Configuration
HonKit allows you to customize your book using a flexible configuration. These options are specified in a book.json file. For authors unfamiliar with the JSON syntax, you can validate the syntax using tools such as JSONlint.
General Settings
| Variable | Description |
|---|---|
root |
Path to the root folder containing all the book's files, except book.json |
structure |
To specify paths for Readme, Summary, Glossary etc. See Structure paragraph. |
title |
Title of your book, default value is HonKit. |
description |
Description of your book, default value is extracted from the README. |
author |
Name of the author(s), multiple authors should be separated by ampersands. |
authorSort |
String to be used when sorting by author. |
producer |
Name of the producer. |
publisher |
Name of the publisher. |
series |
The series this book belongs to. |
seriesIndex |
Index of the book in this series. |
pubdate |
Publication date of the book, formatted as YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS. |
isbn |
ISBN of the book |
language |
ISO code of the book's language, default value is en |
direction |
Text's direction. Can be rtl or ltr, the default value depends on the value of language |
gitbook |
Version of HonKit that should be used. Uses the SemVer specification and accepts conditions like ">= 3.0.0" |
honkit |
Version of HonKit that should be used. Uses the SemVer specification and accepts conditions like ">= 3.0.0" |
Plugins
Plugins and their configurations are specified in the book.json. See the plugins section for more details.
Since version 3.0.0, HonKit can use themes. See the theming section for more details.
| Variable | Description |
|---|---|
plugins |
List of plugins to load |
pluginsConfig |
Configuration for plugins |
Structure
In addition to the root variable, you can tell HonKit the name of the files for Readme, Summary, Glossary, Languages (instead of using the default names such as README.md).
These files must be at the root of your book (or the root of every language book). Paths such as dir/MY_README.md are not accepted.
| Variable | Description |
|---|---|
structure.readme |
Readme file name (defaults to README.md) |
structure.summary |
Summary file name (defaults to SUMMARY.md) |
structure.glossary |
Glossary file name (defaults to GLOSSARY.md) |
structure.languages |
Languages file name (defaults to LANGS.md) |
PDF Options
PDF Output can be customized using a set of options in the book.json:
| Variable | Description |
|---|---|
pdf.pageNumbers |
Add page numbers to the bottom of every page (default is true) |
pdf.fontSize |
Base font size (default is 12) |
pdf.fontFamily |
Base font family (default is Arial) |
pdf.paperSize |
Paper size, options are 'a0', 'a1', 'a2', 'a3', 'a4', 'a5', 'a6', 'b0', 'b1', 'b2', 'b3', 'b4', 'b5', 'b6', 'legal', 'letter' (default is a4) |
pdf.margin.top |
Top margin (default is 56) |
pdf.margin.bottom |
Bottom margin (default is 56) |
pdf.margin.right |
Right margin (default is 62) |
pdf.margin.left |
Left margin (default is 62) |
pdf.embedFonts |
Embed all fonts into the PDF (default is false) |
Styles
The default theme allows additional stylesheets to be specified in the book.json. The file paths should be specified relative to the root path if provided. When provided, ebook applies to epub, mobi, and pdf output unless those are provided individually as well.
| Variable | Description |
|---|---|
styles.ebook |
Location of stylesheet specific to ebook output |
styles.epub |
Location of stylesheet specific to epub output |
styles.mobi |
Location of stylesheet specific to mobi output |
styles.pdf |
Location of stylesheet specific to PDF output |
styles.print |
Location of stylesheet specific to print formatting |
styles.website |
Location of stylesheet specific to the website output |