Site Templates Reference

Complete reference for Bengal's site scaffolding and template system

5 min read 1071 words

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

CLI Commands Overview

Command Purpose When to Use
bengal new site Create new site from template Starting a new project
bengal project init Add sections to existing site Expanding site structure
bengal config init Initialize config directory Converting single-file to directory config

bengal new site

Create a new Bengal site from a template.

Syntax

bengal new site [NAME] [OPTIONS]

Arguments

Argument Required Description
NAME No Site directory name (prompted if omitted)

Options

Option Default Description
--template default Site template (see templates below)
--theme default Theme to use
--no-init false Skip structure initialization wizard
--init-preset - Preset name for non-interactive mode

Examples

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# 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

bengal project init

Initialize content sections in an existing Bengal site.

Syntax

bengal project init [OPTIONS]

Options

Option Type Default Description
--sections,-s Multiple blog Section names to create
--with-content Flag false Generate sample pages
--pages-per-section Integer 3 Sample pages per section
--dry-run Flag false Preview without creating
--force Flag false Overwrite existing sections

Examples

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# Default: create blog section
bengal project init

# Multiple sections
bengal project init --sections blog --sections projects --sections about

# Short form
bengal project init -s docs -s tutorials -s api

# With sample content
bengal project init --sections blog --with-content --pages-per-section 10

# Preview first
bengal project init --sections docs --dry-run

Section Type Inference

Section names are mapped to content types:

Name Pattern Type Description
blog,posts,articles,news blog Date-sorted content
docs,documentation,guides,reference,tutorials doc Weight-sorted content
All others section Standard section

Generated Files

For each section, Bengal creates:

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content/<section>/
├── _index.md          # Section index (always created)
├── <page-1>.md        # Sample pages (with --with-content)
├── <page-2>.md
└── <page-3>.md

Sample page names are context-aware:

  • Blog:welcome-post,getting-started,tips-and-tricks
  • Docs:introduction,quickstart,installation
  • Projects:project-alpha,project-beta,project-gamma

bengal config init

Initialize configuration directory structure in an existing project.

Syntax

bengal config init [SOURCE] [OPTIONS]

Arguments

Argument Default Description
SOURCE . Directory to initialize

Options

Option Default Description
--type directory Config structure (directoryorfile)
--template docs Config preset (docs,blog,minimal)
--force false Overwrite existing config files

Examples

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# 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

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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:

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content/
└── index.md

Best for: Minimal sites, custom builds from scratch.

docs

Full documentation site with common sections.

Structure:

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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:

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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:

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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:

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content/
└── _index.md

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

Best for: Personal CVs, professional profiles.

landing

Marketing landing page with legal pages.

Structure:

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

Best for: Product landing pages, marketing sites.

changelog

Version history with structured data.

Structure:

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content/
└── _index.md

data/
└── changelog.yaml

Best for: Release notes, version history.

Template Architecture

How Templates Work

Templates are defined inbengal/cli/templates/<name>/:

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

SiteTemplate Class

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@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

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@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:

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# 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

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

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