Configuration

Configuration Files

The DocPad configuration file sits within the root of your DocPad project and is named as one of the following. Each name provides a special meaning. Here are the valid names:

  • docpad.js a Node JavaScript file, will generally look like: module.exports = {/*the configuration*/}

  • docpad.json a JSON file, does not allow functions, will generally look like: {/*the configuration*/}

  • docpad.coffee a Node CoffeeScript file, will generally look like: module.exports = /*the configuration*/

  • docpad.cson a cson file, will generally look like: /*the configuration*/

The advantage of docpad.js and docpad.coffee over docpad.json and docpad.cson is that they allow us to declare functions, as well as call functions. However, for instances where we cannot trust the contents of the configuration files you would want to use the docpad.json or docpad.cson as they can't do anything naughty.

The advantage of docpad.coffee and docpad.cson over docpad.js and docpad.json is that they allow us to use the CoffeeScript syntax which is a lot more lenient.

Generally, you'll usually find either a docpad.coffee file or a docpad.cson file.

Available Configuration

The following code is of a docpad.coffee file that contains every single configurable DocPad options - in reality you should only include the options that you have actually customised - using the following example for reference only.

docpad.coffee
# DocPad Configuration
docpadConfig = {

    # =================================
    # Paths Configuration

    # Root Path
    # The root path of our our project
    rootPath: process.cwd()  # default

    # Package Path
    # The project's package.json path
    # If it is a relative path, it will have the resolved `rootPath` prepended to it
    packagePath: 'package.json'  # default

    # Config Paths
    # An array of paths that we try to extract our docpad configuration from
    configPaths: [  # default
        'docpad.js'
        'docpad.coffee'
        'docpad.json'
        'docpad.cson'
    ]

    # Plugin Paths
    # An array of special paths which to load single plugins from
    # (e.g., ['/a/path/to/a/docpad-plugin-special'])
    pluginPaths: []  # default

    # Plugins Paths
    # An array of paths which to load multiple plugins from
    pluginsPaths: [  # default
        'node_modules'
        'plugins'
    ]

    # Reload Paths
    # An array of special paths that when changes occur in, we reload our configuration
    reloadPaths: []  # default

    # Regenerate Paths
    # An array of special paths that when changes occur in, we regenerate our website
    regeneratePaths: []  # default

    # Regenerate Delay
    # The time (in milliseconds) to wait after a source file has
    # changed before using it to regenerate. Updating over the
    # network (e.g., via FTP) can cause a page to be partially
    # rendered as the page is regenerated *before* the source file
    # has completed updating: in this case increase this value.
    regenerateDelay: 100    # default

    # Out Path
    # Where should we put our generated website files?
    # If it is a relative path, it will have the resolved `rootPath` prepended to it
    outPath: 'out'  # default

    # Src Path
    # Where can we find our source website files?
    # If it is a relative path, it will have the resolved `rootPath` prepended to it
    srcPath: 'src'  # default

    # Documents Paths
    # An array of paths which contents will be treated as documents
    # If it is a relative path, it will have the resolved `srcPath` prepended to it
    documentsPaths: [  # default
        'render'
        'documents'
    ]

    # Files Paths
    # An array of paths which contents will be treated as files
    # If it is a relative path, it will have the resolved `srcPath` prepended to it
    filesPaths: [  # default
        'static'
        'files'
        'public'
    ]

    # Layouts Paths
    # An array of paths which contents will be treated as layouts
    # If it is a relative path, it will have the resolved `srcPath` prepended to it
    layoutsPaths: [  # default
        'layouts'
    ]

    # Ignore Paths
    # Can be set to an array of absolute paths that we should ignore from the scanning process
    ignorePaths: false  # default

    # Ignore Hidden Files
    # Whether or not we should ignore files that start with a dot from the scanning process
    ignoreHiddenFiles: false  # default

    # Ignore Common Patterns
    # Whether or not we should ignore commonly undesired files from the scanning process
    # (e.g., .DStore, thumbs.db, .git, files that start with a tilda, etc.)
    ignoreCommonPatterns: true  # default

    # Ignore Custom Patterns
    # Can be set to a regex of custom patterns to ignore from the scanning process
    ignoreCustomPatterns: false  # default


