# Templating

URL: /bengal/docs/0.5.1/theming/templating/
Section: templating

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Templating Bengal's template system uses Kida as the default engine, with support for Jinja2 and custom engines. Template Engines Kida (local reference) — Bengal's native template engine (default). Unified &#123;% end %&#125; blocks, pattern matching, pipeline operators Jinja2 — Industry-standard engine with excellent documentation and tooling Custom engines — Bring your own via the plugin API Tip Tip Kida is Jinja2-compatible: Your existing Jinja2 templates work without changes. Use Kida-specific features incrementally. Template Lookup Order flowchart LR A[Page Request] --&gt; B{templates/ ?} B --&gt;|Found| C[Use Your Template] B --&gt;|Not Found| D{Theme templates/ ?} D --&gt;|Found| E[Use Theme Template] D --&gt;|Not Found| F[Use Bengal Default] Bengal searches: Your project → Theme → Bengal defaults Quick Start Basic Template Base Layout Partial {# templates/layouts/single.html #} &#123;% extends &quot;baseof.html&quot; %&#125; &#123;% block content %&#125; &lt;article&gt; &lt;h1&gt;{{ page.title }}&lt;/h1&gt; {{ page.content | safe }} &lt;/article&gt; &#123;% end %&#125; {# templates/baseof.html #} &lt;!DOCTYPE html&gt; &lt;html&gt; &lt;head&gt; &lt;title&gt;&#123;% block title %&#125;{{ page.title }}&#123;% end %&#125;&lt;/title&gt; &lt;/head&gt; &lt;body&gt; &#123;% block header %&#125;&#123;% include &quot;./partials/header.html&quot; %&#125;&#123;% end %&#125; &#123;% block content %&#125;&#123;% end %&#125; &#123;% block footer %&#125;&#123;% include &quot;./partials/footer.html&quot; %&#125;&#123;% end %&#125; &lt;/body&gt; &lt;/html&gt; {# templates/partials/header.html #} &lt;header&gt; &lt;nav&gt; &#123;% for item in site.menus.main %&#125; &lt;a href=&quot;{{ item.href }}&quot;&gt;{{ item.title }}&lt;/a&gt; &#123;% end %&#125; &lt;/nav&gt; &lt;/header&gt; Key Concepts Concept Syntax Purpose Extends &#123;% extends &quot;base.html&quot; %&#125; Inherit from parent template Block &#123;% block name %&#125;...&#123;% end %&#125; Replaceable section Include &#123;% include &quot;./partial.html&quot; %&#125; Insert another template Variable Templating Output a value Filter &#123;&#123; text \| truncate(100) &#125;&#125; Transform a value Kida resolves ./ and ../ relative template paths from the current template. For shared component libraries, configure kida.template_aliases and include templates with @alias/ prefixes such as &#123;% include &quot;@components/card.html&quot; %&#125;. Template Inheritance flowchart TB A[&quot;baseof.html&lt;br/&gt;(blocks: head, content, footer)&quot;] B[&quot;single.html&lt;br/&gt;(extends baseof)&quot;] C[&quot;list.html&lt;br/&gt;(extends baseof)&quot;] D[&quot;doc.html&lt;br/&gt;(extends single)&quot;] A --&gt; B A --&gt; C B --&gt; D Kida Features Kida is Bengal's default template engine: Unified syntax: &#123;% end %&#125; closes all blocks (no more &#123;% end %&#125;, &#123;% end %&#125;) Pattern matching: &#123;% match %&#125;...&#123;% case %&#125; for cleaner conditionals Pipeline operator: |&gt; for readable filter chains Fragment caching: Built-in &#123;% cache %&#125; directive Jinja2 compatible: Existing Jinja2 templates work without changes Kida Syntax Reference Complete Kida syntax documentation Note Kida Tutorial Learn Kida from scratch Code Kida How-Tos Common Kida tasks and patterns Migrate from Jinja2 Convert Jinja2 templates to Kida Choose Your Engine Kida is the default. To use a different engine, configure bengal.toml (or config/_default/site.yaml): site: template_engine: jinja2 # Options: kida (default), jinja2, mako Custom Engines (BYOR) Bring your own template engine via the protocol API. Your engine automatically gets all 80+ template functions if it satisfies the TemplateEnvironment protocol: from bengal.rendering.engines import register_engine from bengal.rendering.template_functions import register_all class MyEngine: def __init__(self, site): self.site = site self.template_dirs = [site.root_path / &quot;templates&quot;] # Environment must have globals, filters, tests dicts self._env = MyEnvironment() # Automatically get all 80+ template functions! register_all(self._env, site) def render_template(self, name: str, context: dict) -&gt; str: # Your implementation ... register_engine(&quot;myengine&quot;, MyEngine) Then configure: site: template_engine: myengine See Bring Your Own Template Engine for the complete guide. Tip Tip Override sparingly: You only need to create templates you want to customize. Use bengal theme swizzle --template-path &lt;template&gt; to copy a template for customization. Let the rest fall through to theme defaults.

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Metadata:
- Author: lbliii
- Word Count: 548
- Reading Time: 3 minutes