LoginSign Up
← Back to all sparks
B

bookdown

COLLAB
Velocity0.0

Author books and long-form technical documents with R Markdown

github.com/rstudio/bookdown ↗

bookdown's output is mature; its free hosting destination is being switched off.

r markdownpublishinggitbookpandoc compatibilityhosting sunset
◆Current state
bookdown turns R Markdown into books across HTML, PDF and EPUB, with gitbook as its signature HTML format. The visible releases are dominated by Pandoc 3 compatibility fixes and small gitbook options. The consequential item is 0.46's notice that bookdown.org will be sunset in early 2026, with publishing redirected to connect.posit.cloud.
◆Where it's heading
The authoring engine is mature and the cadence reflects it: figure numbering, TOC rendering and font menus, each tracking a Pandoc change or a contributed request. Against that steady surface the hosting change is the real shift, moving the publish step from a free community server to Posit's commercial platform. Feature work in gitbook continues at a trickle, mostly through outside contributions.
◆Prediction
With the sunset dated to early 2026, the next releases most likely finish removing bookdown.org affordances from publish_book() rather than adding output features.

◆Recent moves

  1. 1mo ago

    Fix prepend_chapter_title() error on multiple title tags

    Fixes an error when a page head contains more than one title tag. A single contributed edge-case repair on a stable renderer.

    View source ↗
  2. 8mo ago

    bookdown.org to sunset; publish_book() points to Connect Cloud

    ⚡ SPARK

    The release that changes where bookdown books live: publish_book() now offers to clear local bookdown.org records, and the notes announce the server's sunset in early 2026 with connect.posit.cloud as the recommended replacement. It is the only entry in the visible window that alters anything beyond rendering.

    View source ↗
  3. 10mo ago

    gitbook() TOC fixed for Pandoc 3.2.1 and above

    Restores the gitbook table of contents under Pandoc 3.2.1 and later. One of several repairs tracking the Pandoc 3 transition.

    View source ↗
  4. 11mo ago

    Figure numbering fixed for Pandoc 3 HTML output

    Corrects HTML figure numbering when images are included with Markdown syntax under Pandoc 3, and drops a stray gitbook CSS property. Continued Pandoc 3 cleanup.

    View source ↗
  5. 1y ago

    gitbook() split_by supports deeper section levels

    Extends split_by beyond level-2 sections in gitbook, a long-requested change carried by two separate contributors' issues. Gives authors real control over page granularity in long books.

    View source ↗
  6. 1y ago

    gitbook gains line-spacing control and .md search option

    Adds a line-spacing control to the gitbook font menu and an include_md setting so search can cover .md sources alongside .Rmd. Small reader- and author-facing options, both contributed.

    View source ↗