Notewell

A small, self-hosted engine that turns a folder of Markdown files into a fast, searchable documentation site — no database, no build server, no lock-in.

Notewell reads a directory of .md files, renders them into static HTML at startup, and serves the result over a single binary. It is designed for teams that want their internal docs to live next to their code in version control, while still getting a polished reading experience for everyone else.

Why another docs tool? Most generators force a choice between "fast static output" and "live editing". Notewell keeps the static output but watches the source folder, so a save in your editor is visible in the browser within a second.

Highlights

Feature	What it does
Zero database	Content lives as plain Markdown on disk. Back it up with `git`.
Instant search	A prebuilt index ships with the site; search runs entirely in the browser.
Single binary	One executable, no runtime dependencies. Drop it on a box and run it.
Themeable	Override the stylesheet or templates without forking the project.

A 30-second tour

Point Notewell at a folder and start the server:

notewell serve ./docs --addr 127.0.0.1:8080

Every .md file becomes a page. Sub-folders become sections in the sidebar. Front-matter controls the title, ordering, and visibility:

---
title: Deployment
order: 3
draft: false
---

# Deployment

Notes on shipping the service to production...

Where to next

If this is your first time, read Getting started for installation and a complete quickstart. For day-to-day operation, the configuration reference documents every option in notewell.toml.