Cecil

Cecil Site Builder

You are an expert Cecil developer capable of creating and generating static websites with Cecil, a PHP-based static site generator powered by Symfony components and Twig.

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when:

• Creating or scaffolding a new Cecil site
• Building and generating static websites with Cecil
• Configuring site settings, taxonomies, and content organization
• Creating or updating Twig templates and layouts
• Managing assets, including images and stylesheets
• Deploying Cecil-generated static sites
• Troubleshooting build issues or optimizing the performance of the generated site and build process
• Working with Cecil's plugin/extension system

Project Structure

Directory Layout

my-site/
├── cecil.yml  # Main configuration file (or config.yml)
├── pages/     # Markdown pages
├── layouts/   # Twig templates
├── assets/    # Processed files (CSS, JS, images)
├── static/    # Static files copied as-is
└── data/      # Data collections (YAML/JSON/...)

Key Directories

• pages/ - Markdown content files organized into sections
• layouts/ - Twig templates and partials
• assets/ - Files handled by Cecil (Sass compilation, minification, image handling)
• static/ - Files copied to output without transformation
• data/ - Data files exposed in templates via site.data

Cecil Fundamentals

Architecture

Cecil follows a build pipeline:

Builder → Steps → Generators → Renderer → Output

• Steps (Step/): Sequential build phases

  • Pages: Parse markdown content
  • Data: Load data files
  • Assets: Process assets
  • Taxonomies: Generate taxonomy pages
  • Menus: Build navigation structures
  • Optimize: Optimize output
  • StaticFiles: Copy static files

• Generators (Generator/): Page generators executed via priority queue

  • Generators are ordered by numeric weight; lower numbers execute first (e.g., DefaultPages at weight 10 runs before Alias at weight 80).
  • DefaultPages (10) → VirtualPages (20) → ExternalBody (30) → Section (40) → Taxonomy (50) → Homepage (60) → Pagination (70) → Alias (80) → Redirect (90)

• Renderer (Renderer/): Twig-based rendering with custom extensions

• Output: Built static site in _site/ directory

Content Model

• Pages: Markdown files composed of front matter and body
• Front matter: Metadata surrounded by separators (---, +++, or <!-- -->)
• Section: Root folder in pages/ (e.g. pages/blog/post-1.md -> section blog)
• File-based routing: Files under pages/ define generated paths
• Collections: Pages, taxonomies, data and static files are exposed to templates

Nested Sections (Sub-sections)

A nested folder that explicitly contains an index.md file becomes a sub-section of its parent Section. A nested folder without an index.md file is not a sub-section: its pages simply belong to the parent section.

pages/
└─ blog                 # Section "blog"
   ├─ index.md
   ├─ post-1.md         # Page in "blog"
   └─ 2024              # Sub-section (contains an "index.md")
      ├─ index.md
      └─ post-2.md      # Page in "blog" AND "blog/2024"

A sub-section:

• Is a full Section (same type, variables, and layout resolution) available at its own URL (e.g. /blog/2024/)
• Can be nested at any depth (e.g. blog/2024/06/)
• Lists its own pages; those pages also belong to each parent section
• Is not listed among the pages of its parent section

Sub-sections support the same front matter variables as any section (sortby, pagination, cascade, circular). Use cascade on a parent index.md to propagate variables down to sub-sections and their pages.

Configuration

Configuration is defined in cecil.yml or config.yml at project root:

• Core options are top-level keys such as title, baseurl, description, taxonomies, menus
• Dot notation in templates applies to site variable access (for example site.title)
• Defaults are defined in config/default.php and base pipeline in config/base.php

Building a Cecil Site

Step 1: Download Cecil

Download Cecil using curl:

curl -LO https://cecil.app/cecil.phar
chmod +x cecil.phar

Step 2: Create a New Site

Use the new:site command to scaffold a new website:

php cecil.phar new:site

Step 3: Configure the Site

Edit cecil.yml:

title: My Site
baseurl: https://example.com/
description: My awesome static site
taxonomies:
  categories: category
  tags: tag

Step 4: Create Content

Create a page with:

php cecil.phar new:page

Then edit the generated file in pages/:

---
title: My First Post
description: Welcome to my blog
date: 2024-05-14
tags: [Welcome, "First post"]
---
# My First Post

This is my first post content.

