Project configuration
Neko will read the neko.yml file for additional instructions on how to configure and build your project.
The neko.yml file is typically placed in the root of your project, although it can be placed elsewhere. Please ensure the input and output paths are correct if moved to a different location.
When running neko start, any changes to your neko.yml file will automatically trigger Neko to regenerate the website and refresh your web browser.
If you started the local web server using neko serve, you will need to call neko build for a sparkly fresh new build of the project, then manually refresh your web browser to see the update. Using the command neko serve --live will automatically update all web browsers.
The neko.yml file is actually optional (not required), but is recommended as you will almost certainly want to customize some options, so adding a neko.yml is a good first step.
If you run the command neko start and do not have a neko.yml project configuration file within the root of your project, Neko will auto-generate a basic neko.yml file for your project. You can then edit the file to customize your project.
You can also explicitly have Neko generate a neko.yml file by running the command neko init.
The following sample demonstrates a common set of project configuration options and everything can be customized to your requirements.
{%{
input: .
output: .neko
url: docs.example.com # Use your website address here
start:
# Uncomment the next line to try Neko Pro features
# pro: true
branding:
title: Project Name
label: Docs
links:
- text: Getting Started
link: https://example.com/guides/getting-started/
footer:
copyright: "© Copyright {{ year }}. All rights reserved."
}%}
backlinks
The backlinks configuration controls the automatic display of inbound links from other pages in your project. Backlinks help users discover related content by showing which pages reference the current page.
When enabled, backlinks are automatically included at the end of pages that have inbound links from other pages. The feature leverages Neko's dependency tracking system to build a web of interconnected content.
enabled
enabled : boolean
Enable or disable backlinks for the entire project. Default is true.
backlinks:
enabled: true
When set to false, backlinks will not be displayed on any page unless explicitly enabled at the page level.
title
title : string
Customize the heading text displayed above the backlinks section. Default is "See also".
backlinks:
title: "Referenced by"
The title appears as a heading above the list of pages that link to the current page.
maxResults
maxResults : number
Set the maximum number of backlinks to display on each page. Default is 12.
backlinks:
maxResults: 10
If a page has more inbound links than the maxResults value, only the first results will be shown. This helps keep the backlinks section manageable on highly referenced pages.
The backlinks configuration can be set at two levels with the following precedence:
branding
Branding configuration for your Neko generated website.
baseColor
baseColor : string
Set the base brand color for your project.
This is a convenient way to set the main theme color without using the full theme configuration. The default baseColor is #5495f1. To change the baseColor, use the following setting:
branding:
baseColor: "#8839ef"
The baseColor setting is equivalent to setting base-color in the theme configuration. For more advanced color customization, use the full theme system.
label
logo
logo : string
One of the following:
- The path to a logo file relative to the
input, or - An inline
<svg>logo
Default is null.
branding:
logo: static/logo.png
logoDark
logoDark : string
One of the following:
- The path to a logo file (dark mode) relative to the
input, or - An inline
<svg>logo
Default is null.
branding:
logo: static/logo.png
logoDark: static/logo-dark.png
logoAlign
logoAlign : string
Set a logo image alignment relative to the title. Supported values include left and right.
Default is left.
branding:
logo: static/logo.png
logoAlign: right
title
title : string
The main text title added to the upper-left corner of the generated website.
The title can be used in conjunction with logo and logoDark. If a title and logo are configured, both will be added to the website. If only a title is configured, only the text title is used. If only a logo and/or logoDark are configured, only the logos are used.
branding:
title: Example.com
The above title would create the following branding title in the upper-left corner of the generated website.

breadcrumb
The breadcrumb navigation provides a hierarchical representation of the user's location within the website. The breadcrumb simplifies navigating website content structures, allowing for easier backtracking and understanding of the website layout.
enabled
enabled : boolean
To enable or disable the breadcrumb navigation within Neko projects. Default is true.
For Neko projects, breadcrumb navigation will be enabled by default.
To disable the breadcrumb navigation across an entire project, set the enabled parameter to false as shown in the following sample:
breadcrumb:
enabled: false # Disabled project wide
home
home : string or boolean
The home config allows customization of the initial node in the breadcrumb navigation. The parameter can accept either a string or a boolean value.
By default, the label used for the first item of the breadcrumb navigation will be the label of the project home page. This label can be customized or even removed.
Set with a custom label:
breadcrumb:
home: Home # custom label
Use a UIcon icon instead of text for the Home node:
breadcrumb:
home: ":icon-home:" # icon
Use an emoji:
breadcrumb:
home: ":rocket:" # emoji
The entire first item of the breadcrumb navigation, the "Home" node, can be removed by setting home: false:
breadcrumb:
home: false # Do not include the Home node
separator
separator : string
The separator config allows for the customization of the node separator used between each page label in the breadcrumb navigation.
Using a pipe | character as the separator:
breadcrumb:
separator: "|"
Using an icon as the separator:
breadcrumb:
separator: ":icon-circle-small:"
cache
Cache configuration options.
strategy
strategy : string
Cache busting configuration for the website resources, such as the JavaScript (.js) and CSS (.css) files.
