--no-cache]

Flag	Default	Description
`--docs <dir>`	from config	Override `sourceDir`.
`--out <dir>`	from config	Override `outDir`.
`--config <path>`	`./docvia.config.ts`	Path to the config file.
`--no-cache`	none	Disable the incremental cache; force a full rebuild.

build loads the config, then compiles every file to the module graph in outDir and persists .docvia.cache.json. It fails with a CONFIG_ERROR if the docs directory is missing or no renderer is configured. On success it prints the build duration and the file and page counts, noting how many files were served from cache.

docvia dev

Build once, then watch and rebuild incrementally.

docvia dev [--docs <dir>] [--out <dir>] [--config <path>]

Flag	Default	Description
`--docs <dir>`	from config	Override `sourceDir`.
`--out <dir>`	from config	Override `outDir`.
`--config <path>`	`./docvia.config.ts`	Path to the config file.

dev does an initial build, then watches both sourceDir and the config file on a single long-lived CompileService. Each change recompiles only the affected files through the service's incremental invalidate(), so a full rebuild is not repeated per change. A config change recreates the service. An initial-build failure does not stop the watcher; fix the error and save again. Ctrl+C shuts the watcher down cleanly.

docvia dev is a standalone watcher for the .docvia/ output. When docvia is embedded in a Vite or Next.js app, the framework integration runs the compile core in-process and handles watching itself. See Framework integration.

docvia preview

Serve the compiled .docvia/ output.

docvia preview [--out <dir>] [-p <port>]

Flag	Default	Description
`--out <dir>`	`.docvia`	Output directory to serve.
`-p, --port <port>`	`4173`	Port to listen on.

preview serves outDir over sirv. It is a sanity check for the compiled module graph, not a runtime. Use a framework integration for a real site.

Programmatic use

The CLI is also importable. runCli is the entry point the docvia binary calls, and defineConfig is re-exported for authoring docvia.config.ts:

import { runCli } from "@docvia/cli";

await runCli(["node", "docvia", "build", "--no-cache"]);

See @docvia/cli for the full package reference.

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