Eleventy Documentation

RSS

2026-10-01T22:09:37Z

RSS Plugin

On this page

A pack of plugins for generating an RSS (or Atom or JSON) feed using the Nunjucks templating syntax.

GitHub.

Feature highlights

URLs are normalized to absolute URLs, pointing to your hosted domain for maximum feed reader compatibility. Read more about the dangers of relative URLs in your feeds on CSS Tricks (Related: #36).
Existing project Transforms are applied to feed entries (e.g. Image HTML Transform, <base>, InputPath to URL, etc.) If you’re using a --pathprefix in your project, the URLs in your feed content are normalized for you.

Since RSS Plugin v2.0, this plugin offers two options to create feeds in your project:

Virtual templates let you create a feed with a few lines of configuration. (This is easier, more abstracted.)
Manual templates need more configuration and a template file. (This requires more setup, but offers more control.)

Installation

Available on npm.

npm install @11ty/eleventy-plugin-rss

v3 of this plugin is ESM-only and requires Eleventy v3.0 or newer.
v2 of this plugin requires Eleventy v3.0 or newer.
v1 of this plugin is compatible with Eleventy 0.11 or newer.

Upgrading from v2

Version 3 of this plugin is ESM and requires Eleventy v3 or newer. It does not require ESM projects or an ESM config file.
CommonJS configuration files on Node 20.19+ must use require("@11ty/eleventy-plugin-rss").default. Older versions of Node need dynamic import().
Breaking change in v3.0: The helper functions (feedPlugin, dateToRfc3339, dateToRfc822, getNewestCollectionItemDate, absoluteUrl, and convertHtmlToAbsoluteUrls) are only available as named exports (not as properties of the default export).

Virtual Template

Added in v3.0.0Added in RSS 2.0.0 This method creates a feed template directly from your plugin configuration, without requiring additional files in your project. The default template uses Nunjucks, so make sure njk is included templateFormats in your Eleventy config. Read more about Virtual Templates.

Added in RSS 3.0.0Version 3 of this plugin is now using ESM. This requires Eleventy v3 or newer. If you’re using a CommonJS configuration file on Node 20.19 or newer, use require("@11ty/eleventy-plugin-rss").default. On older versions of Node (< 20.19), you’ll need to use dynamic import() instead of require.

eleventy.config.js

ESM CommonJS

import { feedPlugin } from "@11ty/eleventy-plugin-rss";

export default function (eleventyConfig) {
	eleventyConfig.addPlugin(feedPlugin, {
		type: "atom", // or "rss", "json"
		outputPath: "/feed.xml",
		collection: {
			name: "posts", // iterate over `collections.posts`
			limit: 10,     // 0 means no limit
			sort: "auto",  // or "descending", "ascending"
		},
		metadata: {
			language: "en",
			title: "Blog Title",
			subtitle: "This is a longer description about your blog.",
			base: "https://example.com/",
			author: {
				name: "Your Name",
				email: "", // Optional
			}
		}
	});
};

const { feedPlugin } = require("@11ty/eleventy-plugin-rss");

module.exports = function (eleventyConfig) {
	eleventyConfig.addPlugin(feedPlugin, {
		type: "atom", // or "rss", "json"
		outputPath: "/feed.xml",
		collection: {
			name: "posts", // iterate over `collections.posts`
			limit: 10,     // 0 means no limit
			sort: "auto",  // or "descending", "ascending"
		},
		metadata: {
			language: "en",
			title: "Blog Title",
			subtitle: "This is a longer description about your blog.",
			base: "https://example.com/",
			author: {
				name: "Your Name",
				email: "", // Optional
			}
		}
	});
};

This configuration is the only step for the Virtual Template method. If you need additional control over the template output, you can use the Manual Template method.

Expand for full options list

type: (optional) One of "atom" (default), "rss", or "json"
outputPath: (required, default: /feed.xml) Where to write the template in the output directory.
inputPath: (optional, default based on metadata.title) Change where the virtual template pretends to live on the file system (e.g. if you want project directory data files to apply via the Data Cascade)
collection.name: Collection entries to iterate over to populate your feed (e.g. name: "posts" for collections.posts)
collection.limit: Number of entries to include. (Use 0 for no limit.)
collection.sort: Added in RSS 3.1.0 (optional) Order of feed entries, applied before collection.limit. Any other value throws an error.
- "auto" (default): Reverses the collection, assuming Eleventy’s default oldest-first order.
- "descending": Sorts by date, newest first, regardless of the collection’s order. Use this for custom collections already sorted newest-first, which otherwise produce a feed of your oldest posts.
- "ascending": Sorts by date, oldest first.
metadata: Content used to populate the feed boilerplate. metadata.subtitle is used for the feed description.
metadata.icon, metadata.logo: Added in RSS 3.0.0 (optional) URLs to a feed icon and logo.
stylesheet: URL to an XSL stylesheet to change how the feed is rendered in the browser (only for Atom and RSS feeds).
script: Added in RSS 3.0.0 URL to an XSLT polyfill script, injected into Atom and RSS feeds.
templateData, defaults to {}: Additional data to apply to the template (e.g. to add your feed to the Navigation plugin)

Added in RSS 3.0.0 Use summary in a post’s data (post.data.summary) to populate the entry <summary> (Atom) or <description> (RSS).

Virtual Template with `addTemplate`

Added in RSS 3.1.0 getFeedTemplate returns the content and data for the same feed feedPlugin creates, for use with $config.addTemplate. This unlocks unlimited feeds of the same type. The feed template uses filters from the main plugin, make sure you add the plugin (via rssPlugin) first.

eleventy.config.js

ESM CommonJS

import { rssPlugin, getFeedTemplate } from "@11ty/eleventy-plugin-rss";

export default function ($config) {
	$config.addPlugin(rssPlugin);

	let { content, data } = getFeedTemplate({
		type: "atom", // or "rss", "json"
		outputPath: "/posts.xml",
		collection: {
			name: "posts",
			limit: 10,
		},
		metadata: {
			language: "en",
			title: "Blog Title",
			subtitle: "This is a longer description about your blog.",
			base: "https://example.com/",
			author: {
				name: "Your Name",
			},
		},
	});

	$config.addTemplate("feeds/posts.njk", content, data);
};

const { rssPlugin, getFeedTemplate } = require("@11ty/eleventy-plugin-rss");

module.exports = function ($config) {
	$config.addPlugin(rssPlugin);

	let { content, data } = getFeedTemplate({
		type: "atom", // or "rss", "json"
		outputPath: "/posts.xml",
		collection: {
			name: "posts",
			limit: 10,
		},
		metadata: {
			language: "en",
			title: "Blog Title",
			subtitle: "This is a longer description about your blog.",
			base: "https://example.com/",
			author: {
				name: "Your Name",
			},
		},
	});

	$config.addTemplate("feeds/posts.njk", content, data);
};

getFeedTemplate accepts the same options as the Virtual Template method, except inputPath: pass the path as the first argument to addTemplate instead. You can extend data before passing it in, e.g. { ...data, eleventyNavigation: { key: "Feed" } }.

