Convert sphinx to zensical

.github/PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE.md

@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ _Put your message here_
 - [ ] Make sure all CI workflows are green
 - [ ] When adding a public feature/fix: Update the `Unreleased` section of `CHANGELOG.md` (no date)
 - [ ] Self-Review: Review "Files Changed" tab and fix any problems you find
-- API Docs (only if there are changes in docstrings, rst files or samples):
+- API Docs (only if there are changes in docstrings, markdown files or samples):
   - [ ] Check the docs build **without** warning: see the log of the API Docs workflow
   - [ ] Check that your changes render well in HTML: download the API Docs artifact and open `index.html`
-  - If there are any problems it is faster to iterate by [building locally the API Docs](../blob/main/doc/README.md#build-the-documentation)
+  - If there are any problems it is faster to iterate by [building locally the API Docs](doc/README.md#build-the-documentation)

.github/copilot-instructions.md

@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ supervised models (classifiers, regressors, encoders) and unsupervised models
 - **`khiops.extras`** — Optional integrations such as the Docker runner
 - **`khiops.tools`** — Miscellaneous utility tools and CLI entry points
 - **`khiops.samples`** — Sample scripts, also used to generate parts of the
-  documentation via `doc/convert-samples-hook`
+  documentation via `doc/util/convert-samples-hook`
 
 Keep changes inside these layer boundaries.
 
@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@ Keep changes inside these layer boundaries.
 - Do not add new external dependencies without discussion. Minimize external
   package dependencies to reduce installation problems.
 - Development and documentation generation dependencies (e.g., `black`,
-  `isort`, `sphinx`, `wrapt`, `furo`) can be more permissive, but still avoid
+  `isort`, `zensical`, `wrapt`) can be more permissive, but still avoid
   unnecessary additions.
 - Test dependencies are listed in `test-requirements.txt` (`coverage`, `wrapt`).
   Package dependencies are extracted from `pyproject.toml` at CI time via

.github/instructions/ci-workflows.instructions.md

@@ -10,10 +10,9 @@ guidance.
 
 ## Workflow Overview
 
-This repository has six GitHub Actions workflows in `.github/workflows/`. Most
-workflows use concurrency groups to cancel in-progress runs when superseded,
-except `api-docs.yml` (which uses a `pages` concurrency group that does not
-cancel in-progress runs).
+This repository has six GitHub Actions workflows in `.github/workflows/`. All
+workflows except `api-docs.yml` use concurrency groups to cancel in-progress
+runs when superseded.
 
 ### `quick-checks.yml`
 
@@ -22,7 +21,7 @@ hooks (configured in
 `.pre-commit-config.yaml`) are: Black, pylint, isort (with special no-sections
 config for sample files), yamlfix, shellcheck, GitHub workflow/action schema
 validation (`check-github-workflows`, `check-github-actions`), and a local
-`samples-generation` hook that regenerates reST samples when
+`samples-generation` hook that regenerates Markdown samples when
 `khiops/samples/samples.py` or `khiops/samples/samples_sklearn.py` change.
 
 ### `tests.yml`
@@ -71,16 +70,20 @@ corresponding GitHub environment (`testpypi` or `pypi`). Only runs for the
 
 ### `api-docs.yml`
 
-Builds Sphinx documentation inside a dev Docker container. Triggers on:
+Builds Zensical documentation inside a dev Docker container for validation.
+Triggers on:
 
-- Tag pushes — builds docs and uploads a zip archive to GitHub Releases
-- PRs touching `doc/**/*.rst`, `doc/create-doc`, `doc/clean-doc`, `doc/*.py`,
-  `khiops/**/*.py`, or the workflow file
+- PRs touching `doc/site/**/*.md`, `doc/util/create-doc`, `doc/util/clean-doc`, `doc/util/*.py`,
+  `zensical.toml`, `khiops/**/*.py`, or the workflow file
 - `workflow_dispatch` with optional tutorial and samples revision inputs
 
 Uses the `khiopspydev-ubuntu22.04` Docker image and runs
-`./create-doc -t -d -g <revision>`. Uses a `pages` concurrency group that does
-**not** cancel in-progress runs (to avoid interrupting production deployments).
+`doc/util/create-doc -t -d -g <revision>`. The built HTML is uploaded as a
+`api-docs` artifact for review.
+
+Note: the production API docs are built by the
+[khiops-doc](https://github.com/KhiopsML/khiops-doc) CI, which clones this
+repository and builds the docs using mkdocstrings.
 
