practical-python.org

The website and documentation space for the Practical Python Discord community.

Built with Zensical

Quick start

Prerequisites: uv. It fetches the right Python for you, so that's the only thing to install.

uv sync
uv run zensical serve

That serves the site at http://127.0.0.1:8000 and rebuilds when you save a file.

Checking your work before you push

uv run zensical build --strict

Broken internal links and dead anchors are build failures, not warnings. CI runs the same command, so if it passes here it passes there.

Install the git hooks once and you'll get that check automatically on every commit:

uv run --dev pre-commit install

To run every check by hand:

uv run --dev pre-commit run --all-files

Layout

docs/
├── index.md               landing page
├── CNAME                  custom domain, copied to the site root on build
├── stylesheets/           colour, font and hero overrides
├── getting-started/       the entry point for new members
├── rules/                 server rules, code of conduct, moderation
├── resources/             learning material and setup guides
└── projects/
    ├── our-projects/      software the community maintains
    └── build-something/   project challenges for members
scripts/
└── refresh_member_count.py  updates the Discord member count before a deploy build
zensical.toml              all site configuration, including the nav

Adding a page

1. Create the Markdown file under the right folder in docs/.
2. Add it to the nav list in zensical.toml.

Step 2 isn't optional. Zensical can derive navigation from the folder structure, but that sorts alphabetically and would put Projects ahead of Rules, so the nav is written out.

CONTRIBUTING.md covers the writing conventions, which matter more than the mechanics.

Deployment

Merging to main triggers .github/workflows/deploy.yml, which builds with --strict and publishes to GitHub Pages.

Pull requests run .github/workflows/ci.yml — the same pre-commit checks you get locally.

Dependencies

One direct dependency, zensical, pinned through uv.lock. requirements.txt is generated from the lockfile for anyone who wants to read the tree without uv:

uv export --no-dev --no-hashes --no-emit-project -o requirements.txt

CI installs from the lockfile, not from requirements.txt.