What is Lito?

Lito is a modern static site generator specifically designed for documentation. It bridges the gap between simple zero-config tools and full-fledged frameworks like Astro or Next.js.

The Problem

Building a documentation site usually involves a trade-off:

• Option A: Use a hosted platform (easy, but expensive and locked-in).
• Option B: Use a general-purpose framework (flexible, but high setup effort).
• Option C: Use a simple markdown-to-html tool (easy, but ugly and limited).

The Solution

Lito provides:

1. The “Mintlify” Experience: Defined via a simple config file.
2. The “Astro” Power: Under the hood, it’s just an Astro build. You can “eject” or simply add Astro components to your pages.
3. Self-Hosted Freedom: Output static HTML/CSS/JS that you can host anywhere (Vercel, Netlify, GitHub Pages, S3).

How it works

1. You provide a folder of Markdown/MDX files.
2. You provide a docs-config.json for global settings (navigation, branding).
3. Lito CLI compiles this into a full Astro project and builds it.

graph LR
    A[Markdown Files] --> C(Lito CLI)
    B[docs-config.json] --> C
    C --> D[Astro Build]
    D --> E[Static Site]

Comparisons

Ready to dive in?

Check out the Installation guide to get started.