 ### `dev-docker.yml`
 

.github/instructions/doc-changes.instructions.md

@@ -12,112 +12,110 @@ guidance.
 
 ```
 doc/
-├── conf.py                  # Sphinx configuration
-├── index.rst                # Top-level doc page
-├── create-doc               # Full build script (tutorials + Sphinx)
-├── clean-doc                # Clean script (supports --clean-tutorial)
-├── convert-samples-hook     # Pre-commit hook: regenerates sample reST + notebooks
-├── convert_samples.py       # Converts samples.py / samples_sklearn.py to reST or .ipynb
-├── convert_tutorials.py     # Converts tutorial Jupyter notebooks to reST
-├── requirements.txt         # Python doc-build dependencies
-├── multi_table_primer.rst   # Multi-table learning guide
-├── notes.rst                # API notes (common params, input types, sampling)
-├── core/index.rst           # khiops.core API reference (autosummary)
-├── sklearn/index.rst        # khiops.sklearn API reference (autosummary)
-├── internal/index.rst       # Internal modules reference
-├── tools/index.rst          # khiops.tools reference
-├── samples/                 # Generated reST sample pages (via convert-samples-hook)
-├── tutorials/               # Generated reST tutorials (via create-doc -t)
-├── _static/                 # CSS and images (branding, logo)
-└── _templates/autosummary/  # Custom autosummary templates (class, function, method, module)
+├── README.md                    # Documentation guide
+├── util/                        # Build tooling (outside Zensical's docs_dir)
+│   ├── create-doc               # Full build script (tutorials + Zensical)
+│   ├── clean-doc                # Clean script (supports --clean-tutorial)
+│   ├── convert-samples-hook     # Pre-commit hook: regenerates sample Markdown + notebooks
+│   ├── convert_samples.py       # Converts samples.py / samples_sklearn.py to Markdown or .ipynb
+│   ├── convert_tutorials.py     # Converts tutorial Jupyter notebooks to Markdown
+│   └── requirements.txt         # Python doc-build dependencies
+├── site/                        # docs_dir (Zensical content only)
+│   ├── index.md                 # Top-level doc page
+│   ├── multi_table_primer.md    # Multi-table learning guide
+│   ├── notes.md                 # API notes (common params, input types, sampling)
+│   ├── core/index.md            # khiops.core API reference (mkdocstrings)
+│   ├── sklearn/index.md         # khiops.sklearn API reference (mkdocstrings)
+│   ├── internal/index.md        # Internal modules reference
+│   ├── tools/index.md           # khiops.tools reference
+│   ├── samples/                 # Generated Markdown sample pages (via convert-samples-hook)
+│   ├── tutorials/               # Generated Markdown tutorials (via create-doc -t)
+│   ├── _static/                 # CSS and images (branding, logo)
+│   └── _templates/              # mkdocstrings Jinja templates
+└── build/                       # Zensical output (site_dir)
+    └── html/
 ```
 
+The Zensical configuration file `zensical.toml` is at the repository root.
+
 ## Build and Validation
 
 ```bash
-cd doc
-
-# Install doc dependencies (do NOT create a virtualenv inside doc/ — Sphinx will process its .rst files)
-pip install -U -r requirements.txt
+# Install doc dependencies (do NOT create a virtualenv inside doc/util — Zensical will process its .md files).
+uv pip install -U -r doc/util/requirements.txt
 
 # Also requires:
-# - A system-wide pandoc installation (used by nbconvert for notebook→reST conversion)
 # - The 'black' Python package (used by convert_samples.py to format code snippets)
 
-# Regenerate reST samples and notebooks from samples.py / samples_sklearn.py.
+# Regenerate Markdown samples and notebooks from samples.py / samples_sklearn.py.
 # This hook also runs automatically via pre-commit when those files are modified.
-./convert-samples-hook
+doc/util/convert-samples-hook
+
+# Full build: download tutorials, convert notebooks to Markdown, run Zensical
+doc/util/create-doc -d -t
 
-# Full build: download tutorials, convert notebooks to reST, run Sphinx
-./create-doc -d -t
+# Incremental build (Zensical only, after Markdown files are already generated):
+zensical build
 
-# Incremental build (Sphinx only, after reST files are already generated):
-sphinx-build -M html . _build/
+# Serve locally for development:
+zensical serve
 
 # Clean generated docs (add --clean-tutorial to also remove tutorials/ and khiops-python-tutorial/)
-./clean-doc
+doc/util/clean-doc
 ```
 
-The `create-doc` script requires `tar`, `python`, `make`, `zip`, and `git` (if
-downloading tutorials). Output goes to `doc/_build/html/`.
+The `create-doc` script requires `python`, `uv` and `git` (if
+downloading tutorials). Output goes to `doc/build/html/`.
 