    # =================================
    # Server Configuration

    # Port
    # Use to change the port that DocPad listens to
    # By default we will detect the appropriate port number for our environment
    # if no environment port number is detected we will use 9778 as the port number
    # Checked environment variables are:
    # - PORT - Heroku, Nodejitsu, Custom
    # - VCAP_APP_PORT - AppFog
    # - VMC_APP_PORT - CloudFoundry
    port: null  # default

    # Max Age
    # The default caching time limit that is sent with the response to the client
    # Can be set to `false` to disable caching
    maxAge: 86400000   # default

    # Server Express
    # The Express.js instance that we want DocPad to use
    # If not set, we will create our own
    serverExpress: null  # default

    # Server HTTP
    # The Node.js HTTP server instance that we want DocPad to use
    # If not set, we will create our own
    serverHttp: null  # default


    # =================================
    # Middleware Configuration
    # Which middlewares would you like us to activate
    # Setting `extendServer` to `false` will set all of these to `false` automatically

    # Extend Server
    # Whether or not we should extend the server with our custom middleware
    extendServer: true  # default

    # The standard middlewares (bodeParser, methodOverride, Express router)
    middlewareStandard: true  # default

    # The standard bodyParser middleware
    middlewareBodyParser: true  # default

    # The standard methodOverride middleware
    middlewareMethodOverride: true  # default

    # The standard Express router middleware
    middlewareExpressRouter: true  # default

    # Our own 404 middleware
    middleware404: true  # default

    # Our own 500 middleware
    middleware500: true  # default


    # =================================
    # Logging Configuration

    # Log Level
    # Up to which level of logging should we output
    logLevel: (if ('-d' in process.argv) then 7 else 6)  # default

    # Logger
    #  The caterpillar instance that we want to use
    # If not set, we will create our own
    logger: null  # default

    # Growl
    # Whether or not we should display system notifications as things progress within DocPad
    growl: true  # default

    # Catch Exceptions
    # Whether or not DocPad should catch uncaught exceptions
    catchExceptions: true  # default

    # Report Errors
    # Whether or not we should report errors back to the DocPad Team
    reportErrors: process.argv.join('').indexOf('test') is -1  # default (don't enable if we are running inside a test)

    # Report Statistics
    # Whether or not we should report statistics back to the DocPad Team
    reportStatistics: process.argv.join('').indexOf('test') is -1  # default (don't enable if we are running inside a test)

    # Airbrake Token
    # The airbrake token we should use for reporting errors
    # By default, uses the DocPad Team's token
    airbrakeToken: null  # default

    # MixPanel Token
    # The mixpanel token we should use for reporting statistics
    # By default, uses the DocPad Team's token
    mixpanelToken: null  # default


    # =================================
    # Other Configuration

    # Detect Encoding
    # Should we attempt to auto detect the encoding of our files?
    # Useful when you are using foreign encoding (e.g., GBK) for your files
    # Only works on unix systems currently (limit of iconv module)
    detectEncoding: false

    # Render Single Extensions
    # Whether or not we should render single extensions by default
    renderSingleExtensions: false  # default

    # Render Passes
    # How many times should we render documents that reference other documents?
    renderPasses: 1  # default

    # Check Version
    # Whether or not to check for newer versions of DocPad
    checkVersion: false  # default

    # Welcome
    # Whether or not we should display any custom welcome callbacks
    welcome: false  # default

    # Prompts
    # Whether or not we should display any prompts
    prompts: false  # default

    # Helper Url
    # Used for subscribing to newsletter, account information, and statistics, etc.
    helperUrl: 'https://docpad.org/helper/'  # default

    # Safe Mode
    # If enabled, we will try our best to sandbox our template rendering so that they cannot modify things outside of them
    # Not yet implemented
    safeMode: false  # default

    # Collections
    # A hash of functions that create collections
    collections: {}  # default

    # Regenerate Every
    # Performs a regenerate every x milliseconds, useful for always having the latest data
    regenerateEvery: false  # default


    # =================================
    # Template Configuration

    # Template Data
    # Use to define your own template data and helpers that will be accessible to your templates
    # Complete listing of default values can be found here: http://docpad.org/docs/template-data
    templateData:  # example

        # Specify some site properties
        site:
            # The production URL of our website
            url: "http://website.com"

