Checks in CI and CD

On this page

DocSprout commands are ordinary processes with documented exit codes, so they fit any continuous-integration runner. This page shows the gates and one complete GitHub Actions job. Publish with GitHub Pages covers the managed deployment workflow, and Machine-readable contracts is the exact command and exit-code reference.

The gates

Run these from the repository root; every command also accepts --root <folder> when your project lives in a subfolder:

Command	Passes when	Exit codes
`docsprout check`	the site can be built: configuration, links and anchors are valid	0 pass; 1 error
`docsprout audit --strict`	the publication checks report no warnings	0 clean; 1 errors or strict warnings; 2 invalid audit configuration
`docsprout doctor`	the project shape and release state are sane	0 pass; 1 blocking problem

audit never needs a built site: it reads your sources and configuration. Start locally with doctor, then check, then audit --strict; CI repeats exactly those commands. See Audit your documentation for the finding codes and their fixes.

GitHub Actions: documentation checks

name: Documentation checks
on:
  push:
    branches: [main]
  pull_request:
jobs:
  checks:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: actions/setup-python@v5
        with:
          python-version: "3.12"
      - name: Install DocSprout
        run: python -m pip install "https://github.com/ikelaiah/docsprout/archive/refs/tags/v1.3.0.zip"
      - name: Validate the site
        run: docsprout check
      - name: Audit publications
        run: docsprout audit --strict --format json > audit.json
      - uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
        if: always()
        with:
          name: docsprout-audit
          path: audit.json

Pin a released tag (v1.3.0 above), never a branch. --format json writes the machine-readable report; the artifact keeps it after the job, including when the audit fails.

Historical sites need the full Git history

check-release and build-all verify and build immutable release tags. The default shallow checkout does not contain them, so fetch the full history:

      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
        with:
          fetch-depth: 0

Any other runner

The commands and exit codes are the whole contract; the runner configuration is yours. The same checks in GitLab CI:

docs-checks:
  image: python:3.12
  script:
    - python -m pip install "https://github.com/ikelaiah/docsprout/archive/refs/tags/v1.3.0.zip"
    - docsprout check
    - docsprout audit --strict

Git-based release validation additionally needs Git and the repository’s tags available in the job. The install pin is the same archive URL used everywhere else; see Machine-readable contracts for the reusable Pages workflow inputs when you publish to GitHub Pages.

CD: deploy the built site anywhere

Publishing to GitHub Pages is one command plus the managed workflow—see GitHub Pages in one command. Other hosts consume the static output directly:

docsprout build --output dist

Upload dist/ to any static host: object storage, a web server, or a platform such as Netlify. For a single archive to hand to someone, add --offline-archive docs.zip; Build and inspect your site covers both options.