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Add document dates & authors

10.0.4 document-dates

You can add date and author information to your documents via the plugin document-dates, a new generation MkDocs plugin for displaying exact creation date, last updated date, authors, email of documents.

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Features

  • Works in any environment (no-Git, Git environments, Docker, all CI/CD build systems, etc.)
  • Support list display of recently updated documents (in descending order of update date)
  • Support for manually specifying date and author in Front Matter
  • Support for multiple date formats (date, datetime, timeago)
  • Support for multiple author modes (avatar, text, hidden)
  • Support for manually configuring author's name, link, avatar, email, etc.
  • Flexible display position (top or bottom)
  • Elegant styling (fully customizable)
  • Multi-language support, localization support, intelligent recognition of user language, automatic adaptation

  • Ultimate build efficiency: O(1), no need to set the env var !ENV to distinguish runs

    Build Speed Comparison: 100 md: 1000 md: Time Complexity:
    git-revision-date-localized

    git-authors
    ＞ 3 s
    ＞ 30 s
    O(n)
    document-dates ＜ 0.1 s ＜ 0.15 s O(1)

Installation

Install it with pip:

pip install mkdocs-document-dates

Then, add the following lines to mkdocs.yml:

plugins:
  - document-dates

Or, common configuration:

plugins:
  - document-dates:
      position: top            # Display position: top(after title) bottom(end of document), default: top
      type: date               # Date type: date datetime timeago, default: date
      exclude:                 # List of excluded files (support unix shell-style wildcards)
        - temp.md                  # Example: exclude the specified file
        - blog/*                   # Example: exclude all files in blog folder, including subfolders
        - '*/index.md'             # Example: exclude all index.md files in any subfolders

Configuration

The following configuration options are supported:

position

top This option specifies the display position of the plugin. Valid values are top, bottom:

plugins:
  - document-dates:
      position: top
type

date This option specifies the type of date to be displayed. Valid values are date, datetime, timeago:

plugins:
  - document-dates:
      type: date
exclude

This option specifies a list of excluded files, supporting unix shell-style wildcards, such as *, ?, [] etc:

plugins:
  - document-dates:
      exclude:
        - temp.md       # Example: exclude the specified file
        - blog/*        # Example: exclude all files in blog folder, including subfolders
        - '*/index.md'  # Example: exclude all index.md files in any subfolders
date_format

%Y-%m-%d This option specifies the date formatting string:

plugins:
  - document-dates:
      date_format: '%Y-%m-%d'   # e.g., %Y-%m-%d, %b %d, %Y
      time_format: '%H:%M:%S'   # valid only if type=datetime
show_created

true This option specifies whether to display the creation date. Valid values are true, false:

plugins:
  - document-dates:
      show_created: true
show_updated

true This option specifies whether to display the last updated date. Valid values are true, false:

plugins:
  - document-dates:
      show_updated: true
show_author

true This option specifies the type of author display. Valid values are true(avatar), false(hidden), text(text):

plugins:
  - document-dates:
      show_author: true   # true(avatar) text(text) false(hidden)

Settings

The plugin provides a wide range of customization options to meet various personalized needs.

Date & Time

The date data is retrieved using a combination of different methods to adapt to various runtime environments, including no-Git environments, Git, Docker containers, and all CI/CD build systems:

  • Uses filesystem timestamps to ensure accurate original dates in local no-Git environments
  • Uses Git timestamps to ensure relatively accurate dates in Git environments
  • Uses cache files to ensure accurate original dates in Git environments
  • Front Matter: Manually specify the date in Front Matter if you prefer not to use automatic dates
Why not use filesystem timestamps in Git environments?

Because files are recreated during git checkout or git clone, causing the original timestamps of branches/files to be lost after cloning or checking out.

Loading order

By default, the plugin will automatically load the document's "creation date" and "last updated date" in the following order.

