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Eleventy Documentation

This is an older version of Eleventy. Go to the newest Eleventy docs (current path: /docs/config/) or the full release history.
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Configuration #

Configuration files are optional. Add an .eleventy.js file to root directory of your project to configure Eleventy to your own project’s needs. It might look like this:

Filename .eleventy.js
module.exports = function(eleventyConfig) {
// Return your Object options:
return {
dir: {
input: "views",
output: "dist"
}
}
};

We support returning both a callback function (shown above) or an object literal (module.exports = {}). Callback functions are preferred and allow you further customization options using Eleventy’s provided helper methods.

Configuration Options #

Input Directory #

Controls the top level directory/file/glob that we’ll use to look for templates.

Glob support is New in v0.6.0.

Input Directory
Object Keydir.input
Default Value. (current directory)
Valid OptionsAny valid directory.
Command Line Override--input

Examples #

Command Line
# The current directory
npx @11ty/eleventy --input=.

# A single file
npx @11ty/eleventy --input=README.md

# A glob of files (New in v0.6.0)
npx @11ty/eleventy --input=*.md

# A subdirectory
npx @11ty/eleventy --input=views
Configuration
Filename .eleventy.js
module.exports = function(eleventyConfig) {
return {
dir: {
input: "views"
}
}
};

Directory for Includes #

The includes directory is meant for Eleventy layouts, include files, extends files, partials, or macros. These files will not be processed as full template files, but can be consumed by other templates.

Includes Directory
Object Keydir.includes
Default_includes
Valid OptionsAny valid directory inside of dir.input (an empty string "" is supported)
Command Line OverrideNone

Example #

Filename .eleventy.js
module.exports = function(eleventyConfig) {
return {
dir: {
// ⚠️ This value is relative to your input directory.
includes: "my_includes"
}
}
};

Directory for Layouts (Optional) New in v0.8.0 #

This configuration option is optional but useful if you want your Eleventy layouts to live outside of the Includes directory. Just like the Includes directory, these files will not be processed as full template files, but can be consumed by other templates.

This setting only applies to Eleventy's language-agnostic layouts (when defined in front matter or data files).

When using {% extends %}, Eleventy will still search the _includes directory. See this note about existing templating features.

Includes Directory
Object Keydir.layouts
DefaultThe value in dir.includes
Valid OptionsAny valid directory inside of dir.input (an empty string "" is supported)
Command Line OverrideNone

Example #

Filename .eleventy.js
module.exports = function(eleventyConfig) {
return {
dir: {
// ⚠️ These values are both relative to your input directory.
includes: "_includes",
layouts: "_layouts"
}
}
};

Directory for Global Data Files #

Controls the directory inside which the global data template files, available to all templates, can be found. Read more about Global Data Files.

Data Files Directory
Object Keydir.data
Default_data
Valid OptionsAny valid directory inside of dir.input
Command Line OverrideNone

Example #

Filename .eleventy.js
module.exports = function(eleventyConfig) {
return {
dir: {
// ⚠️ This value is relative to your input directory.
data: "lore"
}
}
};

Output Directory #

Controls the directory inside which the finished templates will be written to.

Output Directory
Object Keydir.output
Default_site
Valid OptionsAny string that will work as a directory name. Eleventy creates this if it doesn’t exist.
Command Line Override--output

Example #

Filename .eleventy.js
module.exports = function(eleventyConfig) {
return {
dir: {
output: "dist"
}
}
};

Default template engine for global data files #

The dir.data global data files run through this template engine before transforming to JSON. Read more about Global Data Files.

Data Template Engine
Object KeydataTemplateEngine
Default"liquid" (before 1.0)
Defaultfalse (1.0 and above)
Valid OptionsA valid template engine short name or false
Command Line OverrideNone

Example #

Filename .eleventy.js
module.exports = function(eleventyConfig) {
return {
"dataTemplateEngine": "njk"
}
};

Default template engine for Markdown files #

Markdown files run through this template engine before transforming to HTML.

