Zeal is an offline documentation browser: your personal reference library, searchable in an instant and available without a connection. Originally inspired by Dash, it supports the same docset format.

Binary builds for Windows and other installation options are available on the download page. Windows builds require Windows 10 version 1809 or later.

After installing Zeal, go to File → Docset Library, select the docsets you want, and click the Download button.

Limit the search scope by prefixing your query with a docset name and a colon:

cpp:vector

To search multiple docsets, separate them with a comma:

python,django:string

You can also start Zeal with a query from the command line:

zeal python:pprint

Detailed, up-to-date build instructions for each platform are available in the wiki. The bare minimum is described below.

• CMake and Ninja.
• Qt version 6.4.2 or later. Required modules besides Qt Base: Svg, WebEngine.
• libarchive.
• SQLite version 3.31.0 or later.
• zlib.
• Linux/BSD platforms: extra-cmake-modules.
• X11 platforms only: libxkbcommon, xcb-util-keysyms.

cmake --preset release
cmake --build --preset release

The resulting binary is build/release/zeal (zeal.exe on Windows).

Follow the instructions in the Dash docset generation guide.

Contributions are welcome. See CONTRIBUTING.md for how to build Zeal, the conventions to follow, and what to expect from review.

Ways to get help or reach the developers:

• Report bugs and submit feature requests to GitHub issues.
• Ask questions in GitHub discussions.
• Chat with the developers and other Zeal users on Discord.
• Subscribe to the Telegram channel for announcements.
• Follow @zealdocs on X for news and updates.
• Email support@zealdocs.org for anything private or sensitive.

This software is licensed under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 3 (GPLv3) or later. Full text of the license is available in the COPYING file and online.

Bundled third-party components are licensed under their respective terms; the repository is REUSE-compliant, with all license texts available in the LICENSES directory.