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mdBook

Command-line tool, written in Rust, that builds books and documentation as HTML from Markdown files.

mdBook is a command-line tool, written in Rust, that builds a book from Markdown files. The contents of the src directory are included in the output. The default renderer uses Handlebars templates, and the build produces a directory that any web server can host. The Third Party Plugins wiki page lists community preprocessors. It is installed with cargo install mdbook or from a pre-compiled binary on the GitHub Releases page, and it is released under the Mozilla Public License, version 2.0.

Worth knowing

The serve command starts a local webserver for writing and rebuilds the book as the files change. The directory that the build produces is the one that goes live.

Identity

Status
Active
Maintainer
The Rust Programming Language4
First release
20157

Rendering and deploy

Runs as
Static files, Dev only9
Rendering
Static output9
Install with
cargo install mdbook, or a pre-compiled binary from GitHub Releases3

Releases

Current major version
Pre-1.07
Last release
2026-07-067

Adoption

GitHub stars
22,2412
Contributors
3368
Dependent repositories
45410
Dependent packages
17510

Why these figures do not compare

Sources

  1. 2026-10-23: links, Categories, License model
    rust-lang.github.io/mdBook/
  2. 2026-10-23: links, Written in, License, GitHub stars
    api.github.com/repos/rust-lang/mdBook
  3. 2026-10-23: links, Install with, Runtime
    rust-lang.github.io/mdBook/guide/installation.html
  4. 2026-10-23: Maintainer
    api.github.com/orgs/rust-lang
  5. 2026-10-23: Templating
    rust-lang.github.io/mdBook/format/theme/index.html
  6. 2026-10-23: links
    rust-lang.github.io/mdBook/format/configuration/preprocessors.html
  7. 2026-10-23: First release, Current major version, Last release
    api.github.com/repos/rust-lang/mdBook/releases
  8. 2026-10-23: Contributors
    api.github.com/repos/rust-lang/mdBook/contributors
  9. 2026-10-23: Content storage, Rendering, Runs as
    rust-lang.github.io/mdBook/guide/creating.html
  10. 2026-10-25: Dependent repositories, Dependent packages
    packages.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/registries/crates.io/packages/mdbook

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