Helps to ensure a loaded page refers to the most recent JavaScript and CSS resources.
Specifies the approach Neko will use for cache invalidation.
| Strategy | Description |
|---|---|
none |
Cache invalidation is disabled. |
path |
Cache invalidation is achieved by concatinating the file name with a version token. |
query |
Cache invalidation is achieved by adding a query parameter with a version token value. |
Default is query.
cache:
strategy: query
Below are demo URLs generated for corresponding cache.busting.strategy options:
<script type="text/javascript" src="/resources/js/neko.js" />
<script type="text/javascript" src="/resources/js/neko.v1.10.js" />
<script type="text/javascript" src="/resources/js/neko.js?v=1.10" />
token
token : string
An optional unique token used for website resource cache invalidation.
If specified, the provided value is used for all invalidatable resources as is.
If not specified, the default token having the following structure is used:
{Neko version}.{total milliseconds elapsed since 2000-01-01}
cache:
token: v5
cname
cname : boolean or string
In general, you should not require setting the cname. Please set the url.
By default, if the url is set, Neko will automatically generate a CNAME file. This can be disabled by setting cname: false.
cname: false
If you do manually create a CNAME file, please ensure the value in the CNAME file matches the value set in the url.
edit
The edit config allows for enabling and customization of the Edit this page links on content pages.
Check out the bottom of this page for a working sample of Edit this page.
repo
repo : string
The repository URL where the source files for this project are located.
Setting a repo value will enable the Edit this page links on all content pages.
edit:
repo: "https://github.com/<your-organization>/<your-repo>/"
It is also possible to configure the links to point directly to the /edit/ view of the page:
edit:
repo: "https://github.com/<your-organization>/<your-repo>/edit/"
base
base : string
An optional base path to a directory within the repository.
The base can be configured with an optional path to a directory within the repo.
The following sample demonstrates how edit.base would be configured if the .md source files for this project are stored within the /src/docs sub-directory within the repo.
edit:
repo: "https://github.com/your-organization/your-repo"
base: /src/docs
The final Edit this page URL constructed by Neko for the sample above would be https://github.com/your-organization/your-repo/blob/main/src/docs/your-page.md.
branch
branch : string
Point to a custom branch within the repo. Default is main.
edit:
repo: "https://github.com/your-organization/your-repo"
branch: master
label
label : string
A custom label for the link. Default is "Edit this page".
edit:
repo: "https://github.com/your-organization/your-repo"
label: Edit on GitHub
editor
Custom configuration to control the page live editor functionality that is only available when neko start is running.
enabled
enabled : boolean
To enable or disable the live editor. Default is true.
Set to false to disable and hide the live editor.
editor:
enabled: false # Default is true
exclude
exclude : list
Neko can exclude files or folders from being built or copied to the output by configuring an exclude list within your projects neko.yml file.
Exclude patterns are similar to allowable patterns within a .gitignore file. The wildcards ?, *, **, and ! are supported.
The following sample demonstrates how to exclude an entire draft/ folder, any folder that ends with *_temp/, and one specific /src/temp.md file.
exclude:
- "draft/"
- "*_temp/"
- "/src/temp.md"
You could exclude everything in your project with by adding exclude: [ * ].
By default, any file or folder name prefixed with a . or a _ will be excluded.
As well, any node_modules folder will be excluded.
To explicitly include any files or folders that might have been excluded, please see the include config.
favicon
favicon : string
A custom path to a .ico or .png file to be used as the favicon. Default is null.
The path is relative to the input.
favicon: static/favicon.png
By default, Neko will look for a favicon.ico or favicon.png within the root of the input. The favicon config would typically only be used if you want to store the favicon file in a subfolder of the output root.
footer
copyright
copyright : string
Site-wide copyright statement that will be added to the footer of each page. Supports Markdown syntax and {%{{{ year }}}%} variable.
{%{
footer:
copyright: "© Copyright {{ year }}. [Example, Inc.](https://example.com/) All rights reserved."
}%}
links (footer)
links : object
The footer.links have the same configuration options as links.
footer:
links:
- text: License
link: license.md
generator
directoryIndex
Configuration options to instruct Neko on how and when to deal with the default directory index files, such as index.html.
altNames
altNames : list
A list of file names to treat as default HTML files.
By default, Neko will treat all of the following files as default pages if they are within a folder.
generator:
directoryIndex:
altNames:
- index.html
- index.htm
- default.html
- default.htm
If you have a default.htm file within a folder and do not want it to be treated as a default page, then set altNames to the following:
generator:
directoryIndex:
altNames:
- index.html
append
append : boolean
Specifies if the default document file name should be appended to resolved URLs. By default, Neko does not append the default file name.
If false, the generated link will be /guide/. If true, the generated link will be /guides/index.html.
generator:
directoryIndex:
append: true # default is false
Using append: true in combination with the search.preload config allows for offline file system browsing of your generated website without having to install Neko and start a web server using neko start. The following sample demonstrates how to configure:
search:
preload: true
generator:
directoryIndex:
append: true
name
name : string
The default HTML document file name generated by Neko.
generator:
directoryIndex:
name: default.htm # Default is index.html
paths
paths : string
Configures url kind preference for resolved urls. Supported values: source, relative, and root.
