We've just released Zensical 0.0.25, which includes several improvements for authoring and user experience, as well as accessibility.
We're also making good progress on the module system, so shouldn't be long ☺️
github.com/zensical/zen...
Jep, it's very tricky to navigate the situation, which is why we constantly iterate on it. I'm glad that your first experience was great – it'll get better and faster in the weeks and months to come 🚀
Thanks for sharing! We updated the warning message in 9.7.4 to include more information and updated the blog post to give more details + only mention Zensical briefly now. Our aim is to warn you, not to sell you something, but give you a relatively comfortable way out, if you want.
We've updated our MkDocs 2.0 analysis with the latest developments – the change in its contribution model, why we didn't fork, and a full timeline of events.
squidfunk.github.io/mkdocs-mater...
4/4 We're working hard to allow everybody to switch from Material for MkDocs to Zensical as soon as possible, so you don't need to scrap your existing documentation projects and start from scratch to make it work with the upcoming MkDocs 2.0 update.
3/4 We're very thankful for everybody that has tested Zensical, maybe already migrated their sites, and uncovered the problems reported. Once the ZRX overhaul is complete and the module system is in closed preview, we'll start shipping support for all popular MkDocs plugins.
2/4 We're currently overhauling large parts of the ZRX runtime that powers @zensical.org, tackling all discovered problems that we learned in the first 4 months of usage. Additionally, we're working on bringing the module system in a state where we can ship the first modules.
If the first version of the thing you release doesn't suck in one or the other way, while still demonstrating where you want to go with it, you shipped too late.
1/4 Thread ↓
Great episode of Factually!
Over the last 30 years, companies have shifted us to a computer-based society – "every work is email" [...] and now they're saying: "you don't use computer anymore, computer uses itself – it doesn't need you".
open.spotify.com/episode/1zQn...
You might save yourself the trouble and consider to subscribe to our newsletter, where we'll share it once it's ready 😉
zensical.org/about/newsle...
Other than that, Zensical is much more compatible with MkDocs 1.x than is MkDocs 2.0. The only thing we do not support are popular plugins. If you can live without some plugins for a short while, you can switch already and get much faster rebuilds and better search.
The transitional period is now – we're working on bringing feature parity to Zensical, and currently focusing on finishing the module system, which is on the critical path to provide support for all popular plugins. Once the module system is ready, porting plugins will be simple.
A look at the upcoming changes in MkDocs 2.0
squidfunk.github.io/mkdocs-mater...
Least known data structure that is extremely useful: Slab – I use it in many of my crates
Latest VS Code Update, and Rust Analyzer is constantly running on 200%. No matter which project I open or how often I restart VS Code. What. The. Fuck.
I need to properly set up Zed.
I will be on @talkpython.fm next week, talking about @zensical.org ☺️
www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1Bv...
You grind and grind on a design/architecture that just doesn't yet feel right, and then suddenly it *clicks* – and everything falls in its right place. I just love those moments when programming.
We just delivered Zensical Monthly, January 2026 edition straight to your inbox with the latest and greatest updates to keep you informed on what's happening behind the scenes ☺️
We send 1 newsletter at the beginning of every month:
zensical.org/about/newsle...
In November, we released all Insiders features into the community edition, which is why we're phasing out the private repository.
We also recommend to switch to @zensical.org as soon as possible, as MkDocs is unmaintained, which is why we consider it to be a supply-chain risk.
Today, we entered deprecation phase 2 of Material for MkDocs Insiders – it will now print a warning, recommending to switch to the community edition. On May 1, 2026, the repository will be deleted.
Please switch all CI workflows to the community edition.
squidfunk.github.io/mkdocs-mater...
Once we move to CommonMark, yes! Right now we're married to Python Markdown for compat reasons, but will start exploring CommonMark later this year ☺️ Additionally, many MkDocs plugins are just Markdown transforms, which the AST will make ridiculously simple.
Had our first open video call today! We demoed an early design draft of @zensical.org's module system – the optimize plugin from Material for MkDocs (400 LOC) reduced to ~20 lines with ZRX modules.
The runtime handles parallelization, caching & orchestration automatically.
Definitely possible! It's currently not a priority for us, though. However, when members of Zensical Spark need this (= our users that financially support us), we'll prioritize it, and try to find a way to deliver it faster ☺️
Adoption of @zensical.org is growing fast, as we're already close to 100k monthly downloads!
We're working hard on reaching feature parity within the coming months, so all Material for MkDocs users can switch to a maintained, modern docs stack 🚀
pypistats.org/packages/zen...
Zensical 0.0.19 ships generation of objects.inv for mkdocstrings-powered documentation sites!
github.com/zensical/zen...
Making great progress on ZRX, the foundation for the module system that we're cooking up for @zensical.org – it'll offer several degrees of freedom, and allow for type-safe composition (= plugin interop) – something that MkDocs (now dead) never delivered.
github.com/zensical/zrx...
Zensical 0.0.17 brings support for automatic and manual API cross-references! Symbol names in your auto-generated API documentation will now link to the relevant section in your documentation.
github.com/zensical/zen...
I still can’t believe a language like Rust exists. It lets you be incredibly productive, compiles to native code, and provides strong safety guarantees. It really feels like a new era of programming.
Roughly 3,000 hours in, it keeps getting better.
We've started work on the module system and there will be much less code to maintain for Zensical modules than for MkDocs plugins. Thus, I think we'll deliver quicker than most expect us to.