 The `create-doc` script accepts the following options:
 
 - `-d` — Download the khiops-python-tutorial repository (implies `-t`)
-- `-t` — Transform tutorial Jupyter notebooks into reST
+- `-t` — Transform tutorial Jupyter notebooks into Markdown
 - `-r REPO_URL` — Set the tutorial repository URL
 - `-g GIT_REF` — Set the tutorial repository Git reference (branch or tag)
 - `-l DIR` — Set the local directory of the tutorial repository
+- `-p` — Prepare only: download tutorials, convert notebooks, create ZIPs,
+  and copy samples, but skip the final Zensical build. Used by the
+  [khiops-doc](https://github.com/KhiopsML/khiops-doc) CI.
 
 ## CI Workflow
 
-The **API Docs** workflow (`.github/workflows/api-docs.yml`) triggers on:
+The **API Docs** workflow (`.github/workflows/api-docs.yml`) validates
+documentation builds. It triggers on:
 
-- **Tag pushes** — builds docs and uploads a zip archive to GitHub Releases as
-  a prerelease (with `allowUpdates: true`)
-- **PRs** touching `doc/**.rst`, `doc/create-doc`, `doc/clean-doc`, `doc/*.py`,
-  `khiops/**.py`, or the workflow file itself
+- **PRs** touching `doc/site/**.md`, `doc/util/create-doc`, `doc/util/clean-doc`, `doc/util/*.py`,
+  `zensical.toml`, `khiops/**.py`, or the workflow file itself
 - **`workflow_dispatch`** with optional inputs:
+  - `khiops-revision` (default `11.0.1`)
   - `khiops-python-tutorial-revision` (default: `11.0.0.0`)
   - `khiops-samples-revision` (default: `11.0.0`)
-  - `image-tag` (default: `latest`) — the dev Docker image tag
 
-The workflow uses a concurrency group (`pages`) so only one deployment runs at a
-time — queued runs are skipped but in-progress runs are never cancelled.
+**Build job** 
 
-**Build job** — runs inside the
-`ghcr.io/khiopsml/khiops-python/khiopspydev-ubuntu22.04:<image-tag>` Docker
-image:
-
-1. Installs the khiops-python package itself (`pip install .`)
+1. Installs the khiops-core package (`uv pip install khiops-core`) and
+   khiops-python package itself (`uv pip install .`)
 2. Downloads sample datasets via `kh-download-datasets`
-3. Installs doc Python requirements from `doc/requirements.txt`
-4. Runs `./create-doc -t -d -g <tutorial-revision>`
+3. Installs doc Python requirements from `doc/util/requirements.txt`
+4. Runs `doc/util/create-doc -t -d -g <tutorial-revision>`
 5. Uploads the built HTML as a `api-docs` artifact
 
-**Release job** (tag pushes only) — downloads the artifact, zips it, and
-uploads the zip to GitHub Releases.
-
-## Sphinx Setup
-
-- **Engine**: Sphinx with the [Furo](https://pradyunsg.me/furo/) theme
-  (Orange-branded colors and Helvetica Neue font)
-- **Docstring format**: [NumPy style](https://numpydoc.readthedocs.io/en/latest/format.html) parsed by the `numpydoc` extension
-  (`numpydoc_show_class_members = False`)
-- **Extensions**: `autodoc`, `autosummary`, `intersphinx`, `numpydoc`,
-  `sphinx_copybutton`
-- **Intersphinx targets**: Python, pandas, scikit-learn, NumPy, SciPy
-- **Custom templates**: `_templates/autosummary/` provides templates for
-  `class.rst`, `function.rst`, `method.rst`, `module.rst`
-- **Strict mode**: `nitpicky = True` — broken references are errors
-- **Default role**: `obj` (configured as `default_role = "obj"` in `conf.py`) —
-  allows cross-referencing without explicit `:class:`/`:func:` qualifiers in
-  most cases
-- **Warning suppression**: `conf.py` defines a `suppress_sklearn_warnings`
-  callback that silences known false-positive missing-reference warnings for
-  sklearn variables (`X`, `y`) and tutorial literals
-- Sphinx warnings **should not be ignored** — they almost always indicate
-  rendering errors
+Note: the production API docs are built by the
+[khiops-doc](https://github.com/KhiopsML/khiops-doc) CI, which clones this
+repository at the version tag and builds the docs natively using mkdocstrings.
+
+## Zensical Setup
+
+- **Engine**: Zensical with the [Material](https://squidfunk.github.io/mkdocs-material/)
+  theme (Orange-branded colors and Helvetica Neue font)
+- **Docstring format**: [NumPy style](https://numpydoc.readthedocs.io/en/latest/format.html)
+  parsed by the `mkdocstrings[python]` plugin
+- **Plugins**: `mkdocstrings[python]`, `autorefs`, `search`
+- **Intersphinx-equivalent**: mkdocstrings `import` option loads inventory files
+  from Python, pandas, scikit-learn, NumPy, SciPy
+- **Cross-references**: Use `[display text][fully.qualified.name]` or
+  `[fully.qualified.name][]` syntax for linking to documented objects
+- **Custom CSS**: `doc/site/_static/css/custom.css` provides Orange branding via CSS
+  custom properties (Material theme variables)
 