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
relative |
Link paths are constructed using relative paths. Example: ../../guide/introduction/. This is the default. |
root |
Link paths are constructed using paths resolving to the website root. Example: /guide/introduction/ |
source |
Link paths are constructed using paths resolving to the source file root. |
generator:
paths: relative
recase
recase : string
Instructs Neko on how to recase the project file and folder names created by the author. Default is all.
By default, Neko will recase all the generated file and folder names to all lowercase.
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
all |
Covert all file and folder names in the generated output to all lowercase. This is the default. |
none |
Do not change the case of any file or folder names. |
To have Neko NOT change the casing of any of your file or folder names, set recase to none.
generator:
recase: none
trailingSlash
trailingSlash : boolean
By setting trailingSlash: false in the project config, authors can instruct Neko to remove (or not add) the trailing / character when constructing links from paths to Markdown files.
For example, if you have a simple link in your project to [Example](/guide/example.md), Neko will create the link as /guide/example/. By setting trailingSlash: false in your project, Neko would then create the link as /guide/example.
It is best practice to include the trailing slash and by default, Neko will automatically add the trailing slash to links that are missing.
generator:
trailingSlash: false # default is true
hub
The Hub creates a handy shortcut link in the top-left of the page, just to the left of your project logo or title.
The hub link lets visitors easily jump back to your main site or central doc hub, such as linking from your documentation deployed at docs.example.com to example.com.
The hub link is useful when deploying multiple documentation projects and you would like a bridge to your primary documentation hub.
The hub is optional. If you would like a hub link, just set a URL in the link config.
link
link : string
Set to a local path or external URL. By setting the link value, the Hub will be enabled. To disable, remove the link config.
hub:
link: https://example.com/ # default is empty
alt
alt : string
Custom text value used to set the title attribute of the hub link.
hub:
link: https://example.com/
alt: Go to example.com
target
target : string
Sets the target attribute of the hub link and specifies which window or tab to open the link into.
hub:
link: https://example.com/
target: blank
If no target is configured, the link will open in the current tab.
The target can be set to any value, although blank is common and will open the link in a new tab. Neko will automatically transform the value blank into _blank which is the actual value required by the browser to indicate that a hyperlink should be opened in a new tab.
There are several other values that may be prefixed with an _ character, including self, parent, and top. The following table demonstrates some common scenarios and naming convention used by Neko to normalize the target values.
Config target value |
Runtime target value |
|---|---|
blank |
_blank |
parent |
_parent |
top |
_top |
self |
_self |
news1 |
news1 |
nEWs2 |
news2 |
recent NEWS |
recent-news |
include
include : list
Neko can explicitly include files or folders that might have been excluded by default or excluded within the exclude config.
If you create a link to local static file, such as .zip file, Neko will automatically copy that file to the generated website.
That file or file type does not need to be explicitly configured to be included. Neko assumes that if you created a link to the file, you wanted that file published and it will be included in the output.
Include patterns are similar to allowable patterns within a .gitignore file. The wildcards ?, *, **, and ! are supported.
The following sample demonstrates how to include all .py files, all .js files that start with the name demo, and the entire contents of any www folder within the project.
include:
- "*.py"
- "demo*.js"
- "**/www/**"
You could explicitly include everything in your project with include: [ "*" ], but be careful as all files within your input will be publicly availble once your website is published. We would not recommend doing this, but it's your call.
Neko treats all .md and .yml files as parsable content files that will be converted into .html files and are not copied over to the output. All other included file types would be copied straight across to the output unchanged and become static files that can be linked to.
By default, if Neko discovers any of the following file types, they will be automatically included and copied over to the output unchanged. If you require any other file types, they would need to be explicitly added to the include config.
File types that are automatically included:
*.ai*.bmp*.eps*.gif*.heif*.htm*.html*.jpeg*.jpg*.pdf*.png*.svg*.tiff*.txt*.webp*.zip
By default, if Neko discovers any of the following folders anywhere within the project, the folder and its entire contents will be copied over to the output unchanged. If you require any other folders, please add to the include config.
Included folders:
**/static/****/public/****/assets/****/resources/**
If you would rather not include certain folders, files, or file types, please add the pattern to the exclude config.
input
input : string
Custom path to the input directory. Default is ..
The path is relative to the neko.yml location.
input: ./src
integrations
More integrations will be added over time. Do you have an integration suggestion? let us know.
googleAnalytics
Add Google Analytics to your website.
googleAnalytics.id : string
Google Analytics ID value.
integrations:
googleAnalytics:
id: <id>
Replace the <id> with your Google Analytics measurement id. For example:
integrations:
googleAnalytics:
id: A-BCDEFGHIJ1
googleTagManager
Add the Google Tag Manager to your website.
googleTagManager.id : string
Google Tag manager ID value.
integrations:
googleTagManager:
id: <id>
Replace the <id> with your Google Tag Manager measurement id.
gravatar
Specific setting to control Neko integration with the Gravatar profile picture service and used by the page.authors configuration.
default
default : string
The default profile image to return from Gravatar queries whenever no image is assigned to the queried email address. Default value is mp.
