git-revision-date-localized - Issues and how to fit

[Atlas-Night-Out]

Hi Guys

I have tried to setup the git-revision-date-localized im a MKDOC Material Theme. which is going to my github gh-pages on Github

I have added the code into my mkdocs.yam file

`plugins:
- search.highlight
- search
- git-revision-date-localized:
type: datetime
fallback_to_build_date: true
fallback_to_commit_date: false
date_format: 'MMMM Do YYYY'
timezone: 'Europe/London'
locale: 'en_GB'```

I have also installed pips 3 with

pip3 install mkdocs-git-revision-date-localized-plugin

Also Added this to my mkdocs.yml

This page was last updated: ***{{ git_revision_date_localized }}***

into one of my md file.

I also just tried with this too in the mkdocs.yml:

` plugins:

- search
- git-revision-date-localized:
    type: datetime
    fallback_to_build_date: true
    show_timezone: true
    date_format: 'MMMM dd, yyyy'
    time_format: 'HH:mm:ss'
    enable_creation_date: true
-    enable_creation_date: true  

palette:
# Dark Mode`

And on commiting from within Visual studio code to github gh-pages

I still get nothing showing up for date posted or updated date.

I'm hoping with this post might help me get some more clues on how I can try to get it to work within my pages. Or if there another approach, to getting it to work.

I'm not sure if I'm missing to do somthign or if I'm taking the correct ways to be doing this, so be good to see what you all have to say on it.

This is what I have coming up on my page!

[kamilkrzyskow]

Hi @Atlas-Night-Out,
could you elaborate on the {{ git_revision_date_localized }}? The {{ ... }} could be a part of the macros, but I don't think the variable will be resolved. You don't have the macros plugin in the example above and the display of the data is controlled based on another variable entirely. So where did this example come from, some GPT/LLM?

You don't have to add any values manually like {{ git_revision_date_localized }} as the theme should handle this automatically if the plugin provides the data.

I think it would be best for you to pause on your project and first try an example that works.
Like the plugin repository https://github.com/timvink/mkdocs-git-revision-date-localized-plugin

Do a quick:

• git clone https://github.com/timvink/mkdocs-git-revision-date-localized-plugin.git test,
• cd test,
• python -m venv venv
• Windows: venv\Scripts\activate.exe
  Unix: source venv/bin/activate
• pip install uv
• uv run mkdocs serve

And the localhost page should show:

As for GitHub Pages make sure you enable full fetch:
https://github.com/timvink/mkdocs-git-revision-date-localized-plugin/blob/master/README.md#note-when-using-build-systems-like-github-actions

[Atlas-Night-Out]

I have just done another test site and still nothing is coming up at the bottom

[kamilkrzyskow]

Only the mkdocs-material - material theme provides built-in handling for the date display.
Other themes like the default mkdocs require customization:

• https://timvink.github.io/mkdocs-git-revision-date-localized-plugin/howto/override-a-theme/

[kamilkrzyskow]

@Atlas-Night-Out
I had a look at your profile and found the link to actual files
https://github.com/Atlas-Night-Out/date_added/blob/main/mkdocs.yml

If you look at the indentation then plugins are inside the theme
This is incorrect, as plugins should be on the same level as theme for MkDocs to load them, otherwise it considers the value a private variable of the theme.

I didn't notice it initially as I focused on the incorrect theme.

[Atlas-Night-Out]

{{ git_revision_date_localized }}

on this but is again for myslelf hard to fully understand how to use it, but I have done it to test it out, but for no clue how to change the code in the overrides maim.html, I have no clue but I would like to know more too on it!

This link I also found, that needs to be installed not in VSC but in Git Bash, as on my first attempt at installing pip3 install mkdocs-git-authors-plugin in VSC it stopped it all from working and I needed to clone it again from Github, so on my sencond attempt I installed it in Gitbash in the same folder as your repo. They added a folder in the Docs file named it overrides and added the main.htm that I got from doing the test site you told me eto do.

