wiki serve

build the site and read it in a browser

wiki serve builds the site, serves it on this machine, and opens a browser at it.[1] It runs until it is stopped with ctrl-c, and never rebuilds while it runs.[1] Typing wiki alone does the same.[2] How the server behaves is described on Local server.

Usage

It takes the options every command shares, and a port.[3]

wiki serve [-h] [--root ROOT] [--wiki WIKI] [--port PORT]
wiki serve --port 8791

Options

Option Meaning Default
--port PORT the port to serve on[3] 8787

Output

It prints what wiki build prints, then the address it is serving, and an empty line once stopped.[4] Like wiki build, it records each changed page's date in UPDATED.toml.[5] On a wiki of three pages, with the folder being wherever the wiki sits:[4]

wiki: goals                              25 words    0 cited    0 missing
wiki: index                               8 words    0 cited    0 missing
wiki: refunds                            22 words    1 cited    1 missing
wiki: 1 source cited, 1 claim marked as having no source
wiki: the collected goals read in 17 words
wiki: these budgets are PROVISIONAL -- 500 words a page, 3500 for the collected goals. What this project's readers actually read has not been measured; until it is, the numbers are a guess that happens to be enforced. Set budget.calibrated in wiki.toml once it is.
wiki: 3 pages written to /path/to/notes/docs/wiki/site
wiki: serving http://127.0.0.1:8791/docs/wiki/site/  (ctrl-c to stop)

Exit codes

Code Condition Message
0 it is stopped with ctrl-c[6] an empty line after the address it was serving
1 a problem stops the build[6] the problem
2 the port is already in use[6] wiki: cannot serve on port 8787: Address already in use; choose another with --port
2 there is no wiki where it was pointed[6] wiki: no wiki at nowhere
Last updated 14 September 2026Last audited never209 wordsabout 1 minute to read6 sources cited0 claims with no source