Manual Template

Configuration

Open up your Eleventy config file (probably eleventy.config.js) and use addPlugin:

eleventy.config.js

ESM CommonJS

import { rssPlugin } from "@11ty/eleventy-plugin-rss";

export default function (eleventyConfig) {
	eleventyConfig.addPlugin(rssPlugin);
};

const { rssPlugin } = require("@11ty/eleventy-plugin-rss");

module.exports = function (eleventyConfig) {
	eleventyConfig.addPlugin(rssPlugin);
};

Expand to see full options list

Added in RSS 1.1.0 Advanced control of PostHTML rendering options via posthtmlRenderOptions.

eleventy.config.js

ESM CommonJS

import { rssPlugin } from "@11ty/eleventy-plugin-rss";

export default function (eleventyConfig) {
	eleventyConfig.addPlugin(rssPlugin, {
		posthtmlRenderOptions: {
			closingSingleTag: "default", // opt-out of <img/>-style XHTML single tags
		},
	});
};

const { rssPlugin } = require("@11ty/eleventy-plugin-rss");

module.exports = function (eleventyConfig) {
	eleventyConfig.addPlugin(rssPlugin, {
		posthtmlRenderOptions: {
			closingSingleTag: "default", // opt-out of <img/>-style XHTML single tags
		},
	});
};

Supplies the following Nunjucks Filters

getNewestCollectionItemDate: Gets the most recently updated content in the collection. Use with dateToRfc3339 to properly format the Date for the top-level <updated> element. Added in RSS 1.1.0
dateToRfc3339: format a Date for use in a <entry><updated> element. (Atom feeds) Added in RSS 1.1.0
dateToRfc822: format a Date for use in a <pubDate> element. (RSS feeds) Added in RSS 1.2.0

Less Important Filters

Deprecated absoluteUrl: For performance reasons, the renderTransforms filter is recommended instead, making use of the HTML <base> plugin. Converts a single URL (relative or absolute path) to a full absolute URL including protocol, domain, full path.
Deprecated htmlToAbsoluteUrls: For performance reasons, the renderTransforms filter is recommended instead, making use of the HTML <base> plugin. (async) Transforms all of the URLs in a block of HTML with absoluteUrl above. Uses posthtml-urls with a[href], video[src], audio[src], source, img[src], [srcset] and a whole bunch more.
⚠️ Removed in RSS v2.0.0 rssLastUpdatedDate, poorly named (works with Atom and JSON feeds, not RSS). Use getNewestCollectionItemDate | dateToRfc3339 instead.
⚠️ Removed in RSS v2.0.0 rssDate, poorly named (works with Atom and JSON feeds, not RSS). Use dateToRfc3339 instead.

Use with other template languages

Added in RSS 1.1.0 This plugin exports dateToRfc3339, dateToRfc822 (Added in RSS 1.2.0), getNewestCollectionItemDate, absoluteUrl, and convertHtmlToAbsoluteUrls functions so you can use with your own filters. For example:

eleventy.config.js

ESM CommonJS

import { dateToRfc3339, dateToRfc822 } from "@11ty/eleventy-plugin-rss";

export default function ($config) {
	$config.addLiquidFilter("dateToRfc3339", dateToRfc3339);

	// New in RSS 1.2.0
	$config.addLiquidFilter("dateToRfc822", dateToRfc822);
};

const { dateToRfc3339, dateToRfc822 } = require("@11ty/eleventy-plugin-rss");

module.exports = function ($config) {
	$config.addLiquidFilter("dateToRfc3339", dateToRfc3339);

	// New in RSS 1.2.0
	$config.addLiquidFilter("dateToRfc822", dateToRfc822);
};

Do keep in mind that escaping HTML content is a feature provided as part of Nunjucks. Moving to another template language may require a different option for escaping (for example, html-entities).

Sample Feed templates

Copy and paste this template and modify the JSON metadata to match your feed’s needs. Make sure collections.posts matches the template collection you want to provide a feed for.

The following feed samples require RSS Plugin v2.0 or newer. Samples for RSS Plugin v1 are available on older versions of the docs.

Atom RSS JSON

---json
{
  "permalink": "feed.xml",
  "eleventyExcludeFromCollections": true,
  "metadata": {
    "title": "My Blog about Boats",
    "description": "I am writing about my experiences as a naval navel-gazer.",
    "language": "en",
    "base": "https://example.com/",
    "author": {
      "name": "Boaty McBoatFace"
    }
  }
}
---
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<feed xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xml:lang="{{ metadata.language or page.lang }}">
  <title>{{ metadata.title }}</title>
  <subtitle>{{ metadata.description }}</subtitle>
  <link href="{{ permalink | htmlBaseUrl(metadata.base) }}" rel="self" />
  <link href="{{ metadata.base | addPathPrefixToFullUrl }}" />
  <updated>{{ collections.posts | getNewestCollectionItemDate | dateToRfc3339 }}</updated>
  <id>{{ metadata.base | addPathPrefixToFullUrl }}</id>
  <author>
    <name>{{ metadata.author.name }}</name>
  </author>
  {%- for post in collections.posts | reverse %}
  {%- set absolutePostUrl %}{{ post.url | htmlBaseUrl(metadata.base) }}{% endset %}
  <entry>
    <title>{{ post.data.title }}</title>
    <link href="{{ absolutePostUrl }}" />
    <updated>{{ post.date | dateToRfc3339 }}</updated>
    <id>{{ absolutePostUrl }}</id>
    <content type="html">{{ post.content | renderTransforms(post.data.page, metadata.base) }}</content>
  </entry>
  {%- endfor %}
</feed>

---json
{
  "permalink": "feed.xml",
  "eleventyExcludeFromCollections": true,
  "metadata": {
    "title": "My Blog about Boats",
    "description": "I am writing about my experiences as a naval navel-gazer.",
    "language": "en",
    "base": "https://example.com/",
    "author": {
      "name": "Boaty McBoatFace"
    }
  }
}
---
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<rss version="2.0" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xml:base="{{ metadata.base | addPathPrefixToFullUrl }}" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom">
  <channel>
    <title>{{ metadata.title }}</title>
    <link>{{ metadata.base | addPathPrefixToFullUrl }}</link>
    <atom:link href="{{ permalink | htmlBaseUrl(metadata.base) }}" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
    <description>{{ metadata.description }}</description>
    <language>{{ metadata.language or page.lang }}</language>
    {%- for post in collections.posts | reverse %}
    {%- set absolutePostUrl = post.url | htmlBaseUrl(metadata.base) %}
    <item>
      <title>{{ post.data.title }}</title>
      <link>{{ absolutePostUrl }}</link>
      <description>{{ post.content | renderTransforms(post.data.page, metadata.base) }}</description>
      <pubDate>{{ post.date | dateToRfc822 }}</pubDate>
      <dc:creator>{{ metadata.author.name }}</dc:creator>
      <guid>{{ absolutePostUrl }}</guid>
    </item>
    {%- endfor %}
  </channel>
</rss>

