# rust-lang/mdBook

Create book from markdown files. Like Gitbook but implemented in Rust

Repository: https://github.com/rust-lang/mdBook
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/mdbook
Homepage: https://rust-lang.github.io/mdBook/
Language: Rust
License: MPL-2.0
License Family: copyleft
Last push: 2026-08-26T18:36:35+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 97/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 99, release rhythm 92, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 4076, "days_push": 7, "days_rel": 58, "gap_med": 20.5, "n_releases_24m": 17}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 22097, forks 1896 (observed 2026-08-28T04:11:32.377330+00:00)

## What it is
mdBook is a command line tool written in Rust that creates modern online books from Markdown files, similar to GitBook. It produces navigable HTML output with integrated search, syntax highlighting, customizable themes, and extensible preprocessors and backends.

## Use cases
- create online documentation from markdown files
- build a gitbook alternative in rust
- generate tutorials or course materials as a website
- publish product or API documentation as a book
- compile markdown chapters into a searchable static site
- self-host internal team handbooks

## When to choose
- you want a fast, lightweight GitBook alternative for Markdown content
- you need built-in full-text search and syntax highlighting in generated docs
- you want to extend rendering with custom preprocessors or output backends
- you are writing Rust project documentation or books like The Rust Programming Language

## When to avoid
- you need a full static site generator with blogs, taxonomies, or templating
- you prefer writing docs in formats other than Markdown
- you need WYSIWYG editing or a hosted documentation platform with a UI

## Facets
- artifact type: cli-tool
- maturity: stable
- function: static-site-generator, documentation, markdown, search-engine, cli
- domain: documentation, developer-tools, web-development
- platform: windows, cli, cross-platform
- tags: gitbook-alternative, markdown-to-html, book-generator, preprocessors, syntax-highlighting, command-line, linux, macos

## Member repositories
- rust-lang/mdBook (main) score 97

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:11:32.377330+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-29T16:57:43.315716+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/rust-lang/mdBook (fetched 2026-08-28T04:11:32.377330+00:00, sha c9591342e863)
  - homepage: https://rust-lang.github.io/mdBook/ (fetched 2026-08-29T07:55:52.904759+00:00, sha 6a5dbb1f0f48)
  - registry_crates: https://crates.io/api/v1/crates/mdbook (fetched 2026-08-29T07:55:52.914291+00:00, sha 06ebd53b258f)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.