Marmite 0.2.7 Release Notes

We're excited to announce Marmite 0.2.7, a major release packed with powerful new features, improvements, and bug fixes. This release introduces shortcodes, image galleries, automatic image resizing with parallel processing, live reload for development, sitemap generation, Python package support, and much more.

⚠️ Breaking Changes

Greentext Disabled by Default

The greentext markdown extension is now disabled by default. Previously, lines starting with > followed by text would be rendered with green styling (4chan-style greentext).

To restore the previous behavior, explicitly enable it in your configuration:

# In marmite.yaml
markdown_parser:
  extension:
    greentext: true

🎉 New Features

Automatic Image Resizing

Marmite can now automatically resize images during site generation to optimize performance. Image Optimization and Resizing

• Automatic resizing of images exceeding a specified maximum width
• Parallel processing using all CPU cores for faster builds
• Incremental builds - skips unchanged images on subsequent builds
• Separate banner sizes - different max widths for hero/banner images
• High-quality resampling with configurable filter algorithms (fast, balanced, quality)
• Atomic file operations for reliability (safe even if interrupted)
• Progress reporting for large image collections
• Supports AVIF, WebP, JPEG, PNG, GIF, BMP, TIFF formats

# In marmite.yaml
skip_image_resize: false

extra:
  max_image_width: 800        # Maximum width for regular images
  banner_image_width: 1200    # Maximum width for banner images
  resize_filter: "quality"    # Options: fast, balanced, quality

# Skip resizing for faster development builds
marmite mysite --skip-image-resize

Shortcodes

Marmite now supports shortcodes - reusable content snippets that can be embedded in your markdown files. Shortcodes Guide

• Create custom shortcodes in the shortcodes/ directory
• Use HTML or Markdown for shortcode templates
• Pass parameters to shortcodes
• Built-in shortcodes for common use cases

<!-- Embed a YouTube video -->
<!-- .youtube id=dQw4w9WgXcQ -->

<!-- Display table of contents -->
<!-- .toc -->

<!-- List all tags -->
<!-- .tags -->

<!-- Embed Spotify track -->
<!-- .spotify id=TRACK_ID -->

# In marmite.yaml
enable_shortcodes: true

Image Gallery

Create beautiful image galleries with automatic thumbnail generation. Gallery Shortcode

• Organize images in folders under media/gallery/
• Automatic thumbnail creation with configurable sizes
• Gallery metadata via gallery.yaml files
• Responsive lightbox viewing
• Caption support from image metadata

# In marmite.yaml
gallery_path: media/gallery
gallery_create_thumbnails: true
gallery_thumb_size: 300

<!-- In your content -->
<!-- .gallery path=summer2025 -->

Live Reload

Automatically refresh your browser when files change during development. (#370)

• WebSocket-based live reload
• Works with --watch --serve mode
• No browser extensions required
• Instant feedback during content editing

marmite myblog --watch --serve
# Edit files and see changes instantly in your browser!

Sitemap Generation

Automatic XML sitemap generation for better SEO. Automatic Sitemap Generation

• Enabled by default with build_sitemap: true
• Includes all posts, pages, tags, and archives
• Proper lastmod dates and priorities
• JSON URL index with publish_urls_json: true

Show URLs Command

Preview all site URLs without building. Show URLs Command

marmite myblog --show-urls

Displays all URLs organized by content type - useful for debugging and verification.

File Mappings

Copy or process files from arbitrary locations into your site. File Mapping Feature

# In marmite.yaml
file_mapping:
  - source: ../shared/images
    destination: media/shared
  - source: ../data/config.json
    destination: data/config.json

Python Package

Install and run Marmite via pip! Python Installation

pip install marmite
marmite myblog --serve

Or use UV

uvx marmite

Available on PyPI with pre-built binaries for major platforms.

Install Script

Easy installation with a single command. Installation Guide

curl -sSL https://marmite.blog/install.sh | bash

Cross-platform script that detects your OS and architecture.

Preferred Color Scheme

Configure the default theme appearance. (#363)

# In marmite.yaml
extra:
  colormode: auto  # auto, dark, or light
  colormodetoggle: true  # show toggle button

User preferences are saved to local storage and persist across visits.

Fallback Server Address

The development server now tries alternative ports if the default is in use. (#378)

marmite myblog --serve --bind 0.0.0.0:8000
# If 8000 is busy, tries 8001, 8002, etc.