---json
{
  "permalink": "feed.json",
  "eleventyExcludeFromCollections": true,
  "metadata": {
    "title": "My Blog about Boats",
    "description": "I am writing about my experiences as a naval navel-gazer.",
    "language": "en",
    "base": "https://example.com/",
    "author": {
      "name": "Boaty McBoatFace"
    }
  }
}
---
{
  "version": "https://jsonfeed.org/version/1.1",
  "title": "{{ metadata.title }}",
  "language": "{{ metadata.language or page.lang }}",
  "home_page_url": "{{ metadata.base | addPathPrefixToFullUrl }}",
  "feed_url": "{{ permalink | htmlBaseUrl(metadata.base) }}",
  "description": "{{ metadata.description }}",
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "{{ metadata.author.name }}"
    }
  ],
  "items": [
    {%- for post in collections.posts | reverse %}
    {%- set absolutePostUrl %}{{ post.url | htmlBaseUrl(metadata.base) }}{% endset %}
    {
      "id": "{{ absolutePostUrl }}",
      "url": "{{ absolutePostUrl }}",
      "title": "{{ post.data.title }}",
      "content_html": {% if post.content %}{{ post.content | renderTransforms(post.data.page, metadata.base) | dump | safe }}{% else %}""{% endif %},
      "date_published": "{{ post.date | dateToRfc3339 }}"
    }
    {% if not loop.last %},{% endif %}
    {%- endfor %}
  ]
}

Place the file in your input directory, and give it a .njk extension. (For example: src/feed.njk or src/feed.json.) If your input directory is src, the file will be transformed into a feed.xml (or feed.json if you’re using the JSON variant) file at the root of your website when Eleventy builds. It can then be useful to check the file against a feed validator, such as the W3C Feed Validation Service to make sure that the output was good.

Ultimately, your feed will be available at https://yourwebsite.com/feed.xml (or https://yourwebsite.com/feed.json).

Community Plugins

eleventy-xml-plugin for Liquid.

Watch and Serve

2026-09-21T20:36:04Z

Watch Files and use Development Servers

On this page

Running Eleventy with --serve starts a hot reloading local development server for you.

A development server is optional! Using --watch will run Eleventy (and re-run when you save your files) without a server.

Eleventy Dev Server Added in v2.0.0

Eleventy bundles its own dedicated Development Server. In versions prior to v2, we used Browsersync, which you can still use with Eleventy if you’d like.

For most use cases, the default behavior of this server should handle most things automatically. Changing files in your local environment will re-run an Eleventy build and refresh any active web browser sessions on the local site.

Add Your Own Watch Targets

The addWatchTarget config method allows you to manually add a file or directory for Eleventy to watch. When the file or the files in this directory change Eleventy will trigger a build. This is useful if Eleventy is not aware of your project-specific external dependencies.

eleventy.config.js

ESM CommonJS

export default function(eleventyConfig) {
	eleventyConfig.addWatchTarget("./src/scss/");
};

module.exports = function(eleventyConfig) {
	eleventyConfig.addWatchTarget("./src/scss/");
};

Advanced usage note: This works with chokidar under the hood and chokidar uses picomatch for globbing:

Both **/*.(png|jpeg) and **/*.{png,jpeg} are valid globs to matches any png or jpeg file in your project.

Reset configuration Added in v3.0.0

We do automatically look for dependencies in your configuration file based on JavaScript require or import—watch targets not included in that dependency graph will not reset or re-run your configuration automatically.

To reset your configuration for a specific watch target, use the resetConfig option.

eleventy.config.js

ESM CommonJS

export default function(eleventyConfig) {
	// You probably don’t need this
	eleventyConfig.addWatchTarget("./_config/**", {
		resetConfig: true
	});
};

module.exports = function(eleventyConfig) {
	// You probably don’t need this
	eleventyConfig.addWatchTarget("./_config/**", {
		resetConfig: true
	});
};

Reload without running a build

Use the watch option configurable with Eleventy Dev Server to refresh your local browser when local files change without triggering an Eleventy build. This is useful to decouple build processes outside of Eleventy.

Ignore Watching Files

`.gitignore`

Eleventy will ignore changes to files or folders listed in your .gitignore file by default, unless setUseGitIgnore is turned off.

Configuration API Added in v2.0.0

Previously, the configuration API ignores for template processing were also used as ignores for watching (e.g. eleventyConfig.ignores.add("README.md")).

New in v2.0.0, watch target ignores now have their own dedicated API:

eleventy.config.js

ESM CommonJS

export default function(eleventyConfig) {
	// Do not rebuild when README.md changes (You can use a glob here too)
	eleventyConfig.watchIgnores.add("README.md");

	// Or delete entries too
	eleventyConfig.watchIgnores.delete("README.md");
};

module.exports = function(eleventyConfig) {
	// Do not rebuild when README.md changes (You can use a glob here too)
	eleventyConfig.watchIgnores.add("README.md");

	// Or delete entries too
	eleventyConfig.watchIgnores.delete("README.md");
};

The watchIgnores Set starts with a default **/node_modules/** entry.

Watch JavaScript Dependencies

When in --watch mode, Eleventy will spider the dependencies of your JavaScript Templates (.11ty.js), JavaScript Data Files (.11tydata.js or _data/**/*.js), or Configuration File (usually eleventy.config.js) to watch those files too. Files in node_modules directories are ignored. This feature is enabled by default.

eleventy.config.js

ESM CommonJS

export default function(eleventyConfig) {
	// Enabled by default
	eleventyConfig.setWatchJavaScriptDependencies(false);
};

module.exports = function(eleventyConfig) {
	// Enabled by default
	eleventyConfig.setWatchJavaScriptDependencies(false);
};

Add delay before re-running

A hardcoded amount of time Eleventy will wait before triggering a new build when files have changes during --watch or --serve modes. You probably won’t need this, but is useful in some edge cases with other task runners (Gulp, Grunt, etc).

eleventy.config.js

ESM CommonJS

export default function(eleventyConfig) {
	// default is 0
	eleventyConfig.setWatchThrottleWaitTime(100); // in milliseconds
};

module.exports = function(eleventyConfig) {
	// default is 0
	eleventyConfig.setWatchThrottleWaitTime(100); // in milliseconds
};

Advanced `chokidar` Configuration

Advanced chokidar options can be defined using the setChokidarConfig configuration API method:

eleventy.config.js

ESM CommonJS

export default function(eleventyConfig) {
	eleventyConfig.setChokidarConfig({
		usePolling: true,
		interval: 500,
	});
};

module.exports = function(eleventyConfig) {
	eleventyConfig.setChokidarConfig({
		usePolling: true,
		interval: 500,
	});
};

WARNING

If you’re using Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) and your project exists outside of your home directory (~), you will likely want to use the usePolling feature to ensure watching works correctly. This is a WSL limitation.

