Zensical Sandbox Install on existing Ubuntu Web Server

Installing Zensical on Ubuntu — Sandbox Setup

This documents the sandbox installation of Zensical on ubuntu-web-vm as a potential replacement for the existing Jekyll/Chirpy production site at /var/www/websites/calabiyau19.github.io (pontifex.site).

Zensical is a modern static site generator built by the creators of Material for MkDocs. It is written in Rust and Python, MIT licensed, and actively developed. It uses zensical.toml as its native config format and docs/ as its content directory — both familiar concepts if you’ve used MkDocs or Jekyll.

Official documentation: zensical.org

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Why Zensical

Jekyll is a mature but aging platform. MkDocs 1.x has been unmaintained since August 2024. Zensical is the forward-looking platform from the Material for MkDocs team — modern design, built-in dark mode, excellent code block handling, and actively developed.

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Environment

• Server: ubuntu-web-vm (192.168.1.72)
• Management laptop: lpt-HP (192.168.1.100)
• Python version: 3.12.3 (pre-installed on Ubuntu 24.04)
• Shell on ubuntu-web-vm: Fish (via f alias from Bash login shell)
• Sandbox location: ~/websites/zensical
• Isolation method: Python virtual environment (.venv)
• Production site: unaffected — remains at /var/www/websites/calabiyau19.github.io

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Prerequisites

Verify Python is available:

python3 --version

Must return Python 3.12.3 or similar. If not present, install Python before proceeding.

Install the venv bootstrap package — required on Ubuntu 24.04 before a virtual environment can be created:

sudo apt install python3.12-venv

Without this, python3 -m venv fails with an ensurepip is not available error.

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Create the Sandbox Directory

mkdir -p ~/websites/zensical

cd ~/websites/zensical

All subsequent steps happen inside this directory. The production Jekyll site at /var/www/websites/ is completely separate and unaffected.

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Create the Virtual Environment

python3 -m venv .venv

This creates a .venv/ subfolder containing a private, isolated Python and pip. Anything installed while this venv is active stays contained here — system Python is never touched. Deleting ~/websites/zensical later removes every trace cleanly.

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Activate the Virtual Environment

Since ubuntu-web-vm uses Fish shell, the activation command differs from the standard Bash version shown in most documentation:

source .venv/bin/activate.fish

The Fish prompt may not visually indicate activation due to the custom Tide prompt. Verify it worked:

which python3

Must return /home/mark/websites/zensical/.venv/bin/python3. If it returns a system path, stop and re-run the activation command before proceeding.

Every new session requires these two commands before any Zensical work:

cd ~/websites/zensical

source .venv/bin/activate.fish

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Install Zensical

Per the official Zensical documentation at zensical.org/docs/get-started/:

pip install zensical

This installs Zensical and all required dependencies automatically. Confirmed installed version: zensical-0.0.46.

Verify the install:

zensical --version

Returns: 0.0.46

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Initialize the Project

zensical new .

The . initializes the project in the current directory. Creates the following structure:

~/websites/zensical/
├─ .github/workflows/
│  └─ docs.yml          # GitHub Actions workflow for deployment (used later)
├─ .venv/               # Python virtual environment
├─ docs/
│  ├─ index.md          # Starter home page
│  └─ markdown.md       # Feature demonstration page
└─ zensical.toml        # Project configuration file

Verify:

ls -la ~/websites/zensical

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Open Port 8000 in UFW

Zensical’s built-in dev server defaults to port 8000. Add a UFW rule allowing access from the management laptop only:

sudo ufw allow from 192.168.1.100 to any port 8000

Verify it is active:

sudo ufw status

Port 8000 should appear as ALLOW from 192.168.1.100.

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Start the Dev Server — Initial Test

Zensical defaults to binding on localhost only. To make it reachable from the management laptop, bind to all interfaces explicitly:

zensical serve --dev-addr=0.0.0.0:8000

Browse to http://192.168.1.72:8000 from the management laptop. The default starter content should be visible with the three-column Material layout.

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What You Get Out of the Box

Confirmed working with zero configuration:

• Clean three-column layout — left navigation, main content, right table of contents
• Built-in dark/light mode toggle (top right header)
• Search with Ctrl+K keyboard shortcut
• Syntax-highlighted code blocks with copy button
• Admonitions (Note, Warning, colored callout boxes)
• Content tabs, diagrams, footnotes, tooltips — all built in

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Configure zensical.toml

With the server confirmed working, stop it with Ctrl+C and configure the project settings before continuing.

The default zensical.toml needs four values updated. Use these sed commands to make the changes without opening the file:

Set the site name:

sed -i 's/site_name = "Documentation"/site_name = "Pontifex"/' ~/websites/zensical/zensical.toml

Set the site description:

sed -i 's/site_description = "A new project generated from the default template project."/site_description = "Linux self-hosting documentation"/' ~/websites/zensical/zensical.toml

Set the site author:

sed -i 's/site_author = "<your name here>"/site_author = "calabiyau19"/' ~/websites/zensical/zensical.toml

Uncomment and set the site URL to the server’s local IP for development:

sed -i 's|#site_url = "https://www.example.com/"|site_url = "http://192.168.1.72:8000"|' ~/websites/zensical/zensical.toml

Verify all four values before proceeding:

grep -E 'site_name|site_description|site_author|site_url' ~/websites/zensical/zensical.toml

Expected output:

site_name = "Pontifex"
site_description = "Linux self-hosting documentation"
site_author = "calabiyau19"
site_url = "http://192.168.1.72:8000"

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Make the Bind Address Persistent

Rather than passing --dev-addr=0.0.0.0:8000 every time, set it permanently in zensical.toml.

First confirm what line site_url is on:

grep -n "site_url" ~/websites/zensical/zensical.toml

Then insert dev_addr on the line immediately after it (substituting the actual line number if different from 30):

sed -i '30a dev_addr = "0.0.0.0:8000"' ~/websites/zensical/zensical.toml

Verify placement:

sed -n '28,33p' ~/websites/zensical/zensical.toml

Expected output — dev_addr must appear directly after site_url:

# documentation you should set this.
# Read more: https://zensical.org/docs/setup/basics/#site_url
site_url = "http://192.168.1.72:8000"
dev_addr = "0.0.0.0:8000"
# The copyright notice appears in the page footer and can contain an HTML

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Start the Dev Server — Final

With dev_addr set in config, no flag is needed:

zensical serve

Browse to http://192.168.1.72:8000 from the management laptop. The header should now show Pontifex instead of Documentation.

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Starting a New Session

The venv must be activated at the start of every session. The server does not persist across terminal sessions.

cd ~/websites/zensical

source .venv/bin/activate.fish

zensical serve

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Current State

• Zensical 0.0.46 installed and running at http://192.168.1.72:8000
• zensical.toml configured: site name, description, author, local URL, persistent bind address
• Starter content in place: docs/index.md and docs/markdown.md
• Ready for content migration from Jekyll _posts/

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Next Steps

• Explore theme configuration (colors, fonts, logo)
• Begin content migration from Jekyll/Chirpy (_posts/ → docs/)
• Plan navigation structure by topic category
• Decide on GitHub Pages deployment approach
• Set up a systemd service or tmux session so zensical serve persists across terminal sessions