mkdocs-git-revision-date-plugin

What it is and what it does

This MkDocs plugin automatically extracts the last Git commit date for each documentation page and makes it available to your site templates and Markdown files. It integrates with MkDocs' plugin system and exposes the revision date as `page.meta.revision_date` in templates or `{{ git_revision_date }}` in Markdown, formatted in ISO date format (YYYY-mm-dd) by default. The plugin depends on mkdocs, GitPython, and jinja2.

The package is designed for documentation sites where you want to show readers when content was last updated, pulling that information directly from your Git history rather than maintaining it manually. It supports optional features like environment-gated builds, disabling Markdown substitution, and outputting dates as Python datetime objects for custom formatting via Jinja2.

Use it for:

• Display 'last updated' timestamps on documentation pages without manual maintenance
• Show readers when API documentation or guides were last revised based on Git commits
• Automatically populate footer or sidebar metadata with page revision dates in MkDocs sites
• Format revision dates using Jinja2 date filters when datetime output is enabled

Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page — verify before relying

Adds a Git-based revision date to MkDocs documentation pages, displaying when each page was last modified according to Git history in ISO format (YYYY-mm-dd).

No—the package is abandoned (last release 2022-03-08, no commits since 2023-03-28) and will receive no maintenance or bug fixes. While it has low install friction and a permissive license, relying on unmaintained software for a core documentation feature creates long-term risk. Consider an actively maintained alternative or fork if this functionality is essential.

Install

mkdocs-git-revision-date-plugin on PyPI

pip install mkdocs-git-revision-date-plugin

uv add mkdocs-git-revision-date-plugin

poetry add mkdocs-git-revision-date-plugin

Installing mkdocs-git-revision-date-plugin

Before you install

Low install friction with three straightforward runtime dependencies (mkdocs, GitPython, jinja2). However, the package is abandoned—last release was 2022-03-08, over 1620 days ago—so no maintenance or bug fixes should be expected.

License in practice

MIT license is permissive, allowing use, modification, and distribution with minimal restrictions, making it safe to integrate into most projects.

Quickstart

pip install mkdocs-git-revision-date-plugin

Then in mkdocs.yml:
plugins:
  - search
  - git-revision-date

In your template:
{% if page.meta.revision_date %}
Updated {{ page.meta.revision_date }}
{% endif %}

Requires a Git repository initialized in the documentation source directory; the plugin reads Git history to determine revision dates.

Verify before relying

• Whether the package works with current MkDocs versions (last tested 2022-03-08, no recent maintenance signal)
• Compatibility with Python versions beyond 3.4 in practice (requires_python states >=3.4 but no recent testing evidence)

Package facts

Evidence: mkdocs_git_revision_date_plugin-0.3.2-py3-none-any.whl

Keywords: mkdocs, git, meta, yaml, frontmatter

Tags

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