Virtual Templates

2026-09-21T20:36:04Z

Virtual Templates Added in v3.0.0

In addition to template files in your input directory, Eleventy can also process virtual templates defined in your configuration file (or plugins). Related GitHub #1612.

The RSS plugin offers a virtual template to add feeds to your project.

API

eleventyConfig.addTemplate(virtualPath, content, data = {});

virtualPath: used to determine the template language and data cascade for this template. This path is relative to your project’s input directory.
content: usually a string, but maybe JavaScript (if using an 11ty.js template). Can include front matter if the template language supports it.
data: a data object tied to the template. A little more ergonomic than front matter but functionally the same.

Example

Markdown, HTML (via Liquid) Layout

eleventy.config.js

ESM CommonJS

export default function(eleventyConfig) {
	// Create content templates Files
	eleventyConfig.addTemplate("virtual.md", `# Hello`, {
        	layout: "virtual.html"
	});

	// Works great with Layouts too
	eleventyConfig.addTemplate("_includes/virtual.html", `<!-- Layout -->{{ content }}`);
};

module.exports = function(eleventyConfig) {
	// Create content templates Files
	eleventyConfig.addTemplate("virtual.md", `# Hello`, {
        	layout: "virtual.html"
	});

	// Works great with Layouts too
	eleventyConfig.addTemplate("_includes/virtual.html", `<!-- Layout -->{{ content }}`);
};

JavaScript

Any of the JavaScript shapes on 11ty.js templates are also supported here.

eleventy.config.js

ESM CommonJS

export default function(eleventyConfig) {
	// Create content templates Files
	eleventyConfig.addTemplate("virtual.11ty.js", function(data) {
		return `<h1>Hello</h1>`;
	});
};

module.exports = function(eleventyConfig) {
	// Create content templates Files
	eleventyConfig.addTemplate("virtual.11ty.js", function(data) {
		return `<h1>Hello</h1>`;
	});
};

Release History

2026-09-21T20:36:04Z

Release History

You can also browse the latest releases on:

Major Branches

build.awesome.me for v4 (Currently in alpha)
www.11ty.dev for v3 (Latest Stable)
v2.11ty.dev
v1.11ty.dev
v0.11ty.dev

