---
id: mkdocs-get-deps
version: "0.2.2"
license: MIT
license_treatment: permissive
maintenance: active
---

# mkdocs-get-deps — An extra command for MkDocs that infers required PyPI packages from `plugins` in mkdocs.yml

License: permissive · Maintenance: active · Downloads: 16.2M/mo

## What it is and what it does

mkdocs-get-deps is a command-line tool that reads your MkDocs configuration file and automatically identifies which PyPI packages you need to install to build your documentation site. It works by scanning the `plugins`, `themes`, and `markdown_extensions` sections of mkdocs.yml and cross-referencing them against a catalog of known MkDocs projects to produce a list of package names. The tool depends on importlib-metadata, mergedeep, platformdirs, and pyyaml to parse configuration and manage lookups.

The tool is designed to eliminate the manual step of figuring out which dependencies to install after configuring a MkDocs site. The approach trades off strict dependency pinning for convenience—it's most useful in development environments or for quick setup, though production CI workflows typically prefer explicit requirements files.

Use it for:

- Quickly bootstrap a new MkDocs project by auto-installing all plugin and theme dependencies without manual research.
- Generate a requirements.txt snapshot of all MkDocs dependencies for a given configuration.
- Install dependencies in one command during local development by piping output to a package manager.
- Verify which packages a mkdocs.yml file declares as needed before committing to a repository.

## Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts above — verify before relying.

Scans a MkDocs configuration file to automatically detect and list the PyPI packages required by its plugins, themes, and markdown extensions.

Yes—if you use MkDocs and want to avoid manually tracking plugin and theme dependencies. The tool is lightweight, actively maintained, and has no security vulnerabilities. Install it as a development dependency or globally; the low friction and permissive MIT license make it a safe addition to any MkDocs workflow.

## Install

pip install mkdocs-get-deps
uv add mkdocs-get-deps
poetry add mkdocs-get-deps

## Installing mkdocs-get-deps

Before you install: Low friction install with no compiled dependencies. Actively maintained as of the latest release date, with stable Python 3.9+ support across modern versions.

License in practice: MIT license permits commercial and private use with minimal restrictions—suitable for most projects.

Quickstart:

pip install mkdocs-get-deps

# Then in a directory with mkdocs.yml:
mkdocs-get-deps

# Or save to a file:
mkdocs-get-deps > requirements.txt

Requires mkdocs.yml to exist in the current directory (or specify an alternate path with --config); relies on the official MkDocs catalog for plugin lookup.

Verify before relying:

- Accuracy of the plugin/theme/extension catalog used for reverse lookup and whether it covers all commonly-used MkDocs extensions
- Whether the tool handles custom or third-party plugins not in the official catalog
- Performance characteristics when scanning large or complex mkdocs.yml files

## Package facts

- License: MIT (permissive)
- Python support: supports_current
- Install friction: low
- Maintenance: active
- Downloads: 16.2M/month (top 5,000 on PyPI)
- Known vulnerabilities: none known

## Tags

mkdocs dependency detection, auto-discover mkdocs plugins, mkdocs requirements generator, infer mkdocs dependencies, mkdocs plugin resolver, mkdocs config scanner, mkdocs, dependency-resolution, documentation-tooling

[View on SkillFed](https://skillfed.io/packages/mkdocs-get-deps) · [View on PyPI](https://pypi.org/project/mkdocs-get-deps/)