Either a full URL to the image can be configured or one of the options listed below:
| Value | Sample |
|---|---|
404 |
Broken image |
mp (default) |
|
identicon |
|
monsterid |
|
wavatar |
|
retro |
|
robohash |
|
blank |
Blank image |
Please see the Default Image documentation on the Gravatar website.
enabled
enabled : boolean
Whether Neko should use Gravatar to pull profile images. Default is true.
Setting to false will show the default image or specified resource.
Disabling Gravatar will also reset the default avatar to the Neko default.
plausible
Plausible.io is a simple and privacy-friendly Google Analytics alternative which can be integrated easily into Neko generated websites.
domain
domain : string
When you setup your project within Plausible, you enter a Domain value which is then used to set the integrations.plausible.domain config within your neko.yml project configuration file.
integrations:
plausible:
domain: <string>
Plausible can also send statistics to multiple dashboards by configuring a comma-separated list of domains. For example:
integrations:
plausible:
domain: domain1.com,domain2.com,subdomain.yourdomain.com
Check out the Plausible documentation for more details.
host
host : string
The Plausible service can be self-hosted and your Neko project can be configured to use your custom host.
integrations:
plausible:
host: <string>
A typical host project configuration would look like the following sample:
integrations:
plausible:
host: plausible.example.com
If no transfer protocol is supplied, Neko will default the host value to use https.
All of the following sample host values are supported:
host: example.com
host: docs.example.com
host: https://example.com
host: http://example.com
host: example.com/js/plausible.js
host: docs.example.com/js/plausible.js
links
Custom links added to the top-bar navigation of all pages.
The following sample demonstrates a basic links scenario which would add one link to the top bar of all pages.
links:
- text: Getting Started
link: https://example.com/getting_started/
text
text : string
The link text label.
links:
- text: Demos
link: https://demo.example.com/
link
link : string
The URL to use for the link. The link can be a .md file name, or to any internal path, or to any external URL.
If a .md file set, such as sample.md, Neko will automatically resolve the path and in the generated website, the sample.md value will be replaced with the path to the actual generated HTML file.
links:
- text: About us
link: /about/
icon
icon : string
An icon to use with the link. Default is null.
links:
- text: Issues
link: https://github.com/neko/neko/issues/
icon: bug
Options include using a UIcon name, Emoji shortcode, <svg> element, or a path to an image file.
icon: rocket
icon: ":rocket:"
icon: <svg>...</svg>
icon: ../static/rocket.png
iconAlign
iconAlign : string
The position for the icon relative to the link text. Either left or right. Default is left.
links:
- text: Demos
link: https://demo.example.com/
icon: link-alt
iconAlign: right
target
target : string
Sets the target attribute of the hyperlink and specifies which window or tab to open the link into.
links:
- text: Demos
link: https://demo.example.com/
target: blank
If no target is configured, the link will open in the current tab.
The target can be set to any value, although blank is common and will open the link in a new tab. Neko will automatically transform the value blank into _blank which is the actual value required by the browser to indicate that a hyperlink should be opened in a new tab.
There are several other values that may be prefixed with an _ character, including self, parent, and top. The following table demonstrates some common scenarios and naming convention used by Neko to normalize the target values.
Config target value |
Runtime target value |
|---|---|
blank |
_blank |
parent |
_parent |
top |
_top |
self |
_self |
news1 |
news1 |
nEWs2 |
news2 |
recent NEWS |
recent-news |
items
items : list
Allows defining a dropdown (flyout) menu of sub-links. If items are present, the top-level link becomes a trigger for the menu.
Each item in the list supports text, link, icon, target, and description.
links:
- text: Products
items:
- text: Analytics
link: /products/analytics
icon: chart-pie
description: Understand your traffic
- text: Security
link: /products/security
icon: lock
description: Protect your data
description
description : string
A short description for the link. This is primarily used within items to provide more context in flyout menus.
links:
- text: Features
items:
- text: Components
link: /components
description: Explore built-in components
footerItems
footerItems : list
Allows defining a footer section within a flyout menu. These items are displayed at the bottom of the dropdown in a distinct style.
This property is only used when items are also defined.
links:
- text: Resources
items:
- text: Blog
link: /blog
footerItems:
- text: Contact Sales
link: /contact
icon: phone-call
locale
The value of the locale config defines the primary language that will be used on the generated website. Neko will generate the website using system messages and labels in this language.
This flexibility makes your application more versatile and accessible to users from different languages. Currently, 24 languages are supported by Neko.
Please visit the Neko Translation project for more details on adding new languages and making changes to existing languages.
locale : string
You can switch the locale to any other supported language by providing the corresponding ISO language code as listed below.
Default is en.
