Frontmatter Reference

Frontmatter is metadata at the top of Markdown files that controls how pages and sections are rendered.

Format

Frontmatter uses TOML format delimited by +++:

toml

+++
title = "My Page Title"
description = "A brief description"
weight = 10

[extra]
author = "amos"
+++

# Markdown content starts here

Supported Fields

title

Type	Default
`string`	`""` (empty)

The title of the page or section. Available as page.title or section.title in templates.

toml

+++
title = "Getting Started"
+++

description

Type	Default
`string` (optional)	none

An optional description. Available as section.description in templates (sections only).

toml

+++
title = "API Reference"
description = "Complete API documentation for all endpoints"
+++

weight

Type	Default
`integer`	`0`

Sort order for pages and sections. Lower weights appear first. Available as page.weight or section.weight.

toml

+++
title = "Introduction"
weight = 1
+++

toml

+++
title = "Advanced Topics"
weight = 99
+++

template

Type	Default
`string` (optional)	none

Custom template to use for rendering. If not specified, dodeca uses:

index.html for the root section
section.html for other sections
page.html for pages

toml

+++
title = "Landing Page"
template = "landing.html"
+++

[extra]

Type	Default
TOML table	`{}` (empty)

Custom fields accessible as page.extra.* or section.extra.* in templates. Supports any valid TOML types including nested objects.

toml

+++
title = "Blog Post"

[extra]
author = "amos"
reading_time = 5
tags = ["rust", "tutorial"]
metadata = { version = "1.0", updated = "2024-01-15" }
+++

In templates:

jinja

<p>By {{ page.extra.author }}</p>
<p>{{ page.extra.reading_time }} min read</p>
{% for tag in page.extra.tags %}
  <span class="tag">{{ tag }}</span>
{% endfor %}

Complete Example

toml

+++
title = "Comprehensive Guide"
description = "Everything you need to know"
weight = 10
template = "guide.html"

[extra]
author = "amos"
difficulty = "intermediate"
prerequisites = ["basics", "setup"]
sidebar = true
+++

Automatic Fields

These fields are automatically derived and available in templates:

Field	Description
`page.path`	URL path (e.g., `/guide/intro/`)
`page.content`	Rendered HTML content
`page.word_count`	Number of words
`page.reading_time`	Estimated reading time in minutes
`page.toc`	Table of contents (list of headings)
`section.pages`	Child pages sorted by weight
`section.subsections`	Child sections sorted by weight

Notes

Only TOML frontmatter with +++ delimiters is supported (not YAML with ---)
Date fields are not built-in; use [extra] for custom date handling
File modification time is tracked automatically via last_updated