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Documentation Workflow & GitHub Pages Deployment

This guide explains how to add, edit, preview, and deploy documentation for OpenPTV2.

1. Documentation Structure

All documentation resides in the docs/ folder at the root of the repository:

docs/
├── index.md                 # Documentation home page
├── installation.md          # Platform & VM setup instructions
├── first_steps.md           # Quick start scripting and GUI guides
├── tests.md                 # Running and managing test suites
├── developer_guide/         # Developer guides
│   ├── building.md          # Build instructions
│   ├── cython_and_pure_python.md # Pure Python vs Cython compiled mode guide
│   ├── documentation_workflow.md # This guide
│   └── packaging_and_releases.md # Wheel & releasing guide
├── tutorials/               # User tutorials
│   ├── getting_started_tutorial.md # End-to-end tutorial
│   ├── tracking_visualization.md
│   └── tracking_debug_visualization.md
└── HOW_TO_TEST_GUI.md       # GUI testing guide

2. Editing and Updating Documents

Step 1: Create or Modify a Markdown File

You can edit any existing .md file inside the docs/ folder or create a new one.

Step 2: Register in mkdocs.yml (If adding a new page)

If you create a new Markdown file, you must register it in the nav section of mkdocs.yml at the repository root so it appears in the website sidebar:

nav:
  - Home: index.md
  - Installation & Setup: installation.md
  - Developer Guide:
    - Building from Source: developer_guide/building.md
    - Documentation Workflow: developer_guide/documentation_workflow.md # Added here

3. Previewing Your Changes Locally

Before pushing changes to GitHub, it is best to build and run the documentation server locally to verify spelling, layout, and link paths:

# 1. Install development documentation utilities
uv sync --extra dev

# 2. Run the local development server
uv run mkdocs serve

This starts a server at http://127.0.0.1:8000/. The local server dynamically watches your docs/ directory and will automatically refresh and re-render the pages in your browser as you make modifications!

4. Triggering Automated Deployment to GitHub Pages

Documentation hosting is fully automated. To render and publish updates to the live site at https://alexlib.github.io/openptv2/:

Option A: Automatic Deployment on Push (Recommended)

Our CI/CD workflow (.github/workflows/deploy_docs.yml) is configured to listen for updates:

  1. When you push your modifications to the main or master branches: 
    git add .
git commit -m "docs: describe documentation workflow and update pages"
git push origin main
  2. The GitHub Actions runner will automatically spin up, install the dependencies, build the static site, and force-push the compiled output directly to the repository's gh-pages branch.

Option B: Manual Workflow Dispatch

If you need to manually force a re-render and deployment without pushing a new commit:

  1. Navigate to your repository on GitHub: https://github.com/alexlib/openptv2
  2. Click on the Actions tab at the top.
  3. Select Deploy Docs from the list of workflows on the left.
  4. Click the Run workflow dropdown on the right, select your branch (e.g., main), and click the green Run workflow button.

5. Verifying the Rendered Website

Once the GitHub Actions workflow successfully finishes, the generated documentation site will render and serve live at:

👉 https://alexlib.github.io/openptv2/

Tip

If you make changes and do not see them on the live website immediately, clear your browser cache (using Ctrl+F5 or Cmd+Shift+R) or check the GitHub Actions logs to make sure the Deploy Docs workflow run was successfully completed.