Markdown Template Engine
Object KeymarkdownTemplateEngine
Defaultliquid
Valid OptionsA valid template engine short name or false
Command Line OverrideNone

Example #

Filename .eleventy.js
module.exports = function(eleventyConfig) {
return {
markdownTemplateEngine: "njk"
}
};

Default template engine for HTML files #

HTML templates run through this template engine before transforming to (better) HTML.

HTML Template Engine
Object KeyhtmlTemplateEngine
Defaultliquid
Valid OptionsA valid template engine short name or false
Command Line OverrideNone

Example #

Filename .eleventy.js
module.exports = function(eleventyConfig) {
return {
htmlTemplateEngine: "njk"
}
};

Template Formats #

Specify which types of templates should be transformed.

Template Formats
Object KeytemplateFormats
Defaulthtml,liquid,ejs,md,hbs,mustache,haml,pug,njk,11ty.js
Valid OptionsArray of template engine short names
Command Line Override--formats (accepts a comma separated string)
Configuration APIsetTemplateFormats New in v0.2.14

Examples #

Filename .eleventy.js
module.exports = function(eleventyConfig) {
return {
templateFormats: ["html", "liquid", "njk"]
}
};
Filename .eleventy.js
module.exports = function(eleventyConfig) {
eleventyConfig.setTemplateFormats("html,liquid,njk");

// Or:
// eleventyConfig.setTemplateFormats([ "html", "liquid", "njk" ]);
};
npx @11ty/eleventy --formats=html,liquid,njk
New in v0.9.0 Case sensitivity: File extensions should be considered case insensitive, cross-platform. While Mac OS—by default—already behaves this way, other operating systems do not and needed additional Eleventy code to enable this behavior.

Enable Quiet Mode to Reduce Console Noise #

In order to maximize user-friendliness to beginners, Eleventy will show each file it processes and the output file. To disable this noisy console output, use quiet mode!

Quiet Mode
Defaultfalse
Valid Optionstrue or false
Command Line Override--quiet

New in v0.10.0 This configuration API method (setQuietMode) was added in v0.10.0 but note that the --quiet command line override existed long before that.

New in v0.10.0 Added --quiet=false to override setQuietMode(true) on the command line (for deploys in production). --quiet=true was also added (same as --quiet).

Example #

Filename .eleventy.js
module.exports = function(eleventyConfig) {
eleventyConfig.setQuietMode(true);
};

The command line will override any setting in configuration:

npx @11ty/eleventy --quiet

Deploy to a subdirectory with a Path Prefix #

If your site lives in a different subdirectory (particularly useful with GitHub pages), use pathPrefix to specify this. It’s used by the url filter and inserted at the beginning of all absolute url href links. It does not affect your file structure. Leading or trailing slashes are all normalized away, so don’t worry about it.

Path Prefix
Object KeypathPrefix
Default/
Valid OptionsA prefix directory added to links
Command Line Override--pathprefix New in v0.2.11

Example #

Filename .eleventy.js
module.exports = function(eleventyConfig) {
return {
pathPrefix: "/eleventy-base-blog/"
}
};

Deploy to https://11ty.github.io/eleventy-base-blog/ on GitHub pages without modifying your config. This allows you to use the same code-base to deploy to either GitHub pages or Netlify, like the eleventy-base-blog project does.

npx @11ty/eleventy --pathprefix=eleventy-base-blog

Change exception case suffix for HTML files #

If an HTML template has matching input and output directories, index.html files will have this suffix added to their output filename to prevent overwriting the template. Read more at the HTML template docs.

Exception Suffix
Object KeyhtmlOutputSuffix
Default-o
Valid OptionsAny valid string
Command Line OverrideNone

Example #

Filename .eleventy.js
module.exports = function(eleventyConfig) {
return {
htmlOutputSuffix: "-o"
}
};

Change File Suffix for Template and Directory Data Files New in v0.5.3 #

When using Template and Directory Specific Data Files, to prevent file name conflicts with non-Eleventy files in the project directory, we scope these files with a unique-to-Eleventy suffix. This key is customizable using jsDataFileSuffix. For example, using .11tydata for this value will search for *.11tydata.js and *.11tydata.json data files. Read more about Template and Directory Specific Data Files.

