Architecture

High-level architecture overview of Bengal

7 pages in this section

Bengal SSG follows a modular architecture with clear separation of concerns to avoid "God objects" and maintain high performance even with large sites.

Core Architecture

Data models, build coordination, and core principles
Rendering Pipeline

How Bengal transforms Markdown to HTML
Subsystems

Specialized feature subsystems
Tooling & CLI

Developer tools, CLI, server, and configuration
Meta & Operations

Performance, testing, and project structure

High-Level Architecture

graph TB subgraph "Entry Points" CLI[CLI<br/>bengal/cli/] Server[Dev Server<br/>bengal/server/] end subgraph "Core Build Pipeline" Discovery[Discovery<br/>bengal/discovery/] Orchestration[Orchestration<br/>bengal/orchestration/] Rendering[Rendering<br/>bengal/rendering/] PostProcess[Post-Processing<br/>bengal/postprocess/] end subgraph "Object Model" Site[Site<br/>bengal/core/site.py] Pages[Pages<br/>bengal/core/page/] Sections[Sections<br/>bengal/core/section.py] Assets[Assets<br/>bengal/core/asset/] Menus[Menus<br/>bengal/core/menu.py] end subgraph "Supporting Systems" Cache[Build Cache<br/>bengal/cache/] Health[Health Checks<br/>bengal/health/] Autodoc[Autodoc<br/>bengal/autodoc/] Config[Config<br/>bengal/config/] Analysis[Analysis<br/>bengal/analysis/] Fonts[Fonts<br/>bengal/fonts/] end CLI --> Site Server --> Site Site --> Discovery Discovery --> Pages Discovery --> Sections Discovery --> Assets Site --> Orchestration Orchestration --> Menus Orchestration --> Rendering Menus -.->|"used by"| Rendering Rendering --> PostProcess Cache -.->|"cache checks"| Orchestration Health -.->|"validation"| PostProcess Autodoc -.->|"generates"| Pages Config -.->|"configuration"| Site Analysis -.->|"analyzes"| Site Fonts -.->|"downloads/generates"| Assets

Key Flows:

  1. Build: CLI → Site → Discovery → Orchestration → [Menus + Rendering] → Post-Process
  2. Menu Building: Orchestration builds menus → Rendering uses menus in templates
  3. Cache: Build Cache checks file changes and dependencies before rebuilding
  4. Autodoc: Generate Python/CLI docs → treated as regular content pages
  5. Dev Server: Watch files → trigger incremental rebuilds → serve output

In This Section

Core Architecture Data models, build coordination, and core principles 7 pages
Subsystems Specialized feature subsystems 5 pages
Tooling & CLI Developer tools, CLI, server, and configuration 5 pages
Design Principles Core patterns and philosophies guiding Bengal's architecture.
Related Pages
Bengal 0.1.4 Configuration system overhaul, asset pipeline improvements, HTML formatting, link checking, and major architecture enhancements Related