# explainer URL: /api/debug/explainer/ Section: debug -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- explainer - Bengal window.BENGAL_THEME_DEFAULTS = { appearance: 'dark', palette: 'snow-lynx' }; // Progressive Enhancement System Configuration window.Bengal = window.Bengal || {}; window.Bengal.enhanceBaseUrl = '/bengal/assets/js/enhancements'; window.Bengal.watchDom = true; window.Bengal.debug = false; (function () { try { var defaults = window.BENGAL_THEME_DEFAULTS || { appearance: 'system', palette: '' }; var defaultAppearance = defaults.appearance; if (defaultAppearance === 'system') { defaultAppearance = (window.matchMedia && window.matchMedia('(prefers-color-scheme: dark)').matches) ? 'dark' : 'light'; } var storedTheme = localStorage.getItem('bengal-theme'); var storedPalette = localStorage.getItem('bengal-palette'); var theme = storedTheme ? (storedTheme === 'system' ? defaultAppearance : storedTheme) : defaultAppearance; var palette = storedPalette ?? defaults.palette; document.documentElement.setAttribute('data-theme', theme); if (palette) { document.documentElement.setAttribute('data-palette', palette); } } catch (e) { document.documentElement.setAttribute('data-theme', 'light'); } })(); Skip to main content Magnifying Glass ESC Recent Clear Magnifying Glass No results for "" Try different keywords or check your spelling Start typing to search... ↑↓ Navigate ↵ Open ESC Close Powered by Lunr ᓚᘏᗢ Documentation Info About Arrow Clockwise Get Started Note Tutorials File Text Content Palette Theming Settings Building Starburst Extending Bookmark Reference Learning Tracks Releases Dev GitHub API Reference bengal CLI Magnifying Glass Search ⌘K Palette Appearance Chevron Down Mode Monitor System Sun Light Moon Dark Palette Snow Lynx Brown Bengal Silver Bengal Charcoal Bengal Blue Bengal List ᓚᘏᗢ Magnifying Glass Search X Close Documentation Info About Arrow Clockwise Get Started Note Tutorials File Text Content Palette Theming Settings Building Starburst Extending Bookmark Reference Learning Tracks Releases Dev GitHub API Reference bengal CLI Palette Appearance Chevron Down Mode Monitor System Sun Light Moon Dark Palette Snow Lynx Brown Bengal Silver Bengal Charcoal Bengal Blue Bengal API Reference __main__ bengal Caret Right Folder Analysis community_detection graph_analysis graph_reporting graph_visualizer knowledge_graph link_suggestions link_types page_rank path_analysis performance_advisor results Caret Right Folder Assets manifest pipeline Caret Right Folder Autodoc base config docstring_parser utils virtual_orchestrator Caret Right Folder Extractors cli openapi python Caret Right Folder Models cli common openapi python Caret Right Folder Cache asset_dependency_map cache_store cacheable compression dependency_tracker page_discovery_cache query_index query_index_registry taxonomy_index utils Caret Right Folder Build Cache autodoc_tracking core file_tracking fingerprint parsed_content_cache rendered_output_cache taxonomy_index_mixin validation_cache Caret Right Folder Indexes author_index category_index date_range_index section_index Caret Right Folder Cli __main__ base site_templates utils Caret Right Folder Commands assets build clean collections config debug explain fix health init perf project serve site skeleton sources theme utils validate Caret Right Folder Graph __main__ bridges communities orphans pagerank report suggest Caret Right Folder New config presets scaffolds site wizard Caret Right Folder Helpers cli_app_loader cli_output config_validation error_handling menu_config metadata progress site_loader traceback validation Caret Right Folder Skeleton hydrator schema Caret Right Folder Templates base registry Caret Right Folder Blog template Caret Right Folder Changelog template Caret Right Folder Default template Caret Right Folder Docs template Caret Right Folder Landing template Caret Right Folder Portfolio template Caret Right Folder Resume template Caret Right Folder Collections errors loader schemas validator Caret Right Folder Config defaults deprecation directory_loader env_overrides environment feature_mappings hash loader merge origin_tracker validators Caret Right Folder Content Layer entry loaders manager source Caret Right Folder Sources github local notion rest Caret Right Folder Content Types base registry strategies Caret Right Folder Core build_context cascade_engine menu section theme Caret Right Folder Asset asset_core css_transforms Caret Right Folder Page computed content metadata navigation operations page_core proxy relationships utils Caret Right Folder Site core data discovery factories page_caches properties section_registry theme Caret Right Folder Debug base config_inspector content_migrator delta_analyzer dependency_visualizer explainer incremental_debugger models reporter shortcode_sandbox Caret Right Folder Discovery asset_discovery content_discovery Caret Right Folder