The following sample demonstrates switching the project to use French.
locale: fr
Supported Languages
| Code | Language | Native name |
|---|---|---|
ar |
Arabic | العربية |
da |
Danish | Dansk |
de |
German | Deutsch |
el as of v3.8 |
Greek | Ελληνικά (Elliniká) |
en default |
English | English |
es |
Spanish | Español |
fi |
Finnish | Suomalainen |
fr |
French | Français |
he as of v3.8 |
Hebrew ((Ivrit)) | עברית |
hi |
Hindi | हिन्दी |
hu |
Hungarian | Magyar |
hy |
Armenian (Hayeren) | Հայերեն |
it |
Italian | Italiano |
ja |
Japanese | 日本語 |
kn |
Kannada | ಕನ್ನಡ |
ko |
Korean | 한국어 |
nb |
Norwegian (Bokmål) | Norsk (Bokmål) |
nl |
Dutch | Nederlands |
pt |
Portuguese (Brazil) | Português (Brasil) |
pt-PT |
Portuguese (Portugal) | Português (Portugal) |
ro |
Romanian | Română |
ru |
Russian | Русский |
sa |
Sankrit (Saṁskṛtam) | संस्कृतम् |
sv |
Swedish | Svenska |
ta |
Tamil | தமிழ் |
te |
Telugu | తెలుగు |
th |
Thai | ไทย |
tr |
Turkish | Türkçe |
vi |
Vietnamese | Tiếng Việt |
zh |
Chinese | 中文 |
markdown
Markdown configuration options.
lineBreaks
lineBreaks : string
Switches between soft and hard line break modes. The option instructs Neko in what way a regular line ending should be handled.
- in
softmode, regular line breaks are processed as soft breaks (no<br />is emitted to HTML markup), unless a line contains 2+ spaces before a line break. - in
hardmode, regular line breaks are always emitted as<br />HTML elements.
Default is soft.
markdown:
lineBreaks: soft # or, hard
meta
Project wide meta tag configuration options.
title
title : string
Common site-wide suffix appended to the html <title> element of all pages. Default is null.
meta:
title: " | Example.com - Widgets for the internet"
Using the sample above, if we had an About us page, the final <title> would be:
<title>About us | Example.com - Widgets for the internet</title>
See also, the Page level meta.title configuration.
nav
Navigation configuration options to control the behavior of the left sidebar navigation.
mode
mode : string
Controls how the sidebar navigation is created and functions. The default functionality is to create the navigation as an expandable Tree structure. The default value for mode is default.
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
default |
Create the navigation as a Tree structure where top-level folders are expandable and collapsible. |
stack |
Create the navigation where the top-level folders are automatically expanded, creating a "stacked" view of the navigation path. |
The following sample demonstrates how to configure the "stacked" navigation structure:
nav:
mode: stack
To convert only one top-level directory to a stack type layout, please see the Page nav setting.
icons
mode
The mode configuration enables customization for how the icons are displayed in the main navigation. The mode allows you to hide all icons (and their reserved space) in the navigation, as well as other icon show/hide scenarios.
mode : string
Controls how icons are displayed in the left sidebar navigation. The default value is all, which shows all icons or reserves space for all icons within the navigation.
The following sample demonstrates how the icon mode can be configured in your neko.yml file:
nav:
icons:
mode: all|none|folders|pages|top # Default is all
| Mode | Description |
|---|---|
all |
Show icons for all navigation items (default) |
folders |
Show icons only for folder/category items |
pages |
Show icons only for page items |
top |
Show icons only for top-level pages and folders, hide for nested items |
none |
Hide all navigation icons |
To hide icons for all pages and folders, add the following setting to your project neko.yml configuration file:
nav:
icons:
mode: none
The nav.icons.mode setting can be used in conjunction with nav.mode: stack to handle many different icon and navigation rendering combinations.
nextprev
The nextprev configuration controls the display of "Next" and "Previous" navigation buttons at the bottom of each page and whether a page is included in the navigation sequence.
mode
mode : string
Controls how the Next/Previous navigation buttons are displayed and whether the page is included in the navigation sequence.
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
show |
Show Next and Previous buttons and include page in sequence (Default) |
hide |
Hide buttons but keep page in sequential order |
exclude |
Hide buttons and exclude page from sequential order |
The default value is show.
nextprev:
mode: hide
The nextprev.mode setting can be configured at three levels with the following precedence:
- Page level in individual
.mdfiles - Folder level in the folder
readme.mdorindex.ymlfiles - Project level in your Project
neko.ymlfile
===
outbound
The outbound configuration gives you the flexibility to customize the behavior of outbound links in your Neko project. It allows you to control which links are treated as outbound, where they open, what icon is used, and even exclude or include specific domains. For instance, example.com.
If outbound is enabled, Neko will find all external (outbound) links within the project, add a trailing icon, and set the link to open in a new tab when clicked.
enabled
enabled : boolean
Controls whether the outbound links feature is enabled.
The default is true.
The following sample demonstrates disabling the outbound functionality:
outbound:
enabled: false
custom
custom : string
Provides a way to specify custom attributes to be added to the outbound links. The default value is empty/null.