File Suffix
Object KeyjsDataFileSuffix
Default.11tydata
Valid OptionsAny valid string
Command Line OverrideNone

Example #

Filename .eleventy.js
module.exports = function(eleventyConfig) {
return {
jsDataFileSuffix: ".11tydata"
}
};

Transforms #

These used to be called Filters but were renamed to Transforms to avoid confusion with Template Language Filters.

Transforms can modify a template’s output. For example, use a transform to format/prettify an HTML file with proper whitespace.

Transforms
Object Keyfilters (Removed in 1.0, use addTransform instead)
Default{}
Valid OptionsObject literal
Command Line OverrideNone
Configuration APIaddTransform New in v0.3.3
module.exports = function(eleventyConfig) {
eleventyConfig.addTransform("transform-name", function(content, outputPath) {});

// Support for async transforms was added in 0.7.0
eleventyConfig.addTransform("async-transform-name", async function(content, outputPath) {});

// Eleventy 1.0+
eleventyConfig.addTransform("transform-name", function(content) {
console.log( this.inputPath );
console.log( this.outputPath );

// note that this.outputPath is `false` for serverless templates
});
};

Transforms Example: Minify HTML Output #

Filename .eleventy.js
const htmlmin = require("html-minifier");

module.exports = function(eleventyConfig) {
eleventyConfig.addTransform("htmlmin", function(content, outputPath) {
// Eleventy 1.0+: use this.inputPath and this.outputPath instead
if( outputPath && outputPath.endsWith(".html") ) {
let minified = htmlmin.minify(content, {
useShortDoctype: true,
removeComments: true,
collapseWhitespace: true
});
return minified;
}

return content;
});
};

Linters #

Similar to Transforms, Linters are provided to analyze a template’s output without modifying it.

Linters
Object KeyN/A
Valid OptionsCallback function
Command Line OverrideNone
Configuration APIaddLinter New in v0.5.4
module.exports = function(eleventyConfig) {
eleventyConfig.addLinter("linter-name", function(content, inputPath, outputPath) {});
eleventyConfig.addLinter("async-linter-name", async function(content, inputPath, outputPath) {});

// Eleventy 1.0+
eleventyConfig.addLinter("linter-name", function(content) {
console.log( this.inputPath );
console.log( this.outputPath );
});
};

Linters Example: Use Inclusive Language #

Inspired by the CSS Tricks post Words to Avoid in Educational Writing, this linter will log a warning to the console when it finds a trigger word in a markdown file.

This example has been packaged as a plugin in eleventy-plugin-inclusive-language.

Filename .eleventy.js
module.exports = function(eleventyConfig) {
eleventyConfig.addLinter("inclusive-language", function(content, inputPath, outputPath) {
let words = "simply,obviously,basically,of course,clearly,just,everyone knows,however,easy".split(",");

// Eleventy 1.0+: use this.inputPath and this.outputPath instead
if( inputPath.endsWith(".md") ) {
for( let word of words) {
let regexp = new RegExp("\\b(" + word + ")\\b", "gi");
if(content.match(regexp)) {
console.warn(`Inclusive Language Linter (${inputPath}) Found: ${word}`);
}
}
}
});
};

Data Filter Selectors #

New in v1.0.0

A Set of lodash selectors that allow you to include data from the data cascade in the output from --to=json, --to=ndjson, or the EleventyServerless.prototype.getOutput method.

module.exports = function(eleventyConfig) {
eleventyConfig.dataFilterSelectors.add("page");
eleventyConfig.dataFilterSelectors.delete("page");
};

This will now include a data property in your JSON output that includes the page variable for each matching template.

Documentation Moved to Dedicated Pages #

Copy Files to Output using Passthrough File Copy #

Files found (that don’t have a valid template engine) from opt-in file extensions in templateFormats will passthrough to the output directory. Read more about Passthrough Copy.

Data Deep Merge New in v0.6.0 #

Customize Front Matter Parsing Options New in v0.9.0 #

Watch JavaScript Dependencies New in v0.7.0 #

Add Your Own Watch Targets New in v0.10.0 #

Override Browsersync Server Options New in v0.7.0 #


Configuration: