Getting Started

Quick start guide for creating documentation with QuartoDocBuilder.jl

Getting Started with QuartoDocBuilder.jl

QuartoDocBuilder.jl is a Julia package that generates beautiful documentation websites for your Julia packages using Quarto. It’s inspired by R’s pkgdown and provides similar features.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, make sure you have:

  1. Julia 1.6+ installed
  2. Quarto installed (download here)
  3. A Julia package with documented functions (docstrings)

Installation

Add QuartoDocBuilder to your package’s documentation environment:

# In your package directory
julia> using Pkg
julia> Pkg.activate("docs")
julia> Pkg.add("QuartoDocBuilder")

Quick Start

Step 1: Create a build script

Create a file docs/make.jl with:

using MyPackage
using QuartoDocBuilder

# Build documentation with default settings
quarto_build_site(MyPackage; repo="username/MyPackage.jl")

Step 2: Run the build script

julia --project=docs docs/make.jl

Step 3: Preview locally

cd docs
quarto preview

This starts a local server at http://localhost:4200 where you can see your documentation.

Step 4: Build the final site

cd docs
quarto render

The rendered HTML site will be in docs/site/ by default.

What Gets Generated

QuartoDocBuilder automatically creates:

Component Source Description
Home page README.md Your package’s README becomes the landing page
Reference pages Docstrings Every documented function gets its own page
Reference index Auto-generated Lists all functions with descriptions
Sections Your .qmd files Organized by directories you define
Styles Auto-generated Professional CSS styling
Navigation Auto-generated Navbar with dropdowns for each section

Next Steps

Pro Tip

Run quarto_build_refpage(MyPackage) after adding new functions to update the reference index without rebuilding everything.