Panini

A super simple flat file generator for use with Gulp. It compiles a series of HTML pages using a common layout. These pages can also include HTML partials, external Handlebars helpers, or external data as JSON or YAML.

Panini isn't a full-fledged static site generator—rather, it solves the very specific problem of assembling flat files from common elements, using a templating language.

Installation

npm install panini --save-dev

Usage

Feed Panini a stream of HTML files, and get a delicious flattened site out the other end.

var gulp = require('gulp');
var panini = require('panini');
 
gulp.task('default', function() {
  gulp.src('pages/**/*.html')
    .pipe(panini({
      root: 'pages/',
      layouts: 'layouts/',
      partials: 'partials/',
      helpers: 'helpers/',
      data: 'data/'
    }))
    .pipe(gulp.dest('build'));
});

Note that Panini loads layouts, partials, helpers, and data files once on first run. Whenever these files change, call panini.refresh() to get it up to date. You can easily do this inside a call to gulp.watch():

gulp.watch(['./src/{layouts,partials,helpers,data}/**/*'], [panini.refresh]);

Options

root

Type: String

Path to the root folder all pages live in. This option does not pull in the files themselves for processing—that's what gulp.src() is for. This setting tells Panini what the common root of your site's pages is.

layouts

Type: String

Path to a folder containing layouts. Layout files can have the extension .html, .hbs, or .handlebars. One layout must be named default. To use a layout other than the default on a specific page, override it in the Front Matter on that page.

---
layout: post
---
 
<!-- Uses layouts/post.html as the template -->

All layouts have a special Handlebars partial called body which contains the contents of the page.

<!-- Header up here -->
{{> body}}
<!-- Footer down here -->

pageLayouts

Type: Object

A list of presets for page layouts, grouped by folder. This allows you to automatically set all pages within a certain folder to have the same layout.

panini({
  root: 'src/pages/',
  layouts: 'src/layouts/',
  pageLayouts: {
    // All pages inside src/pages/blog will use the blog.html layout
    'blog': 'blog'
  }
})

partials

Type: String

Path to a folder containing HTML partials. Partial files can have the extension .html, .hbs, or .handlebars. Each will be registered as a Handlebars partial which can be accessed using the name of the file. (The path to the file doesn't matter—only the name of the file itself is used.)

<!-- Renders partials/header.html -->
{{> header}}

helpers

Type: String

Path to a folder containing Handlebars helpers. Handlebars helpers are .js files which export a function via module.exports. The name used to register the helper is the same as the name of the file.

For example, a file named markdown.js that exports this function would add a Handlebars helper called {{markdown}}.

var marked = require('marked');
 
module.exports = function(text) {
  return marked(text);
}

data

Type: String

Path to a folder containing external data, which will be passed in to every page. Data can be formatted as JSON (.json) or YAML (.yml). Within a template, the data is stored within a variable with the same name as the file it came from.

For example, a file named contact.json with key/value pairs such as the following:

{
    "name": "John Doe",
    "email": "john.doe@gmail.com",
    "phone": "555-1212"
}

Could be used to output the value of John Doe within a template using the Handlebars syntax of {{contact.name}}.

Data can also be a .js file with a module.exports. The data returned by the export function will be used.

Data can also be inserted into the page itself with a Front Matter template at the top of the file.

Lastly, the reserved page variable is added to every page template as it renders. It contains the name of the page being rendered, without the extension.

CLI

You can also use panini via the CLI.

Usage: panini --layouts=[layoutdir] --root=[rootdir] --output=[destdir] [other options] 'pagesglob'

Options:
  --layouts  (required) path to a folder containing layouts
  --root     (required) path to the root folder all pages live in
  --output     (required) path to the folder compiled pages should get sent to
  --partials            path to root folder for partials
  --helpers             path to folder for additional helpers
  --data                path to folder for additional data

the argument pagesglob should be a glob describing what pages you want to apply panini to.

Example: panini --root=src/pages --layouts=src/layouts --partials=src/partials --data=src/data --output=dist 'src/pages/**/*.html'

Local Development

git clone https://github.com/foundation/panini
cd panini
npm install

Use npm test to run tests.