It all works great, but it's interesting to know more about how to use it to add Languages now! And that seems to be a task bigger than this frustrating one I've just done, and without your help would still be wondering how too !

At first I thought I needed it until you comfirmed that it shoudl just come into it to the bottom of the page.

This is the link
https://github.com/timvink/mkdocs-git-authors-plugin

This is the maim.html code that I found to work.

`{% extends "base.html" %}

{% block content %}
{{ super() }}

{% if git_page_authors %}

Authors: {{ git_page_authors | default('enable mkdocs-git-authors-plugin') }}

{% endif %}
{% endblock %}`

and
added it to overrides

It seems that when I install pip3 install mkdocs-git-authors-plugin on my other pc to lose pip install mkdocs-material from working, so the site will not load with server errors!
Then I install it again the pip install mkdocs-material the pip3 install mkdocs-git-authors-plugin keeps saying it's missing it. so I have no clue how I did it on this pc, as on my other, I was trying to do the same to practice what I've been taught, to only find out I still cannot do it! And getting errors!

I have made sure it's installed both now in Gitbash and in VSC, and this is the error Im getting!

I have now got it to work on both PCs with different Python versions too.
and different pip versions as well.

Seems after I tried for the 8th time with reinstalling in VSC
pip3 install mkdocs-git-revision-date-localized-plugin

And messing with indents further up from where the plugin part was, I got it to work on both machines! 👍

[Atlas-Night-Out]

Hi kamilkrzyskow

Is there any way I can fix my Project? If I do a test one after? Has I don't want to be messing with setting up more stuff to confuse me further.

The way I did at the start was hard to get set up as mkdocs did not want to upload my very old files and into GitHub, took me a month to figure out the way I have done it and it's more or less the same as you have done above, except I never used pip install uv

I used

``

The variables, as you mentioned, I never installed anything; I was only trying to see if anything would come up to show the date. But again, like you say, it's supposed to just work. so there must be something missing, but I have no clue what could be missing.

The place I got the variables from is this link. https://timvink.github.io/mkdocs-git-revision-date-localized-plugin/available-variables/

I will try to do a test like you mentioned, but I'm not at all fast at doing this! Takes me a long time to just do the simplest of things 👍

When you say do a Quick

git clone test,
cd test,
python -m venv venv
Windows: venv\Scripts\activate.exe
Unix: source venv/bin/activate
pip install uv
uv run mkdocs serve

where do I do it from? in Git bash as Im on a windows pc

[kamilkrzyskow]

[EDIT: See the other comment as well, posting the link so that you don't miss it]

The point of testing a working example is to remove any possible issues with your system preventing it from working. Like maybe your browser is blocking the JavaScript that renders the timeago format.

uv is recommended this time as the plugin's source files are managed by uv, so it simplifies the installation of dependencies into the venv.

I didn't know that the git localized plugin also provided the logic for variable substitution. Thanks for the link.
Also valid point on the usage of a different terminal.

I assumed PowerShell on Windows and Bash on Linux, but you can also use Git Bash
However, Git Bash on Windows does require a slight change to the instructions, to activate the venv you'd use
source venv/Scripts/activate, so a mix of the Windows and Unix format.

Here's a video to follow along:
While making it I noticed the warning regarding the venv, so maybe I did it wrong and uv already creates another .venv while running apps. But I didn't let this stop me. Also please don't mind the Firewall Protection, as that's one of my recent experiments where I block unknown paths, and here uv/python were created just now in the /test directory.

mintty_VhH2avqJHx_edit.mp4

[Atlas-Night-Out]

Thanks for the video though its not playing! Thanks its now playing a little through it ! :-)

Yes, in Bash is a little different and frustrating at times, but yoou get used to asking to try to get the correct way to do thing.
its source venv/Scripts/activate without the venv\Scripts\activate.exe .exe

I'm still very confised on what to attempt here to get it to work as I know about the indents and to mess with them to get it in the correct places, but even so.