Full Release History

×226 releases total since November 26, 2017

Version	Docs	Date	More…
`v4.0.0-alpha.10` Prerelease		2026 Jul 01	GitHub Release
`v4.0.0-alpha.9` Prerelease		2026 Jul 01	GitHub Release
`v4.0.0-alpha.8` Prerelease		2026 Jun 18	GitHub Release
`v4.0.0-alpha.7` Prerelease		2026 Mar 20	GitHub Release
`v4.0.0-alpha.6` Prerelease		2025 Dec 11	GitHub Release
`v4.0.0-alpha.5` Prerelease		2025 Dec 05	GitHub Release
`v4.0.0-alpha.4` Prerelease		2025 Aug 01	GitHub Release
`v4.0.0-alpha.3` Prerelease		2025 Jul 30	GitHub Release
`v4.0.0-alpha.2` Prerelease		2025 Jul 30	GitHub Release
`v4.0.0-alpha.1` Prerelease		2025 Jul 30	GitHub Release
`v3.1.6`	Docs	2026 Jun 02	GitHub Release
`v3.1.5`	Docs	2026 Mar 18	GitHub Release
`v3.1.4`	Docs	2026 Mar 18	GitHub Release
`v3.1.3`	Docs	2026 Mar 18	GitHub Release
`v3.1.2`	Docs	2025 Jun 24	GitHub Release
`v3.1.2-beta.4` Prerelease		2025 Jun 23	GitHub Release
`v3.1.2-beta.3` Prerelease		2025 Jun 20	GitHub Release
`v3.1.2-beta.2` Prerelease		2025 Jun 18	GitHub Release
`v3.1.2-beta.1` Prerelease		2025 Jun 16	GitHub Release
`v3.1.1`	Docs	2025 Jun 03	GitHub Release
`v3.1.1-beta.3` Prerelease		2025 May 31	GitHub Release
`v3.1.1-beta.2` Prerelease		2025 May 31	GitHub Release
`v3.1.1-beta.1` Prerelease		2025 May 30	GitHub Release
`v3.1.0`	Docs	2025 May 13	GitHub Release
`v3.1.0-beta.1` Prerelease		2025 Apr 18	GitHub Release
`v3.1.0-alpha.1` Prerelease		2025 Apr 14	GitHub Release
`v3.0.1-alpha.5` Prerelease		2025 Mar 14	GitHub Release
`v3.0.1-alpha.4` Prerelease		2025 Jan 29	GitHub Release
`v3.0.1-alpha.3` Prerelease		2025 Jan 14	GitHub Release
`v3.0.1-alpha.2` Prerelease		2025 Jan 14	GitHub Release
`v3.0.1-alpha.1` Prerelease		2024 Dec 20	GitHub Release
`v3.0.0`	Docs	2024 Oct 01	GitHub Release
`v3.0.0-beta.2` Prerelease		2024 Sep 30	GitHub Release
`v3.0.0-beta.1` Prerelease		2024 Jul 31	GitHub Release
`v3.0.0-alpha.20` Prerelease		2024 Sep 11	GitHub Release
`v3.0.0-alpha.19` Prerelease		2024 Sep 04	GitHub Release
`v3.0.0-alpha.18` Prerelease		2024 Jul 30	GitHub Release
`v3.0.0-alpha.17` Prerelease		2024 Jul 16	GitHub Release
`v3.0.0-alpha.16` Prerelease		2024 Jul 09	GitHub Release
`v3.0.0-alpha.15` Prerelease		2024 Jul 09	GitHub Release
`v3.0.0-alpha.14` Prerelease		2024 Jun 27	GitHub Release
`v3.0.0-alpha.13` Prerelease		2024 Jun 12	GitHub Release
`v3.0.0-alpha.12` Prerelease		2024 Jun 11	GitHub Release
`v3.0.0-alpha.11` Prerelease		2024 Jun 10	GitHub Release
`v3.0.0-alpha.10` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v3.0.0-alpha.9` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v3.0.0-alpha.7` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v3.0.0-alpha.5` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v3.0.0-alpha.4` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v3.0.0-alpha.3` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v3.0.0-alpha.2` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v3.0.0-alpha.1` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v2.0.2-alpha.2` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v2.0.2-alpha.1` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v2.0.1`	Docs	2023 Mar 28	GitHub Release
`v2.0.1-beta.2` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v2.0.1-beta.1` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v2.0.1-alpha.3` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v2.0.1-alpha.2` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v2.0.1-alpha.1` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v2.0.0`	Docs	2023 Feb 08	GitHub Release
`v2.0.0-canary.35` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v2.0.0-canary.34` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v2.0.0-canary.33` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v2.0.0-canary.32` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v2.0.0-canary.31` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v2.0.0-canary.30` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v2.0.0-canary.29` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v2.0.0-canary.28` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v2.0.0-canary.27` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v2.0.0-canary.26` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v2.0.0-canary.25` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v2.0.0-canary.24` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v2.0.0-canary.23` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v2.0.0-canary.22` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v2.0.0-canary.21` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v2.0.0-canary.20` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v2.0.0-canary.19` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v2.0.0-canary.18` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v2.0.0-canary.17` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v2.0.0-canary.15` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v2.0.0-canary.14` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v2.0.0-canary.13` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v2.0.0-canary.12` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v2.0.0-canary.11` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v2.0.0-canary.10` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v2.0.0-canary.9` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v2.0.0-canary.8` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v2.0.0-canary.7` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v2.0.0-canary.6` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v2.0.0-canary.5` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v2.0.0-canary.4` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v2.0.0-canary.3` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v2.0.0-canary.2` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v2.0.0-canary.1` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v2.0.0-beta.3` Prerelease		2023 Jan 30	GitHub Release
`v2.0.0-beta.2` Prerelease		2023 Jan 26	GitHub Release
`v2.0.0-beta.1` Prerelease		2023 Jan 18	GitHub Release
`v1.0.2`	Docs	2022 Aug 16	GitHub Release
`v1.0.1`	Docs	2022 Apr 18	GitHub Release
`v1.0.1-canary.4` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.1-canary.3` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.1-canary.2` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.1-canary.1` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0`	Docs	2022 Jan 08	GitHub Release
`v1.0.0-canary.50` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-canary.49` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-canary.48` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
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`v1.0.0-canary.45` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-canary.44` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
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`v1.0.0-canary.42` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-canary.41` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-canary.40` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-canary.39` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-canary.38` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-canary.37` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-canary.36` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-canary.35` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-canary.34` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-canary.33` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-canary.32` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-canary.31` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-canary.30` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-canary.29` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-canary.28` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-canary.27` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-canary.26` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-canary.25` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-canary.24` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-canary.23` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-canary.22` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-canary.21` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-canary.20` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-canary.19` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-canary.18` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-canary.17` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-canary.16` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-canary.15` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-canary.14` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-canary.13` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-canary.12` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-canary.11` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-canary.10` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-canary.9` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-canary.8` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-canary.7` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-canary.6` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-canary.5` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-canary.4` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-canary.3` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-canary.1` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-beta.10` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-beta.9` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-beta.8` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-beta.7` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-beta.6` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-beta.5` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-beta.4` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-beta.3` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-beta.2` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-beta.1` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v0.12.1`	Docs	2021 Mar 19	GitHub Release
`v0.12.0`	Docs	2021 Mar 19	GitHub Release
`v0.11.1`	Docs	2020 Oct 22	GitHub Release
`v0.11.0`	Docs	2020 May 10	GitHub Release
`v0.11.0-beta.4` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v0.11.0-beta.3` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v0.11.0-beta.2` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v0.11.0-beta.1` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v0.10.0`	Docs	2020 Jan 07	GitHub Release
`v0.10.0-beta.2` Prerelease		2020 Jan 04	GitHub Release
`v0.10.0-beta.1` Prerelease		2019 Dec 09	GitHub Release
`v0.9.0`	Docs	2019 Aug 27	GitHub Release
`v0.9.0-beta.3` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v0.9.0-beta.2` Prerelease		2019 Aug 17	GitHub Release
`v0.9.0-beta.1` Prerelease		2019 Jul 26	GitHub Release
`v0.8.3`	Docs	2019 May 04	GitHub Release
`v0.8.2`	Docs	2019 Apr 09	GitHub Release
`v0.8.1`	Docs	2019 Apr 06	GitHub Release
`v0.8.0`	Docs	2019 Apr 04	GitHub Release
`v0.8.0-beta.1` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v0.7.1`	Docs	2019 Jan 12	GitHub Release
`v0.7.0`	Docs	2019 Jan 11	GitHub Release
`v0.6.0`	Docs	2018 Nov 25	GitHub Release
`v0.5.4`	Docs	2018 Sep 28	GitHub Release
`v0.5.3`	Docs	2018 Aug 29	GitHub Release
`v0.5.2`	Docs	2018 Aug 15	GitHub Release
`v0.5.1`	Docs	2018 Aug 15	GitHub Release
`v0.5.0`	Docs	2018 Jul 05	GitHub Release
`v0.4.0`	Docs	2018 Jun 20	GitHub Release
`v0.3.6`	Docs	2018 Jun 07	GitHub Release
`v0.3.5`	Docs	2018 May 22	GitHub Release
`v0.3.4`	Docs	2018 May 11	GitHub Release
`v0.3.3`	Docs	2018 Apr 17	GitHub Release
`v0.3.2`			GitHub Tag
`v0.3.1`	Docs	2018 Apr 05	GitHub Release
`v0.3.0`	Docs	2018 Mar 26	GitHub Release
`v0.2.15`	Docs	2018 Mar 06	GitHub Release
`v0.2.14`	Docs	2018 Feb 16	GitHub Release
`v0.2.13`	Docs
`v0.2.12`	Docs
`v0.2.11`	Docs
`v0.2.10`	Docs	2018 Jan 25	GitHub Release
`v0.2.9`	Docs
`v0.2.8`	Docs
`v0.2.7`	Docs	2018 Jan 17	GitHub Release
`v0.2.6`	Docs	2018 Jan 12	GitHub Release
`v0.2.5`	Docs
`v0.2.4`	Docs
`v0.2.3`	Docs
`v0.2.2`	Docs	2018 Jan 09	GitHub Release
`v0.2.1`	Docs
`v0.2.0`	Docs
`v0.1.9`	Docs
`v0.1.8`	Docs
`v0.1.7`	Docs
`v0.1.6`	Docs
`v0.1.5`	Docs
`v0.1.4`	Docs
`v0.1.3`	Docs
`v0.1.2`	Docs
`v0.1.1`	Docs
`v0.1.0`	Docs

Command Line Usage

2026-09-21T20:36:04Z

Command Line Usage

Prerequisites

Eleventy runs in a Terminal application. Well, wait—what is a Terminal?
Have you already installed Eleventy?

