What is PreactPress?
Learn what PreactPress is and when to use it
What is PreactPress?#
PreactPress is the documentation framework for Preact libraries, APIs, and AI coding agents.
You write pages in Markdown or MDX, configure navigation in .preactpress/config.ts, and PreactPress generates static HTML for any static host. The stack is Vite + Preact — inspired by VitePress, but Preact and MDX instead of Vue.
Use cases#
Library and API documentation#
Document Preact component libraries, npm packages, and REST APIs with official plugins:
| Need | Plugin |
|---|---|
| TypeScript API reference | @preactpress/plugin-typedoc |
| OpenAPI / REST docs | @preactpress/plugin-openapi |
| Component prop tables | @preactpress/plugin-component-reference |
| Release notes | @preactpress/plugin-changelog |
Interactive guides#
Embed live Preact examples with @preactpress/plugin-playground and Mermaid diagrams with @preactpress/plugin-mermaid.
AI coding agents#
Enable ai exports to publish llms.txt, llms-full.txt, and api/context.json so tools like Cursor and Claude Code can index your docs. See AI-ready documentation.
Multi-version docs#
Maintain current and archived documentation with the version switcher. See Documentation versioning.
Developer experience#
| Feature | What it gives you |
|---|---|
| Vite dev server | Fast startup and hot updates while editing content |
| Markdown frontmatter | Titles, descriptions, tags, drafts, and social metadata |
| MDX | Preact components inside content pages |
| Default theme | Nav, sidebar, outline, search, footer, locale switcher |
preactpress check |
Config, route, link, redirect, and nav validation before release |
| Plugin system | Typed hooks for build, config, MDX, and validation |
import Counter from "./components/Counter.tsx";
## Demo
<Counter initial={3} />
Performance#
PreactPress produces static HTML for every route during the production build. After hydration, client-side navigation loads Markdown bodies as small JSON payloads from preactpress-content/*.json.
| Output | Purpose |
|---|---|
index.html, */index.html |
One HTML file per route |
assets/* |
Hashed JavaScript and CSS from Vite |
preactpress-search.json |
Search data for the default theme |
llms.txt / llms-full.txt |
AI agent exports (when enabled) |
_redirects |
HTTP redirects for static hosts |
How does PreactPress compare?#
See the full Comparison against VitePress, Docusaurus, and Starlight.
Choose PreactPress when you document Preact libraries or APIs and want validation, plugins, and AI-ready exports in one framework.
Choose VitePress when you are committed to Vue.
Next steps#
| Page | Why |
|---|---|
| Getting Started | Install PreactPress and understand the starter structure |
| Plugins | Extend with official plugins |
| Showcase | Runnable feature demo |
| Deploy | Build and publish a static site |