mdbook-preview

name	mdbook-preview
description	Preview the backend_to_ml mdBook locally — single language or all three. Triggered when the user mentions "preview", "serve", "build", "show me the book", or "all three languages".

mdBook preview options

backend_to_ml is a 3-language book, but mdbook serve only serves the default language (uz). Two main options below.

Setup (every session)

export PATH="$HOME/.cargo/bin:$PATH"
mdbook --version    # should print mdbook v0.4.X

If mdbook is missing: cargo install mdbook mdbook-i18n-helpers.

Option 1: single language with live reload

The fastest, most common option — Uzbek only:

mdbook serve --open

• Opens the browser automatically
• Rebuilds on src/*.md changes
• /ru/ and /en/ URLs return 404 (only the default language is built)

Different port: mdbook serve --port 4000.

Stop with Ctrl+C.

Option 2: all 3 languages (no hot reload)

To see all three languages:

# 1. Build them
mdbook build
MDBOOK_BOOK__LANGUAGE=ru mdbook build -d book/ru
MDBOOK_BOOK__LANGUAGE=en mdbook build -d book/en

# 2. Fix canonical URLs (.md → .html)
./scripts/fix-canonical-urls.sh

# 3. Static server
cd book && python3 -m http.server 3000

URLs:

• http://localhost:3000/ — Uzbek (default)
• http://localhost:3000/ru/ — Russian
• http://localhost:3000/en/ — English

No hot reload — rebuild after each change. Use this when you specifically need to check the translated output.

Option 3: serve a single non-default language (rare)

MDBOOK_BOOK__LANGUAGE=ru mdbook serve --port 3001

Serves Russian as the default at / with live reload.

Quick commands

• /preview — option 1 (uz, live reload)
• /preview-all — option 2 (all 3, no hot reload)
• /build-check — builds only, no server (CI-style verification)

Notes

• book/ is in .gitignore — never committed
• theme/lang-switcher.js adds the 🇺🇿/🇷🇺/🇬🇧 button to every page
• theme/head.hbs injects hreflang and canonical URL meta tags (SEO)
• Production: https://backendtoml.milliytech.uz — deployed via .github/workflows/deploy.yml