%%{init: {'theme': 'default', 'themeVariables': {'fontSize': '12px'}}}%%
flowchart LR
    A(1.Front Matter)
    B(2.Cache File)
    C(3.Git Timestamp)
    D(4.File Timestamp)
    A -.Creation date.-> B -.-> C -.-> D
    A -.Last updated.-> C
  1. Prioritize reading the custom creation date in Front Matter
  2. Then read the creation date in the cache file
  3. Next read the document’s first git commit date as the creation date
  4. Finally read the file’s creation time
  1. Prioritize reading the custom last updated date in Front Matter
  2. Then read the document’s last git commit date as the last updated date
  3. Finally read the file’s modification time

Customization

This can be specified in Front Matter using the following fields:

  • Creation date: created, date
  • Last updated: updated, modified
---
created: 2023-01-01
updated: 2025-02-23
---

Cache creation date

In the Git environment, the plugin reads the document's "first git commit date" as the creation date by default. However, if you need to retrieve the original creation date of the document (earlier than the first git commit), you can manually install Git hooks to use a caching mechanism to solve this issue. Navigate to the target repository directory in the terminal and execute the following command to install Git hooks:

mdd-hooks

This command installs the pre-commit hook locally in the root directory of the target repository, located at .githooks/pre-commit.

Afterwards, every time you execute git commit, the cache file containing the creation date will be automatically generated (hidden by default) in the docs directory, and this cache file will also be committed automatically.

  • docs/.dates_cache.jsonl, cache file
  • docs/.gitattributes, merge mechanism for cache file

This method is compatible with CI/CD build systems, which will automatically detect and load the cache file.

Configure git fetch depth

In the CI/CD system, if the "creation date" uses the "first git commit date" (i.e., no custom or cache file date), you need to configure git fetch depth in the CI system to retrieve the correct first git commit record. For example:

.github/workflows/ci.yaml
jobs:
  deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
        with:
          fetch-depth: 0
  • Github Actions: set fetch-depth to 0 (docs)
  • Gitlab Runners: set GIT_DEPTH to 0 (docs)
  • Bitbucket pipelines: set clone: depth: full (docs)
  • Azure Devops pipelines: set Agent.Source.Git.ShallowFetchDepth to something very high like 10e99 (docs)

Author

Loading order

The plugin will automatically loads the author information of the document in the following order, and will automatically parse the email and then do the linking.

%%{init: {'theme': 'default', 'themeVariables': {'fontSize': '12px'}}}%%
flowchart LR
    A(1.Front Matter)
    B(2.Git Author)
    C(3.site_author)
    D(4.PC Username)
    A -.-> B -.-> C -.-> D
  1. Prioritize reading custom authors in Front Matter
  2. Then read the Git author
  3. Next read the site_author in mkdocs.yml
  4. Finally read the PC username

Customization

Can be configured in Front Matter in the following ways:

1) Configure a simple author: via field name

---
name: any-name
email: e-name@gmail.com
---

2) Configure one or more authors: via field authors

---
authors:
  - jaywhj
  - dawang
  - sunny
---

Enhanced author configuration

For a better user experience, you can add full configuration for all authors. To do so, create an authors.yml file in the docs/ folder using the format below:

docs/authors.yml
authors:
  jaywhj:
    name: Aaron Wang
    avatar: https://xxx.com/avatar.jpg
    url: https://jaywhj.netlify.app/
    email: junewhj@qq.com
    description: Minimalism
  user2:
    name: xxx
    avatar: assets/avatar.png
    url: https://xxx.com
    email: xxx@gmail.com
    description: xxx

When the author name in Front Matter, Git Author, site_author(mkdocs.yml) matches the key in authors, the full author information of the key will be automatically loaded.

Git author aggregation

Git author support account aggregation, i.e. multiple different email accounts for the same person can be aggregated to show the same author, which can be configured by providing a .mailmap file in the repository root directory, this is also a feature of Git itself, see gitmailmap for more details.

The following example unifies my other Git accounts and displays them as Aaron <junewhj@qq.com>:

.mailmap
Aaron <junewhj@qq.com> <aaron@gmail.com>
Aaron <junewhj@qq.com> <aaron@AarondeMacBook-Pro.local>
Aaron <junewhj@qq.com> aaron <aaronwqt@icloud.com>

Avatar

Loading order

The plugin will automatically loads the author avatar in the following order.

%%{init: {'theme': 'default', 'themeVariables': {'fontSize': '12px'}}}%%
flowchart LR
    A(1.Front Matter)
    B(2.Online Avatar)
    C(3.Character Avatar)
    A -.-> B -.-> C

Customization

Customizable via avatar field in Enhanced author configuration (supports URL paths and local file paths).