🐛 Bug Fixes

Obsidian Wikilinks Now Respect Slugs

Fixed an issue where Obsidian-style wikilinks ([[Title]]) would not correctly resolve to posts with custom slugs. Now wikilinks are matched by title and correctly link to the post's actual slug. (#403, #362)

Special Characters Now Accepted in Tags

Tags containing special characters (accents, unicode, symbols) are now properly handled and normalized. Previously these could cause issues with tag pages and URLs. (#406)

Improved Error Handling (No More Panics)

Removed most unwrap() calls throughout the codebase and replaced them with proper error handling using Result types. This means:

• Better error messages when something goes wrong
• No more unexpected panics during site generation
• Graceful handling of missing files and configurations
• More robust and reliable builds (#395, #334)

Other Fixes

• Fixed footnote references requiring blank line before common link refs
• Fixed embedded shortcodes not loading when no shortcodes directory exists (#339)
• Fixed url_for function in shortcodes
• Fixed card shortcode to show display names for series and streams
• Fixed theme template accessing JS elements too early
• Fixed theme template license
• Keep post title capitalization in listings (#390)
• Use media_path from config instead of hardcoded value (#342)
• Get banner from local folder correctly
• Handle UTF-8 encoded URLs for non-ASCII filenames in server (#325)
• Fixed install script to detect correct file
• Allow multiple colorschemes on alternative theme

📦 Dependency Updates

Major Updates

• comrak: 0.40.0 → 0.49.0 (CommonMark parser)
• tungstenite: Added 0.28.0 (WebSocket for live reload)
• zip: 4.3.0 → 7.0.0
• image: Added 0.25.9 (image processing)
• rayon: 1.10.0 → 1.11.0 (parallel processing)
• ureq: 3.0.12 → 3.1.4
• tempfile: Added 3.23.0

Minor Updates

• clap: 4.5.41 → 4.5.53
• serde: 1.0.219 → 1.0.228
• serde_json: 1.0.141 → 1.0.145
• rust-embed: 8.7.2 → 8.9.0
• indexmap: 2.10.0 → 2.12.1
• chrono: 0.4.41 → 0.4.42
• tera: 1.20.0 → 1.20.1
• regex: 1.11.1 → 1.12.2
• glob: Added 0.3.3
• urlencoding: Added 2.1.3
• slug: Added 0.1

🔧 New Configuration Options

# Image Resizing
skip_image_resize: false
extra:
  max_image_width: 800
  banner_image_width: 1200
  resize_filter: "quality"

# Shortcodes
enable_shortcodes: true

# Sitemap and URLs
build_sitemap: true
publish_urls_json: true

# Gallery
gallery_path: media/gallery
gallery_create_thumbnails: true
gallery_thumb_size: 300

# File mappings
file_mapping:
  - source: path/to/source
    destination: path/in/site

# Color scheme
extra:
  colormode: auto
  colormodetoggle: true

🚀 New CLI Options

• --shortcodes: List all available shortcodes
• --show-urls: Show all site URLs organized by content type
• --skip-image-resize: Skip image resizing for faster builds

🛠️ Development Changes

• Centralized regex patterns in dedicated module (#341)
• Pedantic clippy fixes for better code quality
• Increased test coverage (#314)
• Improved CI workflows
• Excluded large directories from crates.io package

📚 Documentation

This release includes comprehensive documentation for all new features:

• Installation Guide
• Python Installation
• Shortcodes Guide
• Gallery Shortcode
• Image Optimization and Resizing
• Automatic Sitemap Generation
• Show URLs Command
• File Mapping Feature

Upgrading

To upgrade to Marmite 0.2.7:

# If installed via cargo
cargo install marmite --force

# If installed via pip
pip install --upgrade marmite-ssg

# Or use the install script
curl -sSL https://marmite.blog/install.sh | bash

Migration Notes

1. Greentext disabled: If you rely on greentext formatting, add greentext: true to your markdown parser extension config
2. Shortcodes are now enabled by default - existing sites will work without changes
3. Sitemap generation is enabled by default - a sitemap.xml will be created
4. Live reload is automatic when using --watch --serve
5. Consider enabling image resizing for large media collections to optimize performance

What's Next

We're already working on the next release with plans for:

• More shortcode templates
• Additional gallery layouts
• Performance optimizations
• Extended IndieWeb support

Thank You

Thanks to all contributors who made this release possible! Special thanks to:

• Guilherme Vieira Beira for live reload functionality
• Sven Steinbauer for preferred theme scheme option
• Leandro Damascena for image resizing feature
• makapuf for UTF-8 URL handling
• And everyone who reported bugs, suggested features, and contributed code.

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For the complete changelog, see the GitHub releases page.

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