Here’s the first command you can enter in your Terminal application to run Eleventy:

npm pnpm yarn

# Searches the current directory, outputs to ./_site
npx @11ty/eleventy

# `npx @11ty/eleventy` is the same as:
npx @11ty/eleventy --input=. --output=_site

# Searches the current directory, outputs to ./_site
pnpm exec eleventy

# `pnpm exec eleventy` is the same as:
pnpm exec eleventy --input=. --output=_site

# Searches the current directory, outputs to ./_site
yarn exec eleventy

# `yarn exec eleventy` is the same as:
yarn exec eleventy --input=. --output=_site

Read more about --input and --output. Note that setting the input and output directories via config file is preferred.

A hypothetical template.md in the current directory would be rendered to _site/template/index.html. Read more at Permalinks.

npm pnpm yarn

# Use only a subset of template types
npx @11ty/eleventy --formats=md,html,ejs

# Don’t process any formats
npx @11ty/eleventy --formats=

# Find out the most up-to-date list of commands (there are more)
npx @11ty/eleventy --help

# Use only a subset of template types
pnpm exec eleventy --formats=md,html,ejs

# Don’t process any formats
pnpm exec eleventy --formats=

# Find out the most up-to-date list of commands (there are more)
pnpm exec eleventy --help

# Use only a subset of template types
yarn exec eleventy --formats=md,html,ejs

# Don’t process any formats
yarn exec eleventy --formats=

# Find out the most up-to-date list of commands (there are more)
yarn exec eleventy --help

The default for --formats= changed in v3.0.0 from an alias of * to an empty set.

Re-run Eleventy when you save

npm pnpm yarn

# Add a web server to apply changes and
# refresh automatically. We’ll also --watch for you.
npx @11ty/eleventy --serve

# Change the web server’s port—use localhost:8081
npx @11ty/eleventy --serve --port=8081

# Watch and re-run when files change, without the web server.
npx @11ty/eleventy --watch

# Add a web server to apply changes and
# refresh automatically. We’ll also --watch for you.
pnpm exec eleventy --serve

# Change the web server’s port—use localhost:8081
pnpm exec eleventy --serve --port=8081

# Watch and re-run when files change, without the web server.
pnpm exec eleventy --watch

# Add a web server to apply changes and
# refresh automatically. We’ll also --watch for you.
yarn exec eleventy --serve

# Change the web server’s port—use localhost:8081
yarn exec eleventy --serve --port=8081

# Watch and re-run when files change, without the web server.
yarn exec eleventy --watch

`--quiet` if the Output is Too Noisy

npm pnpm yarn

# Shhhhh—Don’t log so much to the console
npx @11ty/eleventy --quiet

# Shhhhh—Don’t log so much to the console
pnpm exec eleventy --quiet

# Shhhhh—Don’t log so much to the console
yarn exec eleventy --quiet

`--dryrun` to do a Little Testing

Runs without writing to the file system. Useful when debugging.

npm pnpm yarn

# Run Eleventy but don’t write any files
npx @11ty/eleventy --dryrun

# Run Eleventy but don’t write any files
pnpm exec eleventy --dryrun

# Run Eleventy but don’t write any files
yarn exec eleventy --dryrun

`--config` to Change the Config file name

npm pnpm yarn

# Override the default eleventy project config filename (.eleventy.js)
npx @11ty/eleventy --config=myeleventyconfig.js

# Override the default eleventy project config filename (.eleventy.js)
pnpm exec eleventy --config=myeleventyconfig.js

# Override the default eleventy project config filename (.eleventy.js)
yarn exec eleventy --config=myeleventyconfig.js

`--to` can output JSON Added in v1.0.0

npm pnpm yarn

# Output a JSON structure (does not write to the file system)
npx @11ty/eleventy --to=json

# Output a Newline Deliminated JSON structure (does not write to the file system)
npx @11ty/eleventy --to=ndjson

# Default behavior (Output to file system)
npx @11ty/eleventy --to=fs

# Output a JSON structure (does not write to the file system)
pnpm exec eleventy --to=json

# Output a Newline Deliminated JSON structure (does not write to the file system)
pnpm exec eleventy --to=ndjson

# Default behavior (Output to file system)
pnpm exec eleventy --to=fs

# Output a JSON structure (does not write to the file system)
yarn exec eleventy --to=json

# Output a Newline Deliminated JSON structure (does not write to the file system)
yarn exec eleventy --to=ndjson

# Default behavior (Output to file system)
yarn exec eleventy --to=fs

`--incremental` for Partial Incremental Builds

npm pnpm yarn

# *Repeat* builds only operate on files that have changed
npx @11ty/eleventy --watch --incremental
npx @11ty/eleventy --serve --incremental

# Skip the initial full build with `--ignore-initial`
npx @11ty/eleventy --serve --incremental --ignore-initial

# Pass in a template path, watch/serve not required
# Added in v3.0.0
npx @11ty/eleventy --incremental=myfile.md

# *Repeat* builds only operate on files that have changed
pnpm exec eleventy --watch --incremental
pnpm exec eleventy --serve --incremental

# Skip the initial full build with `--ignore-initial`
pnpm exec eleventy --serve --incremental --ignore-initial

# Pass in a template path, watch/serve not required
# Added in v3.0.0
pnpm exec eleventy --incremental=myfile.md

# *Repeat* builds only operate on files that have changed
yarn exec eleventy --watch --incremental
yarn exec eleventy --serve --incremental

# Skip the initial full build with `--ignore-initial`
yarn exec eleventy --serve --incremental --ignore-initial

# Pass in a template path, watch/serve not required
# Added in v3.0.0
yarn exec eleventy --incremental=myfile.md

Read more about incremental builds. Related GitHub #3324

`--ignore-initial` to run Eleventy without an Initial Build Added in v2.0.0

Be wary of any file changes that happened while Eleventy wasn’t running!

npm pnpm yarn

# Don’t build when Eleventy starts, only build on file changes
npx @11ty/eleventy --watch --ignore-initial
npx @11ty/eleventy --serve --ignore-initial

# Works great with Incremental
npx @11ty/eleventy --serve --incremental --ignore-initial

# Don’t build when Eleventy starts, only build on file changes
pnpm exec eleventy --watch --ignore-initial
pnpm exec eleventy --serve --ignore-initial

# Works great with Incremental
pnpm exec eleventy --serve --incremental --ignore-initial

# Don’t build when Eleventy starts, only build on file changes
yarn exec eleventy --watch --ignore-initial
yarn exec eleventy --serve --ignore-initial

# Works great with Incremental
yarn exec eleventy --serve --incremental --ignore-initial

Deeper insight into Eleventy Internals

You can use the DEBUG environment variable to enable the special debug log output, allowing deeper insight into Eleventy’s internals. For simplicity this example is using the cross-env package.

npm pnpm yarn

npx cross-env DEBUG=Eleventy:* npx @11ty/eleventy --dryrun

pnpm exec cross-env DEBUG=Eleventy:* pnpm exec @11ty/eleventy --dryrun

yarn exec cross-env DEBUG=Eleventy:* yarn exec @11ty/eleventy --dryrun

Learn more about Eleventy’s Debug Mode log output.

