docza

Docza is an open-source document management and knowledge-graph system designed to create, store, and render structured documents with rich metadata. It aims to simplify technical documentation workflows by combining a human-readable markup with a renderer, search index, and plugin ecosystem. The project originated in 2015 among developers seeking a portable format for manuals and knowledge bases and has since grown into a lightweight toolchain for writers and engineers.

The core component is the Docza Markup Language (DML), a human-friendly syntax for sections, metadata, code blocks, figures, cross-references, and embedded data. DML documents are parsed by a rendering engine that can emit HTML pages, printable PDFs, or eBook formats, and are stored in a content-addressable store to support deduplication and offline access. A modular index enables fast search across documents and metadata, while plugins enable themes, format exporters, and integrations with external systems such as content management platforms and version control.

Docza is used for living documentation, manuals, and knowledge bases. It supports multiple language bindings and has community-driven documentation, examples, and tutorials. The project remains primarily community-maintained, with occasional official releases and a mix of stable features and experimental extensions. Critics note a learning curve for DML and a growing but informal ecosystem of plugins. Overall, docza is positioned as a lightweight, extensible option for structured document management in technical domains.