 ## Docstring Conventions
 
@@ -166,18 +164,18 @@ Keep concise — use `list of <type>` for simple cases. For complex containers,
 
 ### Type Referencing
 
-Use type referencing (backtick cross-references) only for complex types and
-Exceptions. Do not use it for built-in types like `str` or `int`.
+Use cross-references only for complex types and Exceptions. Do not use them for
+built-in types like `str` or `int`.
 
 ```
-# No — str and int link to the Python docs unnecessarily:
-some_string : `str`
-some_int : `int`
+# No — str and int do not need cross-references:
+some_string : str
+some_int : int
 
 # Yes — Khiops internal class:
-dictionary : `.Dictionary`
+dictionary : `Dictionary`
 
-# Yes — Pandas project class (via intersphinx):
+# Yes — Pandas project class (via intersphinx inventory):
 df : `pandas.DataFrame`
 
 # Yes — Exception:
@@ -187,22 +185,17 @@ Raises
     When something wrong happens.
 ```
 
-### Cross-References
+### Cross-References in Markdown
 
-```rst
-`~khiops.core.api.train_predictor`     # shows "train_predictor" (short form)
-`khiops.core.api.train_predictor`      # shows full path
-`.train_predictor`                      # wildcard — works if unambiguous
-`train_predictor`                       # within the same module
+```markdown
+[train_predictor][khiops.core.api.train_predictor]   # shows "train_predictor"
+[khiops.core.api.train_predictor][]                  # shows full path
 ```
 
-Use explicit `:func:`, `:class:` domains only for complex types and Exceptions.
-The `default_role = "obj"` setting handles most cases.
-
-## reStructuredText Pitfalls
+Use mkdocstrings `:::` directives for API documentation blocks:
 
-The docstrings use **reST, not Markdown**. Key differences:
-
-- **Lists** require an empty line before the first item
-- **Code blocks** use `::` (with empty line + indentation) or `.. code-block:: python`
-- **Links**: `` `Link text <https://example.com>`_ `` instead of `[text](url)`
+```markdown
+::: khiops.core.api
+    options:
+      heading_level: 3
+```

.github/instructions/docker-changes.instructions.md

@@ -106,7 +106,7 @@ containers.
 
 ### `api-docs.yml` (Consumer)
 
-Builds the Sphinx documentation inside the `khiopspydev-ubuntu22.04` container.
+Builds the Zensical documentation inside the `khiopspydev-ubuntu22.04` container.
 
 ## Editing Rules
 

.github/instructions/python-changes.instructions.md

@@ -33,8 +33,8 @@ from `.github/copilot-instructions.md` first, then these Python-specific rules.
   `line-too-long`, `unused-variable`, and `unused-import`. The overall pylint
   score must stay at or above `9.9` (`fail-under`). Other pylint warnings are
   lower priority.
-- Pylint is **not run** on `doc/convert_samples.py` and `doc/conf.py` (excluded
-  in `.pre-commit-config.yaml`).
+- Pylint is **not run** on `doc/util/convert_samples.py` (excluded in
+  `.pre-commit-config.yaml`).
 - All code and comments must be in English.
 - `pylint: disable=invalid-name` is used in `khiops/sklearn/estimators.py` to
   permit scikit-learn's `X`, `y` naming convention. Do not add this suppression
@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ The `.pre-commit-config.yaml` runs the following hooks on Python files:
 | Hook | Scope | Notes |
 |---|---|---|
 | **black** | All `.py` files | Code formatting |
-| **pylint** | All `.py` except `doc/convert_samples.py`, `doc/conf.py` | Linting |
+| **pylint** | All `.py` except `doc/util/convert_samples.py` | Linting |
 | **isort** | All `.py` except samples scripts | Import sorting (Black profile) |
 | **isort-samples** | `khiops/samples/samples.py`, `samples_sklearn.py` | Import sorting with `--no-sections` |
-| **samples-generation** | Triggered by changes to samples scripts | Runs `doc/convert-samples-hook` to regenerate reST pages and notebooks |
+| **samples-generation** | Triggered by changes to samples scripts | Runs `doc/util/convert-samples-hook` to regenerate Markdown pages and notebooks |