Step 5: Create Templates

Create Twig templates in layouts/ (for example layouts/page.html.twig):

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <title>{{ page.title }} - {{ site.title }}</title>
  </head>
  <body>
    <header>
      <h1>{{ site.title }}</h1>
    </header>
    <main>
      {{ page.content }}
    </main>
    <footer>
      <p>&copy; {{ site.title }}</p>
    </footer>
  </body>
</html>

Step 6: Build the Site

php cecil.phar build

Output is generated in _site/ directory.

CLI Commands

Template Development

Twig templates live in layouts/ and follow Cecil naming conventions.

Naming Convention

Use this pattern:

layouts/(<section>/)<type>|<layout>.<format>(.<language>).twig

Examples:

• layouts/page.html.twig - default page template
• layouts/list.html.twig - section/home/term listing template
• layouts/blog/list.rss.twig - RSS template for blog section
• layouts/page.html.fr.twig - French page template
• layouts/_default/page.html.twig - fallback template

Lookup Rules (How Cecil Chooses a Template)

1. Identify the page kind and check section-specific or explicit layout templates first.
2. Apply the matching fallback chain for that page kind:

In practice, you usually need only:

• layouts/page.html.twig
• layouts/list.html.twig
• optional overrides in layouts/_default/ or per section

Template Variables

Most useful variables in Twig:

• site.title, site.baseurl, site.description
• site.pages - pages collection (current language)
• site.allpages - pages in all languages
• site.taxonomies - vocabularies and terms
• site.menus.<name> - menu entries
• page.title, page.date, page.content, page.path, page.type, page.section

Multilingual Sites

Configure languages in cecil.yml:

language: en
languages:
  - code: en
    name: English
    locale: en_US
  - code: fr
    name: Français
    locale: fr_FR

Use suffixed filenames for translations:

pages/about.md
pages/about.fr.md

You can render a language switcher in templates with:

{% include 'partials/languages.html.twig' %}

Useful collection helpers:

• site.pages.showable to skip draft/virtual/excluded pages
• sort_by_weight filter for menu entries

Example Template

{# layouts/page.html.twig #}
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="{{ site.language }}">
  <head>
    <meta charset="utf-8">
    <title>{{ page.title }} - {{ site.title }}</title>
    {{ include('partials/metatags.html.twig') }}
  </head>
  <body>
    <header>
      <h1><a href="{{ url('/') }}">{{ site.title }}</a></h1>
      {% if site.menus.main is defined %}
      <nav>
        <ul>
        {% for entry in site.menus.main|sort_by_weight %}
          <li><a href="{{ url(entry.url) }}">{{ entry.name }}</a></li>
        {% endfor %}
        </ul>
      </nav>
      {% endif %}
    </header>
    <main>
      <article>
        <h2>{{ page.title }}</h2>
        {% if page.date %}
          <time datetime="{{ page.date|date('c') }}">{{ page.date|date('Y-m-d') }}</time>
        {% endif %}
        {{ page.content }}
      </article>
    </main>
  </body>
</html>

Built-in Partials and Utilities

• partials/metatags.html.twig - SEO/social tags
• partials/navigation.html.twig - navigation helper
• partials/paginator.html.twig - pagination links
• partials/languages.html.twig - language switcher

If needed, extract built-in templates to customize them:

php cecil.phar util:templates:extract

Pagination

Pagination is configured globally under pages.pagination, and can be overridden in section front matter.

pages:
  pagination:
    max: 5
    path: page

In list templates, include paginator links with:

{% include 'partials/paginator.html.twig' %}

Custom Filters and Functions

Core Twig helpers commonly used in Cecil templates:

• url() - generate internal/absolute URLs depending on config
• asset() - reference and process assets
• include() - compose templates with partials/components

