docmd@0.8.0 ⚡ (The Parallel Engine Era)

docmd v0.8.0 introduces a new parallel build engine, first-class multi-project support, and major improvements to indexing performance. Large documentation sites can now build significantly faster while maintaining low incremental rebuild latency during development.

✨ Highlights

• Native multi-threaded build engine with WorkerPool support
• First-class multi-project documentation builds
• Persistent Git indexing cache with parallel I/O
• Worker-thread APIs for plugins
• TypeScript and JSON configuration support
• Improved Mermaid diagram controls and fullscreen support

⚡ Benchmarks

This release introduces a new parallel build pipeline, persistent worker pools, and AST caching. Large documentation sites now rebuild significantly faster, with incremental performance continuing to improve across subsequent builds.

docmd < 0.7.9 544 pages ~16s rebuild time on every build

docmd 0.8.0+ 883 pages ~4.3s rebuild time with persistent optimisation

🚀 New Features

Parallel Build Engine

docmd now processes pages in parallel using a native WorkerPool architecture. Markdown parsing and processor hooks can run across multiple CPU cores, significantly reducing build times for large documentation sites.

• Up to 10x faster builds on large sites
• Persistent workers during development
• Automatic CPU-aware thread allocation
• Reduced incremental rebuild latency

Multi-Project Support

You can now build multiple independent documentation projects into a single site output. This is ideal for monorepos and large documentation ecosystems.

• Shared output directory across projects
• Independent versioning and i18n contexts
• Separate plugin configurations per project
• Supports unified documentation domains

Plugin Worker API

Plugins can now offload expensive tasks to background threads using the new ctx.runWorkerTask() API.

• Background processing for indexing and parsing
• Better main-thread responsiveness
• Shared WorkerPool support across plugins
• Available across plugin lifecycle hooks

Persistent Git Indexing

The Git plugin has been redesigned with persistent disk caching and parallel I/O processing.

• Subsequent indexing reduced from ~18s to ~3.5s on large repositories
• Automatic pruning for deleted or renamed files
• Parallel Git metadata syncing
• Reduced redundant git log operations

SEO-Friendly README Routes

README.md files are now automatically treated as directory indexes.

• /guide/README.md resolves to /guide/ #117
• index.md remains the primary priority
• Clean URL generation for README and index routes

Modern Configuration Support

docmd configuration can now be written in TypeScript or JSON.

• docmd.config.ts with type-safe defineConfig #115
• Lightweight docmd.config.json support
• Improved configuration discovery
• Fully serialisable resolved config output

Note: We will soon migrate all default configs to .json file type with .ts and .js as fallback.

Better Mermaid Diagrams

The Mermaid plugin now provides a cleaner experience for large diagrams.

• Zoom and pan controls moved to the bottom-left
• Improved fullscreen navigation #120
• Better interaction for oversized diagrams

🛠 Developer & Architecture Changes

Worker Pipeline

• Added dynamic markdown processor hydration inside worker threads
• Added MD5-based AST caching for unchanged files
• Added persistent development worker pools
• Added CPU-aware worker throttling
• Added dynamic EventEmitter listener scaling for large builds

Plugin System

• Added onBeforeBuild lifecycle hook
• Added ctx.runWorkerTask() across plugin contexts
• Added worker-thread search indexing support
• Added persistent Git cache infrastructure
• Added parallel Git metadata processing

Terminal Interface

• Added stable in-place TUI progress bars
• Added plugin-level progress rendering support
• Improved indexing visibility during builds

Infrastructure

• Added docmd.config.ts and docmd.config.json discovery
• Added direct utility exports from @docmd/utils
• Improved config serialisability across worker boundaries
• Centralised Git root and branch utilities

⚠️ Breaking Changes

Utility Imports

Custom plugins relying on internal core imports must migrate to @docmd/utils.

Serialisable Hooks

markdownSetup hooks must now be serialisable to support worker-thread execution.

🔄 Migration Guide

Most projects can upgrade without configuration changes.

If you maintain custom plugins:

• migrate internal imports to @docmd/utils
• ensure markdownSetup hooks are serialisable

See Building Plugins for a full api walkthrough.

📥 Upgrade

npm install -g @docmd/core

Full Changelog: 0.7.9...0.8.0