Building and publishing
An ordinary author needs no frontend toolchain. A PHP command reads the Markdown and the JSON, checks the Framework lock and creates a finished static folder.
The safe path
- Build the
productionoutput. - Check it with
verify-static. - Open that same output over HTTP through
serve --no-build. - Before publishing, move the checked folder to staging.
- Compare the digest, run the smoke checks, and only then switch the traffic.
- On an error, bring back the previous folder you kept.
Bash
php vendor/bin/docara build production
php vendor/bin/docara verify-static build_production
php vendor/bin/docara serve production --host=127.0.0.1 --port=8000 --no-build
The preview holds the terminal until Ctrl+C. Do not use file://.
Guides
- Building the site — the commands, the finished folder and reproducibility
- Local preview
- Checking the build
- Building in CI — commands for any CI and a ready GitHub Actions process with GitHub Pages
- Hosting the site
- Publishing and rolling back
- Building for a portal
- Updating Docara — including the move from 2.x to 3.0
Vite is for a maintainer who develops the theme’s source assets. It is not part of the portable author and build path.
A successful local check is no automatic permission for a public release or a production deployment.