> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docpad.bevry.me/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docpad.bevry.me/core/template-data.md).

# Template Data & Helpers

### Standard Template Data <a href="#standard-template-data" id="standard-template-data"></a>

* `site` — an object of several site-specific properties, contains:
  * `date` — a JavaScript date object for the time that the website was last generated
* `document` — a JavaScript Object containing the serialised values of our `documentModel` (e.g., `documentModel.toJSON()`)
* `req` — dynamic documents will also have this available to the, it is a reference to the current request object created by the [ExpressJS](http://expressjs.com/) framework
* `content` — when rendering layouts the `content` template data variable contains the contents of the rendered child content to be injected into the current layout for rendering

### Standard Template Helpers <a href="#standard-template-helpers" id="standard-template-helpers"></a>

* `include(relativePath)` return the content of another file at the given path
* `getEnvironment()` — a string of the current environment(s) we are running under
* `getEnvironments()` — an array of the current environments we are running under
* `referencesOthers()` — when called, will set the document's `referenceOthers` [meta data](/core/meta-data.md) property to `true`
* `getDocument()` — a reference to the current document we are rendering, documents are defined by the [Document Class](https://github.com/bevry/docpad/blob/master/src/lib/models/document.coffee) which extends the [File Class](https://github.com/bevry/docpad/blob/master/src/lib/models/file.coffee) which extends a [Backbone Model](http://backbonejs.org/#Model)
* `getBlock(blockName)` — valid block names are:
  * `scripts` — a collection of scripts to be outputted
  * `styles` — a collection of styles to be outputted
  * `meta` — a collection of meta to be outputted
* `getPath(path,parentPath)` get a path with respect to the path of the current document

#### Querying <a href="#querying" id="querying"></a>

* `getDatabase()` — a [Query-Engine](https://github.com/bevry/query-engine) collection of all our documents
* `getCollection(collectionName)` — a [Query-Engine](https://github.com/bevry/query-engine) collection of a particular sub collection, built in collections are:
  * `documents` — for all documents
  * `files` — for all files
  * `layouts` — for all files
  * `html` — for all documents and files that result in an HTML file
  * `stylesheet` — for all stylesheet files (includes stylesheet pre-processor files)
* `getFiles(query, sorting, paging)` get all files that match the arguments, caches the result collection
* `getFile(query, sorting, paging)` get a single file that matches the arguments
* `getFilesAtPath(path, sorting, paging)` get a file at the given path, path is processed through `getPath`
* `getFileAtPath(path, sorting, paging)` get a single file at the given path, path is processed through `getPath`
* `getFileById(id, sorting, paging)` get a single file that has the specified id