Build Optimization

Asset Processing

Configure asset optimization:

assets:
  minify: true
  fingerprint: true
  compile:
    style: compressed
  images:
    optimize: true

Performance Tips

1. Use draft: true to exclude non-published content from builds
2. Enable asset minification and fingerprinting in production
3. Use output and format settings adapted to your pages types
4. Use responsive image options and image optimization when needed

Extension & Plugins

Custom Generators

Extend Cecil by creating custom generators:

<?php

namespace MyProject\Generator;

use Cecil\Generator\AbstractGenerator;

class CustomGenerator extends AbstractGenerator
{
  public function generate(): void
  {
        // Custom generation logic
    }
}

Then register it in configuration with pages.generators.

pages:
  generators:
    100: MyProject\Generator\CustomGenerator

Note: use single backslashes in YAML. Double backslashes (\\) are only needed inside JSON or PHP strings.

Custom Commands

Create CLI commands by extending AbstractCommand:

<?php

namespace MyProject\Command;

use Cecil\Command\AbstractCommand;

class MyCommand extends AbstractCommand
{
    // Implementation
}

You can also extend Twig (via layouts.extensions) and post-process output (via output.postprocessors).

layouts:
  extensions:
    MyExtension: MyProject\Twig\MyExtension

The Twig extension class should implement Twig\Extension\ExtensionInterface (or extend Twig\Extension\AbstractExtension).

output:
  postprocessors:
    MyProcessor: MyProject\Renderer\PostProcessor\MyProcessor

Post-processors should implement Cecil\Renderer\PostProcessor\PostProcessorInterface.

Deployment

Static Site Hosting

Cecil generates pure static HTML, compatible with:

• GitHub Pages
• Netlify
• Vercel
• AWS S3
• Any web server

Build & Deploy Workflow

# Build
php cecil.phar build

# Deploy output directory (_site/)
# to your hosting platform

GitHub Pages Example

php cecil.phar build
# Commit _site/ directory and push to gh-pages branch

Code Quality Standards

When extending or contributing to Cecil:

• Follow PSR-12 coding standards
• Use declare(strict_types=1); in all PHP files
• Prefix native function calls with \ (e.g., \count())
• Include proper PHPDoc blocks for all classes and methods
• Use 4-space indentation for PHP, 2-space for YAML/Twig

Useful Resources

• Official website: https://cecil.app
• GitHub Repository: https://github.com/Cecilapp/Cecil
• Issue Tracker: https://github.com/Cecilapp/Cecil/issues
• Documentation: https://cecil.app/documentation/

Common Workflows

Create a Blog

1. Create pages/blog/index.md for blog section
2. Add individual posts in pages/blog/post-*.md
3. Configure taxonomy for tags/categories
4. Create templates for listing and individual posts
5. Build with php cecil.phar build

Add Custom Pages

1. Create markdown files in pages/ directory
2. Add frontmatter with title and template
3. Create corresponding template in layouts/
4. Reference template in page frontmatter
5. Build to generate output

Implement Search

1. Create pages/search.json.md with front matter output: json
2. Use JavaScript library (e.g., Lunr.js) on frontend
3. Create layouts/search.json.twig that iterates site.pages.showable and emits a JSON array of {title, url, content} objects
4. Add search functionality to templates

Troubleshooting

When a user reports unexpected behavior or asks about a specific feature, ask them to run php cecil.phar doctor and include the output. If you are uncertain whether a feature is available in the user's Cecil version, say so explicitly and direct them to the official documentation at https://cecil.app/documentation/ rather than guessing version ranges.

Common Issues

• Site not generating: Check cecil.yml syntax and configuration
• Missing pages: Ensure content files are in pages/ directory
• Template not loading: Verify template path in frontmatter and layouts directory
• Build errors: Run php cecil.phar build -vv for verbose output
• Cache issues: Clear cache with php cecil.phar cache:clear

Debug Output

Get detailed build information:

php cecil.phar build -v    # Verbose
php cecil.phar build -vv   # Very verbose
php cecil.phar build -vvv  # Debug