Site Templates Reference

Bengal provides a template system for scaffolding new sites with predefined structures. This reference covers all CLI commands and template options.

CLI Commands Overview

bengal new site

Create a new Bengal site from a template.

Syntax

bengal new site [NAME] [OPTIONS]

Arguments

Options

Examples

# Interactive mode (prompts for all options)
bengal new site

# Create docs site with explicit name
bengal new site my-docs --template docs

# Non-interactive with preset
bengal new site my-blog --template blog --no-init

What Gets Created

All templates create:

• config/directory with environment-aware configuration
• content/directory with template-specific pages
• .gitignorefor Bengal-specific files

Adding sections to an existing site

Bengal has no command for retrofitting sections into an existing site — content is just files on disk. Add a section by creating its directory and an_index.md:

mkdir -p content/docs
$EDITOR content/docs/_index.md

Bengal infers a section's content type from its directory name:

Override the inferred type withtype: (or cascade.type:) in the section's _index.md frontmatter.

bengal config init

Initialize configuration directory structure in an existing project.

Syntax

bengal config init [SOURCE] [OPTIONS]

Arguments

Options

Examples

# Create config directory in current project
bengal config init

# Use blog preset
bengal config init --template blog

# Single file instead of directory
bengal config init --type file

Directory Structure Created

config/
├── _default/
│   ├── site.yaml      # Site identity
│   ├── build.yaml     # Build settings
│   └── features.yaml  # Feature toggles
├── environments/
│   ├── local.yaml     # Dev overrides
│   └── production.yaml
└── profiles/
    ├── writer.yaml    # Writer workflow
    └── dev.yaml       # Developer workflow

Built-in Templates

default

Minimal starter with single index page.

Structure:

content/
└── index.md

Best for: Minimal sites, custom builds from scratch.

docs

Full documentation site with common sections.

Structure:

content/
├── index.md
├── getting-started/
│   ├── _index.md
│   ├── installation.md
│   └── quickstart.md
├── guides/
│   └── _index.md
└── api/
    └── _index.md

Config preset: Enables search, TOC depth 3, doc-style sorting.

Best for: Technical documentation, knowledge bases, API docs.

blog

Blog with posts section and about page.

Structure:

content/
├── index.md
├── about.md
└── posts/
    ├── first-post.md
    └── second-post.md

Config preset: Enables RSS, date-sorted posts, excerpt generation.

Best for: Personal blogs, news sites, journals.

portfolio

Project showcase with contact page.

Structure:

content/
├── index.md
├── about.md
├── contact.md
└── projects/
    ├── index.md
    ├── project-1.md
    └── project-2.md

Best for: Developer portfolios, agency sites, project showcases.

resume

CV/Resume with structured data.

Structure:

content/
└── _index.md

data/
└── resume.yaml    # Structured resume data

Best for: Personal CVs, professional profiles.

landing

Marketing landing page with legal pages.

Structure:

content/
├── index.md
├── privacy.md
└── terms.md

Best for: Product landing pages, marketing sites.

changelog

Version history with structured data.

Structure:

content/
└── _index.md

data/
└── changelog.yaml

Best for: Release notes, version history.

product

Product showcase with catalog and pricing.

Structure:

content/
├── _index.md
├── contact.md
├── features.md
├── pricing.md
└── products/
    ├── _index.md
    ├── product-1.md
    └── product-2.md

data/
└── products.yaml

Config preset: Enables product catalog, structured data for products.

Best for: Product websites, e-commerce showcases, SaaS landing pages.

Template Architecture

How Templates Work

Templates are defined inbengal/scaffolds/<name>/:

bengal/scaffolds/docs/
├── __init__.py
├── template.py       # TEMPLATE = SiteTemplate(...)
└── pages/
    ├── index.md
    └── getting-started/
        └── _index.md

SiteTemplate Class

@dataclass
class SiteTemplate:
    id: str                    # Template identifier
    name: str                  # Display name
    description: str           # One-line summary
    files: list[TemplateFile]  # Files to create
    additional_dirs: list[str] # Extra directories
    menu_sections: list[str]   # Menu seed sections

TemplateFile Class

@dataclass
class TemplateFile:
    relative_path: str    # Path under target_dir
    content: str          # File contents
    target_dir: str       # "content", "data", "templates"

Config Directory Structure

All templates create this config structure:

# config/_default/site.yaml
site:
  title: "My Site"
  description: "Built with Bengal"
  language: "en"

# config/_default/build.yaml
build:
  parallel: true
  incremental: true
  minify_html: true

# config/_default/features.yaml
features:
  rss: true
  sitemap: true
  search: true
  json: true
  llm_txt: true

Environment-Specific Config

# config/environments/local.yaml
build:
  debug: true
  strict_mode: false

# config/environments/production.yaml
site:
  baseurl: "https://example.com"
build:
  strict_mode: true

Related Documentation

• Configuration - How config works
• Configuration System - Architecture details
• Scaffold Tutorial - Step-by-step guide