Fonts downloader generator Caret Right Folder Health autofix base health_check report Caret Right Folder Linkcheck async_checker ignore_policy internal_checker models orchestrator Caret Right Folder Validators anchors assets cache config connectivity cross_ref fonts links menu navigation output performance rendering rss sitemap taxonomy tracks Caret Right Folder Directives analysis checkers constants Caret Right Folder Orchestration asset content full_to_incremental incremental menu postprocess related_posts render section static streaming taxonomy Caret Right Folder Postprocess html_output redirects rss sitemap special_pages Caret Right Folder Output Formats index_generator json_generator llm_generator lunr_index_generator txt_generator utils Caret Right Folder Rendering api_doc_enhancer asset_extractor errors jinja_utils link_transformer link_validator pygments_cache renderer template_context template_profiler validator Caret Right Folder Parsers base factory mistune native_html pygments_patch python_markdown Caret Right Folder Pipeline core output thread_local toc transforms Caret Right Folder Plugins badges cross_references inline_icon term variable_substitution Caret Right Folder Directives _icons admonitions badge base button cache cards checklist code_tabs container contracts data_table dropdown embed errors example_label fenced figure glossary icon include list_table literalinclude marimo navigation options rubric steps tabs target term terminal tokens utils validator video Caret Right Folder Template Engine asset_url core environment manifest menu url_helpers Caret Right Folder Template Functions advanced_collections advanced_strings autodoc collections content crossref data dates debug files get_page i18n icons images math_functions navigation pagination_helpers seo strings tables taxonomies theme urls Caret Right Folder Server build_handler component_preview constants dev_server live_reload pid_manager reload_controller request_handler request_logger resource_manager utils Caret Right Folder Services validation Caret Right Folder Themes config Caret Right Folder Utils atomic_write autodoc build_context build_stats build_summary cli_output css_minifier dates dotdict error_handlers file_io file_lock hashing incremental_constants js_bundler live_progress logger metadata observability page_initializer pagination path_resolver paths performance_collector performance_report profile progress retry rich_console sections swizzle text theme_registry theme_resolution thread_local traceback_config traceback_renderer url_normalization url_strategy API Reference Debug ᗢ Caret Down Link Copy URL External Open LLM text Copy Copy LLM text Share with AI Ask Claude Ask ChatGPT Ask Gemini Ask Copilot Module debug.explainer Page explainer - generates explanations for how pages are built. Provides complete traceability for any page: source file, template chain, dependencies, shortcodes, cache status, output location, and diagnostics. Key Concepts: Read-only introspection: No side effects, pure analysis Template chain resolution: Shows full inheritance Dependency tracking: Content, templates, data, assets Cache status: HIT/MISS/STALE with reasons Related Modules: bengal.debug.models: Data models for explanation components bengal.debug.reporter: Rich terminal output formatting bengal.rendering.template_engine: Template resolution bengal.cache.build_cache: Cache status introspection See Also: plan/active/rfc-explain-page.md: Design RFC View source 1 Class Classes PageExplainer Generate explanations for how pages are built. Provides complete traceability for any page includi… 16 Caret Right Generate explanations for how pages are built. Provides complete traceability for any page including source info, template chain, dependencies, cache status, and diagnostics. Creation: Direct instantiation: PageExplainer(site, cache=None, template_engine=None) Created by CLI explain command Requires Site instance with discovered content Attributes Name Type Description site — Site instance with pages and configuration cache — Optional BuildCache for cache status template_engine — Optional TemplateEngine for template resolution Thread Safety: Thread-safe. Read-only operations only. Methods 1 explain Generate complete explanation for a page. 3 PageExplanation Caret Right def explain(self, page_path: str, verbose: bool = False, diagnose: bool = False) -> PageExplanation Generate complete explanation for a page. Parameters 3 page_path str Path to the page (relative to content dir or source_path) verbose bool Include additional details (timing, template variables) diagnose bool Check for issues (broken links, missing assets) Returns PageExplanation — PageExplanation with all available information Internal Methods 15 Caret Right __init__ Initialize the page explainer. 3 None Caret Right def __init__(self, site: Site, cache: BuildCache | None = None, template_engine: TemplateEngine | None = None) -> None Initialize the page explainer. Parameters 3 site Site Site instance with pages and configuration cache BuildCache | None Optional BuildCache for cache status introspection template_engine TemplateEngine | None Optional TemplateEngine for template resolution _find_page Find a page by path. Searches by: 1. Exact source_path match 2. Relative path … 1 Page | None Caret Right def _find_page(self, page_path: str) -> Page | None Find a page by path. Searches by: Exact source_path match Relative path match (without content/ prefix) Partial path match (filename or partial path) Parameters 1 page_path str Path to search for Returns Page | None — Page if found, None otherwise _get_source_info Get source file information. 1 SourceInfo Caret Right def _get_source_info(self, page: Page) -> SourceInfo Get source file information. Parameters 1 page Page Returns SourceInfo _resolve_template_chain Resolve the complete template inheritance chain. 1 list[TemplateInfo] Caret Right def _resolve_template_chain(self, page: Page) -> list[TemplateInfo] Resolve the complete template inheritance chain. Parameters 1 page Page Page to resolve templates for Returns list[TemplateInfo] — List of TemplateInfo in inheritance order (child first) _get_template_name Get the template name for a page. 1 str | None Caret Right def _get_template_name(self, page: Page) -> str | None Get the template name for a page. Parameters 1 page Page Returns str | None _resolve_chain_from_engine Resolve template chain using the template engine. 1 list[TemplateInfo] Caret Right def _resolve_chain_from_engine(self, template_name: str) -> list[TemplateInfo] Resolve template chain using the template engine. Parameters 1 template_name str Returns list[TemplateInfo] _get_theme_from_path Extract theme name from template path. 1 str | None Caret Right def _get_theme_from_path(self, template_path: Path | None) -> str | None Extract theme name from template path. Parameters 1 template_path Path | None Returns str | None _extract_extends Extract extends directive from Jinja2 template. 1 str | None Caret Right def _extract_extends(self, content: str) -> str | None Extract extends directive from Jinja2 template. Parameters 1 content str Returns str | None _extract_includes Extract include directives from Jinja2 template. 1 list[str] Caret Right def _extract_includes(self, content: str) -> list[str] Extract include directives from Jinja2 template. Parameters 1 content str Returns list[str] _get_dependencies Get all dependencies for a page. 1 DependencyInfo Caret Right def _get_dependencies(self, page: Page) -> DependencyInfo Get all dependencies for a page. Parameters 1 page Page Returns DependencyInfo _extract_asset_refs Extract asset references from content. 1 list[str] Caret Right def _extract_asset_refs(self, content: str) -> list[str] Extract asset references from content. Parameters 1 content str Returns list[str] _get_shortcode_usage Extract shortcode/directive usage from page content. 1 list[ShortcodeUsage] Caret Right def _get_shortcode_usage(self, page: Page) -> list[ShortcodeUsage] Extract shortcode/directive usage from page content. Parameters 1 page Page Returns list[ShortcodeUsage] _get_cache_status Get cache status for a page. 1 CacheInfo Caret Right def _get_cache_status(self, page: Page) -> CacheInfo Get cache status for a page. Parameters 1 page Page Returns CacheInfo _get_output_info Get output information for a page. 1 OutputInfo Caret Right def _get_output_info(self, page: Page) -> OutputInfo Get output information for a page. Parameters 1 page Page Returns OutputInfo _diagnose_issues Diagnose potential issues with a page. 1 list[Issue] Caret Right def _diagnose_issues(self, page: Page) -> list[Issue] Diagnose potential issues with a page. Parameters 1 page Page Returns list[Issue] ← Previous dependency_visualizer Next → incremental_debugger List © 2025 Bengal ᓚᘏᗢ window.BENGAL_LAZY_ASSETS = { tabulator: '/bengal/assets/js/tabulator.min.js', dataTable: '/bengal/assets/js/data-table.js', mermaidToolbar: '/bengal/assets/js/mermaid-toolbar.9de5abba.js', mermaidTheme: '/bengal/assets/js/mermaid-theme.344822c5.js', graphMinimap: '/bengal/assets/js/graph-minimap.cc7e42e3.js', graphContextual: '/bengal/assets/js/graph-contextual.440e59c6.js' }; window.BENGAL_ICONS = { close: '/bengal/assets/icons/close.911d4fe1.svg', enlarge: '/bengal/assets/icons/enlarge.652035e5.svg', copy: '/bengal/assets/icons/copy.3d56e945.svg', 'download-svg': '/bengal/assets/icons/download.04f07e1b.svg', 'download-png': '/bengal/assets/icons/image.c34dfd40.svg', 'zoom-in': '/bengal/assets/icons/zoom-in.237b4a83.svg', 'zoom-out': '/bengal/assets/icons/zoom-out.38857c77.svg', reset: '/bengal/assets/icons/reset.d26dba29.svg' }; Arrow Up X -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Metadata: - Author: lbliii - Word Count: 1713 - Reading Time: 9 minutes