Preview Server Internals (Hot Reloading)

The Verdocs preview server is designed for a seamless developer experience, allowing you to see your changes in real-time as you write.

How it Works

When you run verdocs preview, Verdocs starts a local development server with a built-in file watcher and hot-reloading capability.

File Watcher: Verdocs uses a high-performance native file watcher to monitor your project's root directory for any changes to Markdown files (.md) or the config.yml configuration file.
Instant Re-generation: When a change is detected, Verdocs re-generates the site in memory and updates its internal status.
Browser Refresh: If the script detects that the server has a newer version of the site, it automatically refreshes the browser page.

Usage

Start the development server with:

verdocs preview

By default, the server is available at http://localhost:8080. You can customize the port using the --port or -p flag:

verdocs preview --port 3000

Troubleshooting

Manual Refresh: If for any reason the page doesn't reload automatically, you can always perform a manual refresh (Cmd + R or Ctrl + R).
Large Projects: For very large documentation sites, you may notice a slight delay between saving a file and the browser refreshing while Verdocs re-generates the site.

No WebSockets

Unlike many other hot-reloading systems, Verdocs uses a polling strategy instead of WebSockets. This makes it more robust in environments like remote development (over SSH) or within certain containerized setups where WebSockets may be blocked or unstable.