            # The default title of our website
            title: "Your Website"

            # The website description (for SEO)
            description: """
                When your website appears in search results in say Google, the text here will be shown underneath your website's title.
                """

            # The website keywords (for SEO) separated by commas
            keywords: """
                place, your, website, keywoards, here, keep, them, related, to, the, content, of, your, website
                """


        # -----------------------------
        # Helper Functions

        # Get the prepared site/document title
        # Often we would like to specify particular formatting to our page's title
        # we can apply that formatting here
        getPreparedTitle: ->
            # if we have a document title, then we should use that and suffix the site's title onto it
            if @document.title
                "#{@document.title} | #{@site.title}"
            # if our document does not have its own title, then we should just use the site's title
            else
                @site.title

        # Get the prepared site/document description
        getPreparedDescription: ->
            # if we have a document description, then we should use that, otherwise use the site's description
            @document.description or @site.description

        # Get the prepared site/document keywords
        getPreparedKeywords: ->
            # Merge the document keywords with the site keywords
            @site.keywords.concat(@document.keywords or []).join(', ')


    # =================================
    # Plugin Configuration

    # Skip Unsupported Plugins
    # Set to `false` to load all plugins whether or not they are compatible with our DocPad version or not
    skipUnsupportedPlugins: true  # default

    # Enable Unlisted Plugins
    # Set to false to only enable plugins that have been explicity set to `true` inside `enabledPlugins`
    enableUnlistedPlugins: true  # default

    # Enabled Plugins
    enabledPlugins:  # example
        # Disable the Pokemon Plugin
        pokemon: false

        # Enable the Digimon Plugin
        # Unless, enableUnlistedPlugins is set to false, all plugins are enabled by default
        digimon: true

    # Configure Plugins
    # Should contain the plugin short names on the left, and the configuration to pass the plugin on the right
    plugins:  # example
        # Disable NIB within the Stylus Plugin
        stylus:
            useNib: false


    # =================================
    # Event Configuration

    # Events
    # Allows us to bind listeners to the events that DocPad emits
    # Complete event listing can be found here: http://docpad.org/docs/events
    events:  # example

        # Server Extend
        # Used to add our own custom routes to the server before the docpad routes are added
        serverExtend: (opts) ->
            # Extract the server from the options
            {server} = opts
            docpad = @docpad


    # =================================
    # Environment Configuration

    # Locale Code
    # The code we shall use for our locale (e.g., `en`, `fr`, etc.)
    # If not set, we will attempt to detect the system's locale, if the locale can't be detected or if our locale file is not found for it, we will revert to `en`
    localeCode: null  # default

    # Environment
    # Which environment we should load up
    # If not set, we will default the `NODE_ENV` environment variable, if that isn't set, we will default to `development`
    env: null  # default

    # Environments
    # Allows us to set custom configuration for specific environments
    environments:  # default
        development:  # default
            # Always refresh from server
            maxAge: false  # default

            # Only do these if we are running standalone via the `docpad` executable
            checkVersion: process.argv.length >= 2 and /docpad$/.test(process.argv[1])  # default
            welcome: process.argv.length >= 2 and /docpad$/.test(process.argv[1])  # default
            prompts: process.argv.length >= 2 and /docpad$/.test(process.argv[1])  # default

            # Listen to port 9005 on the development environment
            port: 9005  # example
}

# Export the DocPad Configuration
module.exports = docpadConfig

Environment Configuration File

We also support .env environment configuration file, the format works like so:

.env
KEY=VALUE
KEY2=VALUE2

All key-value pairs are added to the process.env environment variable.

This is useful for setting sensitive information, like API keys, database information, and so on.

If you're using .env using for this purpose, be sure to add .env to your .gitignore file!

Global Configuration File

DocPad will also create a global configuration file located at ~/.docpad.cson (or ~/Dropbox/.docpad.cson if you have Dropbox installed). The ~indicates your home directory (e.g., /Users/balupton), not your project directory.

This file is typically used to store information relating to your DocPad preferences, such as whether or not you have agreed to the TOS and subscribed to our newsletter or not, however it can also be used to load in configuration that you would like applied to all of your projects. Normally, we wouldn't touch this file, however it is useful to on the odd occasion.

For instance, if we wanted to set the default DocPad port to always be 9779 instead of 9778, we can update the global configuration file to include:

docpad.coffee
{
    port: 9779
}

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