mdjango_build#

python manage.py mdjango_build [output_dir] [--check] [--base-url URL]

Validate the Content tree and every page's render without writing, or export the site to a static directory. This is the only command mdjango adds. There is no console script.

Arguments#

Behaviour#

1. Clears the in-process registry, search and LLM caches, then builds the registry from MDJANGO_CONTENT_DIR with the current settings. MDJANGO_INCLUDE_DRAFTS decides whether drafts are included. A ContentError becomes a CommandError.
2. Lists the targets: the page served at the mount root (the Index page, or the first Page in navigation order when there is none), then every Page in navigation order. Without a root _index.md the first Page is therefore a target twice, at /<mount>/ and at its own URL.
3. With --check, renders each target through the same template and context the runtime views use, builds the search index and, when MDJANGO_LLM_DOCS is true, the LLM artifacts. Writes nothing. Stops here.
4. Otherwise renders each target and writes, under output_dir:
   • <mount>/…/index.html, one directory per page, mirroring the URL;
   • <mount>/search-index.json, minified;
   • when MDJANGO_LLM_DOCS is true: <mount>/llms.txt, <mount>/llms-full.txt, <mount>/index.md and one <mount>/…/<page>.md per Page;
   • <STATIC_URL>/mdjango/…, mdjango's own static tree copied whole. An existing directory at that destination is removed first. No other app's static files are copied.
   • with --base-url, sitemap.xml at the dist root (not under <mount>) — a sitemap is a site-root resource. Its <loc>s are <base-url> + each Page's path; a Page with an updated date also gets a <lastmod>. The machine artifacts are excluded. Without --base-url no sitemap is written: the runtime derives its own domain from the request, but the export has no request, so the domain must be supplied here.
5. Prints exported N pages + N text files + N static files to <output_dir>, then wrote <output_dir>/sitemap.xml when --base-url was given.

<mount> and STATIC_URL come from the project's URLconf and settings, and the HTML contains them as absolute paths. The dist must be served at the same prefixes. Static URLs are whatever {% static %} produced under the active storage backend; with a manifest backend they are hashed names the export does not create.

Output of --check#

On success, to stdout:

ok — N pages render, content valid

On failure, one line per problem to stderr, then a CommandError:

<url>: <error>
search index: <error>
llm artifacts: <error>
CommandError: N page(s) failed to render

Exit status#

0 on success. 1 on a CommandError: a content error, a render failure under --check. Any other exception, such as an I/O error while writing or a missing MDJANGO_CONTENT_DIR, propagates as a traceback with a non-zero status.

MDJANGO_CACHE_SECONDS has no effect on the command.