Other avatars

Load from Gravatar or Weavatar based on Git's user.email

Automatically generated based on the author's name with the following rules: 1. Extract initials: English takes the combination of initials, other languages take the first character 2. Generate dynamic background color: Generate HSL color based on the hash of the name

Structure and Style

You can configure the display structure of the plugin in the following ways in either mkdocs.yml or Front Matter.

Configuration structure

Global Toggle, configured in mkdocs.yml:

mkdocs.yml
plugins:
  - document-dates:
      ...
      show_created: true    # Show creation date: true false, default: true
      show_updated: true    # Show last updated date: true false, default: true
      show_author: true     # Show author: true(avatar) text(text) false(hidden), default: true

Local Toggle, configured in Front Matter (using the same field names):

---
show_created: true
show_updated: true
show_author: text
---

Note

When used in combination, the global toggle acts as the master switch, and the local toggle only takes effect when the master switch is enabled. This does not follow the logic of local configurations overriding global ones.

Configuration style

You can quickly set the plugin styles through preset entrances, such as icons, themes, colors, fonts, animations, dividing line and so on, you just need to find the file below and uncomment it:

Category: Location:
Style & Theme docs/assets/document_dates/user.config.css
Properties & Functions docs/assets/document_dates/user.config.js

You can also refer to the latest example file for free customization: user.config

Template Variables

You can use the following variables in the template to access the document's meta-info:

  • page.meta._mx.document_dates.dates.created
  • page.meta._mx.document_dates.dates.updated
  • page.meta._mx.document_dates.authors
  • config.extra.recently_updated_docs

Set correct lastmod for sitemap

You can set the correct lastmod for your site's sitemap.xml with the template variable _mx.document_dates.dates.updated so that search engines can better handle SEO and thus increase your site's exposure

Step: Download the sample template sitemap.xml, and override this path docs/overrides/sitemap.xml

Recustomize plugin

The plugin can be re-customized using templates, you have full control over the rendering logic and the plugin is only responsible for providing the data

Step: Download the sample template source-file.html, and override this path docs/overrides/partials/source-file.html, then freely customize the template code

Recently Updated Module

The recent updates module displays site documentation information in a structured way, which is ideal for sites with a large number of documents or frequent updates, allowing readers to quickly see what's new.

recently-updated

You can get the recently updated document data (in descending order of update date) in any template via the variable config.extra.recently_updated_docs, then customize the rendering logic yourself.

Or just use the preset template:

  • Display recently updated documents in descending order by update time, list items are dynamically updated
  • Support multiple view modes including list, detail and grid
  • Support automatic extraction of article summaries, no manual configuration required
  • Support for customizing article cover in Front Matter

Config switch

First, configure the switch of recently-updated in mkdocs.yml:

mkdocs.yml
- document-dates:
    ...
    recently-updated:
      limit: 10        # Limit the number of docs displayed
      exclude:         # Exclude documents you don't want to show (support unix shell-style wildcards)
        - index.md
        - blog/*

Add to sidebar navigation

Download the sample template nav.html, and override this path docs/overrides/partials/nav.html

Add anywhere in document

Insert this line anywhere in your document:

<!-- RECENTLY_UPDATED_DOCS -->

Configure article cover

You can specify an article cover in Front Matter using the field cover (supports URL paths and local file paths):

---
cover: assets/cat.jpg
---

Localization Language

The plugin's tooltip and timeago have built-in multi-language support, and the locale is automatically detected, so you don't need to configure it manually. If any language is missing, you can add it for them.

For tooltip

Built-in locales: en zh zh_TW es fr de ar ja ko ru nl pt

Addition Method (choose one):

  • In user.config.js, refer to Part 3 to add it by registering yourself
  • Submit a PR for Inclusion

For timeago

When type: timeago is set, the timeago.js library is enabled for dynamic time rendering. The built-in locales in timeago.min.js only include en zh. If you need to load other languages, you can configure it as described below (choose one):

  • In user.config.js, refer to Part 2 to add it by registering yourself
  • In mkdocs.yml, configure the full version of timeago.full.min.js to reload all locales
    mkdocs.yml
    extra_javascript:
  - assets/document_dates/core/timeago.full.min.js