The following sample demonstrates how to add the attribute rel="noopener noreferrer" to all outbound links:
outbound:
custom: 'rel="noopener noreferrer"'
icon
icon : string
Defines the icon to be used for outbound links and accepts all the same options as the links.icon config. The default value is link-external .
outbound:
icon: link-alt
If you would prefer to keep the outbound functionality enabled, but not include the icon, please set icon: "". The following sample demonstrates:
outbound:
icon: ""
iconAlign
iconAlign : string
Determines the alignment of the icon for outbound links and accepts the same options as the links.iconAlign config. Acceptable values are right or left. The default value is right.
outbound:
iconAlign: right
target
target : string
Specifies the target attribute for the outbound links. The default value of "blank" opens the link in a new window or tab.
outbound:
target: blank
exclude
exclude : list
A list of outbound link patterns to be excluded from being captured by the Neko outbound functionality. This is useful if you do not want certain links to open in new tabs.
This configuration accepts similar path patterns as the exclude config.
The following sample demonstrates excluding all links pointing to example.com.
outbound:
exclude:
- example.com
Please also see outbound.include.
include
include : list
A list of outbound link patterns to be included for the Neko outbound functionality. This is useful if you only want certain links to open in new tabs. The default value of * includes all links.
This configuration accepts similar path patterns as the include config.
The following sample demonstrates including only links that point to example.com.
outbound:
include:
- example.com
If any item is added to the include list, by default, all other paths will be excluded. Please also see outbound.exclude.
output
output : string
Custom path to the output directory. Default is .neko.
The path is relative to the neko.yml location.
output: ./docs
The output directory is only used when using the neko build command.
If using neko start, files are stored in memory and not written to disk.
poweredByNeko
Controls whether to include or exclude the Powered by Neko branding.

poweredByNeko : boolean
The Powered by Neko branding can be removed by setting to false.
poweredByNeko: true # Set to `false` to remove.
scheme
The scheme configuration allows you to control the default color mode (light or dark) for your Neko generated website. By default, Neko will automatically match the visitor's system preference, but you can explicitly set the site to always render in either dark or light mode.
mode
mode : string
Controls the default color scheme for the website. The default value is system, which will automatically switch between dark and light modes based on the visitor's system preference.
| Mode | Description |
|---|---|
system |
(default) Automatically use the visitor's system color scheme preference. |
dark |
Always render the website in dark mode. |
light |
Always render the website in light mode. |
To configure Neko to always render in dark mode, add the following to your neko.yml:
scheme:
mode: dark
To always render in light mode:
scheme:
mode: light
To use the system preference (default):
scheme:
mode: system
If a visitor has explicitly selected dark or light mode using the color scheme toggle in the upper-right menu, their choice will take precedence over the scheme.mode project setting.
search
Customization of the website search component.
hotkeys
hotkeys : list
Keyboard key to set the cursor focus into the search field. Default is k.
The following sample demonstrates how to change the search hotkey to use / instead of the default k:
search:
hotkeys:
- "/"
maxResults
maxResults : number
Max number of search results to render. Default is 20.
search:
maxResults: 20
minChars
minChars : number
Min number of characters required in a search query. Default is 2.
The following sample demonstrates how to configure search.minChars with a new value:
search:
minChars: 3
mode
mode : string
The search index creation mode. Default is full.
| Mode | Description |
|---|---|
full |
A full-text search index of the project content is made. Includes all headings and all text content. |
partial |
All headings plus the first paragraph under each heading is used to create the search index. The Page description config is also included if not empty. |
basic |
All headings plus only the first paragraph of each page is used to create the search index. The Page description config is also included if not empty. |
The following sample demonstrates how to configure search.mode with a new value:
search:
mode: partial
If your project includes a lot of content and your users find the search is running too slow, try changing to mode: partial or even a mode: basic if the website is really huge.
noResultsFoundMsg
noResultsFoundMsg : string
Message rendered when no results were found. Default is "Sorry, no results found.".
search:
noResultsFoundMsg: Sorry, no results found.
placeholder
placeholder : string
Placeholder text rendered on the search component. Default is "Search".
search:
placeholder: Search
preload
preload : boolean
Specifies if the search index should be preloaded. Default is false.
search:
preload: true # Default is false
Using preload: true in combination with the generator.directoryIndex.append config allows for offline file system browsing of your generated website without having to install Neko and start a web server using neko start. The following sample demonstrates how to configure:
search:
preload: true
generator:
directoryIndex:
append: true
serve
Custom configuration for the built in Neko development web server.
host
host : string
Serve the website from this host location. Default is localhost.
serve:
host: 127.0.0.1
By default, the Neko development web server will serve from http://localhost:5001, although the port could be dynamically assigned if port 5001 is already in use.
A custom port value can also be assigned.
serve:
host: 127.0.0.1:5005
A custom --host value can also be passed as an argument to the neko start and neko serve commands. If included, the --host value will override the host set within your neko.yml project configuration file.
neko start --host 127.0.0.1 # serve from a custom host
neko start --host 127.0.0.1 --port 5005 # serve from a custom host and port
port
port : number
A custom port for the internal Neko development web server to use when hosting locally. Default is 5001.
serve:
port: 5005
If the default port is already being used by another service, Neko will auto-increment the port number until it finds an open port to host from.