Using the Same Input and Output

Yes, you can use the same input and output directories, like so:

npm pnpm yarn

# Parse and write Markdown to HTML, respecting directory structure.
npx @11ty/eleventy --input=. --output=. --formats=md

# Parse and write Markdown to HTML, respecting directory structure.
pnpm exec eleventy --input=. --output=. --formats=md

# Parse and write Markdown to HTML, respecting directory structure.
yarn exec eleventy --input=. --output=. --formats=md

WARNING

Careful with --formats=html here! If you run Eleventy more than once, we will attempt to process your new output files as input files (which will throw errors). Read more at the HTML template docs.

Incremental

2026-09-21T20:36:04Z

Incremental Builds

Incremental builds via the command line flag --incremental perform a partial build operating only on files that have changed to improve build times when doing local development.

Let’s check in on the current capabilities and the roadmap:

Templates (Incremental template builds):
- If you create/update a template file, Eleventy will run the build for that file and only that file.
- Layouts Added in v2.0.0: When you change a layout file, any templates using that layout file are rebuilt.
- Template Dependencies Added in v2.0.0Any templates using a dependency mapped via the addDependencies method will be rebuilt when those dependencies change.
  - Added in v1.0.0This feature was previously exposed as part of the API for Custom template extensions via the isIncrementalMatch function.
  - Exceptions for Includes: If the created/updated file is in your Includes or Layouts directories, a full build will run (unless a known Eleventy layout file Added in v2.0.0).
- Collections Added in v2.0.0: When you add or delete a tag from a template, any templates using that collection tag (as declared by pagination.data or eleventyImport.collections) will be rebuilt.
Passthrough Copy (Incremental passthrough copy) :
- Only copy a passthrough copy file when it actively changed. Don’t run a template or full build if only a passthrough copy file has changed.
- When running a template build, skip the passthrough copy step.
- Added in v2.0.0 Passthrough copy can be emulated during --serve to speed up both incremental and non-incremental builds. It was decided not to ship incremental passthrough copy as the default behavior (#1109), instead deferring to this emulated copy feature.
Configuration File
- If you create/update your Eleventy configuration file, a full build will run.
Don’t build on startup: Added in v2.0.0 --ignore-initial was added and works great with --incremental.
Explicit Incremental Added in v3.0.0 Pass in a filename to only build an incremental for one file (and it’s dependencies) with --incremental=filename (more in #3324)
- Pre-release only: v4.0.0-alpha.8Added support for multiple incremental files (also called Batched Incremental) with --incremental=file1 --incremental=file2 or --incremental=file1,file2 (more in #4274)

Additional Template Syntax Specific Features

The previously stated incremental features are implemented in Eleventy core and are available to all template languages. Some template types offer additional --incremental build support:

WebC: deep knowledge of the full component dependency graph allows us to smartly build templates that use a component when that component is changed.

🗓 To Do

Cold Start Incremental: --incremental does a full build to start out to provide a fresh starting point to work from. This feature would save the state of the build to the file system for faster cold starts. #984
Incremental on a Build Server: Cache the output folder between builds on a CI server like Netlify and only process/write templates that have changed since the last build. #2775
Global/directory/template Data file usage mapped to templates #2706
Template types
- 11ty.js: Map JavaScript dependencies
- liquid: Dependency mapping for Liquid templates ({% include %}, etc)
- njk Dependency mapping for Nunjucks templates ({% include %}, etc): more at Issue #3804
Collections dependencies improvements: while we have eleventyImport.collections to declaratively log collections dependencies, we may be able to dive deeper into template syntax APIs to find the symbols in use. #1615 Alternatively we may be able to change the collections API to use Proxies to get smarter about this in an easier way (though previous experiments with this for eleventyComputed failed in some languages).
Render plugin: {% renderFile %} dependencies
Stretch goal: Pagination-level incremental that operates on a subset of data #1087

Transforms

2026-09-21T20:36:04Z

Transforms

Transforms can modify a template’s output. For example, use a transform to format/prettify an HTML file with proper whitespace.

The provided transform function must return the original or transformed content.

eleventy.config.js

ESM CommonJS

export default function(eleventyConfig) {
	// Can be sync or async
	eleventyConfig.addTransform("transform-name", async function (content) {
		console.log(this.page.inputPath);

		// Caution: this could be `false` (from permalink)
		console.log(this.page.outputPath);

		// No changes made, return as-is
		return content;
	});
};

module.exports = function(eleventyConfig) {
	// Can be sync or async
	eleventyConfig.addTransform("transform-name", async function (content) {
		console.log(this.page.inputPath);

		// Caution: this could be `false` (from permalink)
		console.log(this.page.outputPath);

		// No changes made, return as-is
		return content;
	});
};

Access to Eleventy’s page variable (via this.page) was added in Eleventy v2.0. For previous versions, consult the older versions of the docs.

Running Transforms Manually

Added in v3.0.0 The renderTransforms universal filter allows projects to run transforms manually on blocks of arbitrary HTML content.

Order of Execution

Transforms are executed in order of insertion in your configuration file.

eleventyConfig.addTransform("first", () => {});
eleventyConfig.addTransform("second", () => {});
eleventyConfig.addTransform("third", () => {});

Plugins

Transforms added via plugins are inserted via the second configuration stage for plugins.

eleventyConfig.addPlugin(eleventyConfig => {
	eleventyConfig.addTransform("third", () => {});
});
eleventyConfig.addTransform("first", () => {});
eleventyConfig.addTransform("second", () => {});

Examples

Minify HTML Output

eleventy.config.js

ESM CommonJS

import htmlmin from "html-minifier-terser";

export default function (eleventyConfig) {
	eleventyConfig.addTransform("htmlmin", function (content) {
		// String conversion to handle `permalink: false`
		if ((this.page.outputPath || "").endsWith(".html")) {
			let minified = htmlmin.minify(content, {
				useShortDoctype: true,
				removeComments: true,
				collapseWhitespace: true,
			});

			return minified;
		}

		// If not an HTML output, return content as-is
		return content;
	});
};

const htmlmin = require("html-minifier-terser");

module.exports = function (eleventyConfig) {
	eleventyConfig.addTransform("htmlmin", function (content) {
		// String conversion to handle `permalink: false`
		if ((this.page.outputPath || "").endsWith(".html")) {
			let minified = htmlmin.minify(content, {
				useShortDoctype: true,
				removeComments: true,
				collapseWhitespace: true,
			});

			return minified;
		}

		// If not an HTML output, return content as-is
		return content;
	});
};

Note that html-minifier-terser has a significant number of options, most of which are disabled by default.