I don't know about them and the varying ways. When you said do a test site, i thought you meant to just do a normal theme, so that is what I did, but now you're saying I need to use material Theme, which now, due to installing the pip install uv, I'm getting errors to trying to start material theme

But in me doing this, do I need to do anything with this variable section?

I'm also using Visual Studio Code! you seem to have cloned from within bash whereas I make a repo on GitHub first, then clone it to pc from within Visual Studio Code, saves me all they typing :-) though I seem to keep getting copy and paste not working a lot at the moment! With Windows 11!

[kamilkrzyskow]

I'm still very confused on what to attempt here to get it to work as I know about the indents and to mess with them to get it in the correct places, but even so.

As mentioned in the other comment:

• git-revision-date-localized - Issues and how to fit #8311 (reply in thread)

Your issue is the indent, plugins under theme won't be loaded by MkDocs. So select multiple lines and press Shift + Tab to de-dent the lines.

When you said do a test site, i thought you meant to just do a normal theme, so that is what I did

Using the files from the git localized repository would install mkdocs-material, in the uv run mkdocs serve step
I didn't ask you to create a new project from scratch, and instead to test an already working example.

But in me doing this, do I need to do anything with this variable section?

Nothing, I just included it in the video to show that the built website on localhost does correctly display the parsed variables.
Therefore, you could compare it the same way if you'd follow along.

then clone it to pc from within Visual Studio Code, saves me all they typing :-)

Using commands is usually faster than clicking buttons, you can set up alias shortcuts to not type a lot.

though I seem to keep getting copy and paste not working a lot at the moment! With Windows 11!

On Git Bash, by default paste is done via Shift + Insert, but you can change it to be more similar to Linux and use Ctrl + Shift + V

[Atlas-Night-Out]

I get a error right away doing it like you do it!

[Atlas-Night-Out]

I'm not too sure what you mean by So select multiple lines and press Shift + Tab to de-dent the lines.
took me a lot to get the code it due to errors!

[kamilkrzyskow]

I don't know how you run Git Bash, but it should not start in /, this is the directory where it's installed so likely Program Files, and changing it requires admin rights, therefore git can't create the test directory.

Before doing the test change the directory to home

• cd ~

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEx56WwzGCg - this video shows Tab
You can press Shift + Tab to move the lines into the other direction.

[Atlas-Night-Out]

Yes, you're also right now I'v seen both mkdocs.yml, the indents are completely different, but I have a running site all indented like that, and if I were to attempt to try to change it i won't get it to work again as I know MKDocs is a lot different than this! and would stop lots from working.

But on the other hand, it might fix all these odd, buggy things I get

[Atlas-Night-Out]

My setups are a lot different from the way you do things, too, so this will only confuse me more on trying to get this to work.

[Atlas-Night-Out]

why is my server going to the normal web site that tells us how to do this?

its weired!!

It seems to be stuck on my site and not doing its own thing!

[Atlas-Night-Out]

2025-07-04_16-31-30.mp4

[kamilkrzyskow]

For now all of the screenshots you've sent were with 127.0.0.1 without the crucial :port number part.
So I would like to see both the terminal and browser with 127.0.0.1:55555 on the same screenshot.

You've mentioned Malwarebytes before, so double check if it doesn't block anything.

As for trying the test in Visual Studio Code, sure go ahead, as the current method seems to be getting us stuck.
As for the uv requirement, I extracted the requirements.txt file, so you can use it in the new test, like in other projects if you don't want to use uv anymore and go back to your usual methods.

requirements.txt

---

As for Read Aloud extension keep in mind that it does send the text to some server, so it also could be a data hoarding tool.

[kamilkrzyskow]

I just seen the video, so it only proves the point that 127.0.0.1:8000 does work.