If a custom port is explicitly configured in the neko.yml and if that port is already being used by another service, Neko will write a message to the console and exit. In that scenario, because the port was explicitly configured, Neko will not attempt to auto-increment.
The port number can also be included in the host config.
A custom --port value can also be passed as an argument to the neko start and neko serve commands. If included, the --port value will override the port set within your neko.yml project configuration file.
neko start --port 5005 # serve from a custom port
watch
Custom configuration for the neko serve and neko start commands.
mode
mode : string
During neko start and neko serve, the mode configuration instructs the web server on where to host files from.
If memory, the entire website is built and then stored in memory during development with no files being written to disk.
If disk, the entire website is built and written to disk, then the web server will host those files from their disk location.
Default is memory.
| Mode | Description |
|---|---|
memory |
No output files are written to a disk. Neko serves a website from the in-memory storage. |
disk |
Output files are written to the output directory, and updated with each incremental build accordingly. |
serve:
watch:
mode: disk
The command neko build will always build and write all files to disk. The memory configuration is not an option with neko build. The Neko GitHub Action uses neko build. The command neko start is only to be used during local development and not on a live production web server.
polling
polling : boolean or number
Instructs the local web server on how it should listen for file changes.
If false, the native filesystem event listeners are used to monitor for file changes.
If true, Neko will poll for file changes within your projects input directory. By default, the polling interval is 1000 milliseconds (1 second).
The poll interval is configurable by setting a number value. For instance, setting polling: 500 would configure a 500ms interval.
Default is false.
| Polling | Description |
|---|---|
false |
Use native filesystem event listeners to receive file change notifications the project input directory. |
true |
Poll the input directory for changes every 1000 milliseconds (1 second). |
number |
Poll the input directory in milliseconds. |
serve:
watch:
polling: true
Performance Warning
Disk polling may be a costly operation, especially in projects with a large quantity of files, and/or running over remote mounted directories (ftp mapping, NFS, SMB...). If configuring the poll interval, please adjust the value down in steps, monitoring performance as the poll interval decreases.
On the flip side, increasing the polling interval may cause an annoying experience during neko start as file changes will require a longer time before reflected in the browser.
validation
validation : string
Configure how thorough Neko is while looking for changed files.
Default value is optimal.
| Validation | Description |
|---|---|
fast |
Compare file system metadata only (reported file size and last modification time). |
full |
Perform full SHA2 comparison on every tracked file. |
optimal |
Compare file system metadata and, for every file with changes, perform SHA2 comparison. |
showSidebarFilter
showSidebarFilter : boolean
The showSidebarFilter project setting controls the visibility of the filter component in the left sidebar above the navigation tree. Default is true.
By default, this setting is true, meaning the filter component is displayed. If set to false, the filter component will be hidden, allowing for a more streamlined sidebar layout. This option can be useful for simplifying the user interface in projects where filtering topics is not necessary.
showSidebarFilter: false
ignore
ignore : list
A list of glob patterns specifying files and directories that Neko should skip during the build process. Default is an empty list [].
By default, Neko scans and parses all Markdown files in your project directory (except for some system or hidden directories). The ignore property allows you to explicitly exclude files or entire directories from being processed into HTML or included in your navigation.
ignore:
- "drafts/**" # Ignore everything in the drafts folder
- "private-docs/*.md" # Ignore markdown files in private-docs
- "**/archived-*" # Ignore files prefixed with archived- anywhere
These patterns use standard Microsoft.Extensions.FileSystemGlobbing syntax evaluated relative to your project's input directory.
snippets
The snippets configuration allows for the project with custom configuration of code block formatting, including the project wide enabling of line numbering.
lineNumbers
lineNumbers : list
A list of code block reference language strings to enable line numbering on. Default is null.
snippets:
lineNumbers:
- js
- json
Configuring the "*" wildcard will enable line numbering for all code block types, including code blocks with no explicit reference language.
snippets:
lineNumbers:
- *
Enabling line numbering site wide on code blocks with no explicit reference language is configured with the none "none" specifier.
snippets:
lineNumbers:
- none
start
The start config contains project options that apply during the neko start CLI command.
open
open : boolean
Set to false to instruct Neko to not open the default web browser when the command neko start is run. By default, Neko will open a web browser when neko start is run.
The default is true.
The following sample demonstrates how to prevent the default web browser from opening during neko start:
start:
open: false
Using the CLI command neko start -n or neko start --no-open will also prevent the default web browser from being opened.
templating
Configurations to control the Neko content templating engine for this project.
enabled
enabled : boolean
A project-wide option to enable or disable the Neko content templating engine. Default is true.
templating:
enabled: true # Set to false to disable
The templating engine can also be disabled on a per-page basis by setting templating: false in the page metadata.
liquid
liquid : boolean
Specifies if Liquid syntax {% ... %} is enabled. If liquid: true is set, Neko is incompatible with GitBook style of component configuration.
