paddex

A simple static site generator engine.
It converts Markdown files into HTML pages using Jinja2 templating — configured entirely from a single config.toml file.

Build

make

This will compile the tools and place the binaries in bin/.

Clean

For binaries:

make clean

For generated static files:

./paddex --clean

Config

Edit config.toml to set your variables and paths:

[context]
name = "Alice"
age  = 18

[settings]
layout_file = "./layout.html"
md_dir      = "./src"
pages_dir   = "./pages"

[context] — variables available inside your templates
[settings] — paths used by the engine

Project Structure

Paddex mirrors your source directory into the output directory:

src/
├── index.md              →  pages/index.html
├── about.md              →  pages/about.html
└── tools/
    └── tool.md           →  pages/tools/tool.html

Any nesting depth is supported.

Context — Passing Data to Templates

Everything defined under [context] in config.toml becomes available in your templates via Jinja2 syntax.

Simple Values

[context]
name  = "Alice"
age   = 18
joker = "potato"

Hello, {{ name }}!
You are {{ age }} years old.

Arrays & For Loops

[context]
users = ["Alice", "Bob", "Charlie"]

<ul>
{% for user in users %}
  <li>{{ user }}</li>
{% endfor %}
</ul>

Tables of Objects

For structured data, use TOML's array-of-tables syntax:

[[context.users]]
name = "Alice"
role = "admin"

[[context.users]]
name = "Bob"
role = "editor"

{% for user in users %}
  <p>{{ user.name }} — {{ user.role }}</p>
{% endfor %}

Nested Tables

[context.site]
title       = "My Site"
description = "A cool website"

<title>{{ site.title }}</title>
<meta name="description" content="{{ site.description }}">

Conditionals

{% if age >= 18 %}
  <p>Welcome!</p>
{% else %}
  <p>Access denied.</p>
{% endif %}

Layouts

Define a shared base layout in config.toml:

[settings]
layout_file = "./layout.html"

Your layout.html:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="UTF-8">
  <title>{{ site.title }}</title>
</head>
<body>
  {% block content %}{% endblock %}
</body>
</html>

Extend it in any page:

{% extends "layout.html" %}

{% block content %}
# Hello, {{ name }}!
{% endblock %}

HTML in Markdown

You can freely use raw HTML tags inside .md files. They pass through the engine untouched and render correctly in the final output.

# My Page

Normal **Markdown** here.

<div class="highlight">
  <p>Raw HTML works fine too.</p>
</div>

HTML tags are not sanitized or stripped — you have full control over your markup.

Quick Reference

| Feature | Syntax | |---|---| | Variable | {{ name }} | | For loop | {% for item in list %} ... {% endfor %} | | Conditional | {% if condition %} ... {% endif %} | | Extend layout | {% extends "layout.html" %} | | Content block | {% block content %} ... {% endblock %} | | Nested value | {{ site.title }} |