I've noticed that you pressed on the left part of the URL

This works in Visual Studio Code PowerShell
But it doesn't work like that in Git Bash, see the underline, it's limited to just before :55555

You need to press Ctrl and move the cursor on the right part after the port number delimiter

---

But anyway, you got it working 😎 🤘

[Atlas-Night-Out]

no I have not got anything working only more confused

[kamilkrzyskow]

Let's continue here after the commend with the video:
#8311 (reply in thread)

Since now you've go a working example.
You can move parts around between the not working and working project.
Now you can see how the mkdocs.yml file is indented and compare the plugins and theme location in the file.

✅

theme:
    name: material
    # ...

plugins:
  - search
  - git-authors:
        exclude:
            - index.md
  - git-revision-date-localized:
      type: timeago
      timezone: Europe/Amsterdam
      locale: en
      fallback_to_build_date: false
      enable_creation_date: true

❌

theme:
    name: material
    # ...

    plugins:
      - search
      - git-authors:
            exclude:
                - index.md
      - git-revision-date-localized:
          type: timeago
          timezone: Europe/Amsterdam
          locale: en
          fallback_to_build_date: false
          enable_creation_date: true

I recommend enabling white space indication in the Visual Studio Code settings, but I don't know how much the dots would distract you.

[Atlas-Night-Out]

The working example is not my site its going some where else!

Yes I know port ports the way I do it in Visual studio code but I cannot get the test to work in the way I do it either.

Its not teh same site or look seems to be some one else site!

[kamilkrzyskow]

Hmm

The working example is not my site its going somewhere else!
Its not the same site or look seems to be someone else's site!

Well, that was the point, download a working example from the repository:
https://github.com/timvink/mkdocs-git-revision-date-localized-plugin

And load it locally.
So the content of the website loaded locally is the same as:
https://timvink.github.io/mkdocs-git-revision-date-localized-plugin/index.html

You can read the comment again, as that was my intention from the start.

---

Now, as you have a working example we know that nothing is blocking the result externally.
So we've confirmed the issue is purely with your configuration.

Compare the mkdocs.yml file from your project with your website, with the mkdocs.yml file from the test directory.
Then you'll see the inconsistency, which I've shown above.

In theory you could copy the files in between projects but you'd have to assure proper git history transfer.
So I'll not pursue this topic, as it would be too much overhead.

---

I'm not really sure why you don't want to just try fix the indentation of theme and plugins in your project?
You've mentioned some kind of errors, but have not shown them.
I think we can move on to this part of the debugging process 🙂

[Atlas-Night-Out]

Not sure how I got that to work, but it's not working again.

I'm getting this error now

[Atlas-Night-Out]

I also cannot take all this info in what you're sending to me! It will take me 2 weeks to do that and try to understand it all :-) Takes me a while to read it slower, then try, but great, you fire it all at me :-) Thank you!

The way your doing it never going to work on my site and thats not going to bestarted again, so I have to sick to the way I try to get the server to start and the above image if roughly how I do it so if I can figure this erro now I might be able to transfer my site over to this test one!

I get confused a lot, too.

It's no good for me doing one thing just in Git Bash and the other way within Visual Studio Code. Id rather work in VSC than Git Bash, but I have to use that at the start to get to the correct folder to venv/scripts/activate, then code. seems we need to have to use both?

can you chat in that CHATGPT, or is it for just asking questions like the Deepseek is?

This is how badly the indent is wrong in mine! alot and have white space turned on, but it does not stay on all of the time, only when I highlight test it shows them, is this normal?

indent.wrong.2025-07-04_21-36-23.mp4

[Atlas-Night-Out]

Good news to you!And a Big thank you! Not sure which to pick as the solution, but I think it was just down to the indenting and it still needs tidying up a little more but with the way you have shown me was a good example for me to see it in front of me and with having Dylexia that is a great help!

I just did not realise until after that I got it to run to the site and I messed it up with trying other things, thinking that was not right, but it was!

I could do with help really seeing on how indenting is done correctly, as I struggle to find a method to remember it! The dots are good and help though!

[jaywhj]

@Atlas-Night-Out

Here's a better plugin document-dates, with more features, higher performance, better compatibility and easier to use, you can try it!