Default is false.
templating:
liquid: false # Set to true to enable
loopLimit
loopLimit : number
Sets the maximum number of iterations allowed for loop statements in templates. This is a safety mechanism to prevent infinite loops and excessive resource consumption during template rendering.
Default is 1000.
templating:
loopLimit: 1000 # Maximum loop iterations allowed
When a template contains loops that exceed the configured loopLimit, Neko will throw a build error and halt the build process.
templating:
loopLimit: 500 # Reduce limit for stricter control
Setting loopLimit: 0 disables loop limit enforcement entirely, allowing unlimited loop iterations. Use with caution as this can lead to performance issues or build timeouts with poorly designed templates.
templating:
loopLimit: 0 # Disable loop limit (not recommended)
Common use cases
Large datasets: If your templates process large collections of data (such as comprehensive lists, extensive navigation menus, or bulk content generation), you may need to increase the loop limit:
templating:
loopLimit: 5000 # For processing large datasets
Strict resource control: For projects where template performance is critical, you can reduce the limit to catch potentially problematic templates early:
templating:
loopLimit: 100 # Strict limit for performance-critical projects
Error handling
When the loop limit is exceeded, Neko will display an error message similar to:
ERROR: [template.md:1] Evaluation error. Exceeding number of iteration limit `1000` for loop statement.
This error indicates that a template contains loops that process more items than the configured limit allows. To resolve this, either:
- Increase the
loopLimitvalue if the large loop is intentional - Optimise the template to reduce the number of loop iterations
- Split large datasets into smaller, more manageable chunks
Performance
Loop limits help maintain build performance by preventing runaway templates. Consider the following when setting loop limits:
- Build time: Higher limits allow more complex templates but may increase build times
- Memory usage: Large loops can consume significant memory during template processing
- Template complexity: Nested loops count towards the total iteration limit
For most projects, the default limit of 1000 iterations provides a good balance between flexibility and performance protection.
theme
The theme configuration allows you to customize the visual appearance of your Neko website by overriding colors and other design elements to match your brand or project preferences.
base
base : object
The base theme configures the light mode appearance and serves as the foundation for your site's design. All theme variables can be customized within this section.
theme:
base:
base-color: "#8839ef"
base-link-weight: 500
nav-item-text-active-weight: 700
theme:
base:
# Primary brand color
base-color: "#8839ef"
base-bg: "#eff1f5" # Base background color
# Variants
primary: "#1e66f5" # Blue
success: "#40a02b" # Green
danger: "#d20f39" # Red
warning: "#df8e1d" # Yellow
# Typography
base-link-weight: 500
# Navigation
nav-item-text-active-weight: 700
dark
dark : object
The dark theme specifically targets dark mode appearance. When the website is switched to dark mode, the dark theme variables override the [[#theme-base]] variables. The following demonstrates how to configure the dark theme variables:
theme:
dark:
base-color: "#ca9ee6"
base-bg: "#303446"
toc
The toc config contains project options that apply to the right sidebar Table of Contents.
depth
depth : string, number
The heading depth to include in the right Table of Contents.
The default is 2-3.
toc:
depth: 2-3
The toc can be configured at the Project or Page levels.
Configuring the toc at the Page level overrides the Project level settings.
Acceptable values for depth include:
| Value | Description |
|---|---|
| 2 | Include H2 headings only |
| 2-3 | default Include H2 to H3 headings |
| 1-4 | Include H1 to H3 headings |
| 2,3 | Include H2 and H3 headings |
| 2,4 | Include H2 and H4 headings |
| 1,3-4 | Include H1 and H3 to H4 headings, skip H2 |
| 1,2,3,4 | Include H1, H2, H3, and H4 headings |
label
label : string
A custom label for the top of the Table of Contents column.
toc:
label: On this page
url
url : string
The base URL of your website.
url: example.com
The url can also be a subdomain.
url: docs.example.com
If you deploy your Neko generated website into the subfolder of another website, add the subfolder in the url. For example, if the website will be available at https://example.com/docs, add that docs folder name to the url.
url: example.com/docs
If no protocol is supplied, such as https or http, Neko will assume https. A protocol can be explicitly defined by passing in the url.
url: http://example.com/docs/
Another common scenario for setting a url is when using GitHub Pages without a custom CNAME.
For instance, if your GitHub organization was CompanyX and your repo was named docs, the URL to your GitHub Pages hosted website would be https://companyx.github.io/docs/.
Neko needs to know where your website will be hosted, so the url configuration for the above scenario would be:
url: companyx.github.io/docs
sitemap
sitemap : boolean
Set to true to enable the generation of a sitemap.xml file in the output directory. The sitemap will include all generated pages using the url property as the base URL. If no url is provided, it defaults to localhost.
The default is false.
sitemap: true
url: https://example.com/docs
Additional options
| Option | Type | Default value | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
api |
object |
API reference doc generation | |
api.input |
string |
Path to a project file or a project directory | |
api.output |
string |
./api |
Custom path to the API output directory. Relative to output |