Testmonials

2026-09-21T20:36:04Z

Testimonials

Don’t just take my word for it. 🌈 Listen to what these happy developers are saying about Eleventy:

“Jekyll is dead to me” —Andy Bell

“The Eleventy + Netlify combo continues to be 🤌” —Dan Mall

“Just got through moving a project to Eleventy. Never used nunjucks or a static site generator before, but it was so easy. This will make my life so much easier.” —Micah Mills

“I looked into and actively tried using various static site generators for this project. Eleventy was the only one I could find that gave me the fine-grained control I needed at blazingly fast build times.” —Mathias Bynens

“Eleventy is my fave.” —Tatiana Mac

“[Eleventy is] a platform that legitimately built things in the way that I thought and worked more than anything else out there, and with every new feature it's like my mind gets read.” —Bryan Robinson

“Eleventy + Netlify have become my new workflow for static sites. I think I'm in love.” —Mina Markham

“Just gave Eleventy a first run/try and I must say it's pretty dang awesome. Especially for someone like me, who is most familiar with HTML and CSS and some JS. ❤️” —Marco Hengstenberg

“I've been digging into Eleventy, a new static site generator. Really like the way it handles pagination!” —James Williamson

“Just the kind of simple / common sense tool I love. The data/folder hierarchy mechanism is super obvious and elegant.” —Heydon Pickering

“#1 Product of the Day (May 2022)” —Product Hunt

“I heard Eleventy was good” —Lach Zeatherman

“I like Eleventy. (I hope that was enough to get me on the testimonials page.)” —Steve Gardner

“Eleventy is a killer static site generator. That’s all.” —Sara Soueidan

“I actually used Eleventy for the first time this week. Loved it.” —Paul Lewis

“I really like the flexibility Eleventy offers in comparison to my previous Jekyll build.” —Alex Carpenter

“Easily one of my favorite open source projects ever!” —Tyler Sticka

“Every time I make something with Eleventy it makes me smile. I think that might be to do with its focus on simplicity.” —Phil Hawksworth

Read the replies to: “Fans of Eleventy.... why do you like it better than other static site generators?”

“Seriously can't remember enjoying using a Static Site Generator this much. Yes Hugo is rapid, but this is all so logical. It feels like it was designed by someone who has been through lots of pain and success using other SSGs.” —Phil Hawksworth

“Eleventy is almost fascinatingly simple.” —Chris Coyier

“Eleventy is as close as we’ve gotten to how the web was always meant to be built (ya’ know, once we realized the value of templates and JavaScript).” —Reuben L. Lillie

“2019 winner of the Google Open Source Peer Bonus Award” —Google

“I think what's great about Eleventy is how it was able to simplify SSGs to just 2 concepts: data sources and templates.” —Matthew Phillips

“It's clean, elegant, easy to use, and does just enough to be useful without getting in the way. Excellent work 😊” —Timothy Miller

“I challenged myself to build the site in a day. I started at noon on Saturday and had something launched by 1am Saturday night. Built on [Eleventy] served by GitHub Pages, using [TravisCi] to deploy.” —Snook

“Eleventy… makes my life so much easier.” —HJ Chen

“Think the reason everyone is loving [Eleventy] so much (myself included) is that it doesn't come with a prescription about data sources or template rendering.” —Brian Leroux

“2018 winner of the Google Open Source Peer Bonus Award” —Google

“Holy cow! Eleventy is so crazy simple to work with.” —Will Riley

“Eleventy and web components go really, really well together.” —Justin Fagnani

“I use Eleventy on almost every project at this point and I love it.” —Lea Verou

“Eleventy is absolutely wonderful. It’s by far the nicest static site generator I’ve used in what feels like forever.” —Addy Osmani

“After a day or so tweaking my existing build, here is a preview of the site running on Eleventy. I'm sold! The main thing to me was the ability to run custom JavaScript logic to sort, filter, and augment data in collections.” —Eduardo Bouças

“Don’t tell Zach I said it but Eleventy is seeming fresh as hell so far” —Mat Marquis

“I tried Eleventy last night on a personal project and today we implemented it on a (non-public facing) client project. It's really good.” —Cody Peterson

“2022 winner of the Google Open Source Peer Bonus Award” —Google

Opening a Terminal

2026-09-21T20:36:04Z

Opening a Terminal

On this page

Eleventy runs in a Terminal application. If you’re not familiar with Terminal applications, they’re used to run typed commands (and programs) on your computer. A Terminal application is mostly synonymous with terms like Command Line Interface (CLI) or shell prompt.

Here’s how to open a Terminal in various operating systems:

macOS

macOS includes an application called Terminal which can be used to run Eleventy. Depending on your version of macOS, it likely lives in /Applications/Utilities/Terminal. It may also be called Terminal.app if your operating system is configured to show file extensions.

Open or quit Terminal on Mac on the Apple Terminal User Guide

Windows

Depending on your version of Windows, it may include the Terminal application (aka Windows PowerShell, preferred), or the Command Prompt (also known as cmd.exe, not preferred), or both.

For the best terminal experience, we recommend installing PowerShell Core on your Windows machine, a newer and more future-compatible terminal application (also newly cross-platform!).

Linux

Depending on your flavor of Linux, it may be called Terminal, Shell, Gnome Terminal, Konsole, or XTerm.

Editors

Some code editors bundle a terminal for you!

Nova (macOS)
Visual Studio Code (macOS, Windows, Linux)
- On Windows, Visual Studio Code is bundled with Windows Powershell.
WebStorm (macOS, Windows, Linux)

More resources

Overriding Languages

2026-09-21T20:36:04Z

Overriding the Template Language

There are a couple of different ways you can tell Eleventy how you want to process a file:

The file extension (importantly, this is also used to find files to process).
Configuration options:
- markdownTemplateEngine: The default global template engine to pre-process markdown files. Use false to avoid pre-processing and only transform markdown.
- htmlTemplateEngine: The default global template engine to pre-process HTML files. Use false to avoid pre-processing and passthrough copy the content (HTML is not transformed, so technically this could be any plaintext).
templateEngineOverride in the template’s front matter. Should be one templating engine (liquid) or markdown paired with another templating engine (liquid,md). See examples below.

`templateEngineOverride` Examples

Replace with a single templating engine

If your file is called example.liquid—instead of liquid, this will be parsed as a njk Nunjucks template:

Filename example.liquid

---
templateEngineOverride: njk
---

Special case: pairing a templating engine with `md` Markdown

Remember that—by default—Markdown files are processed with an additional preprocessor template engine set globally with the markdownTemplateEngine configuration option. So, when using templateEngineOverride on markdown files be sure to list each templating engine you’d like to use.

For example, you may want to process njk Nunjucks first and then md markdown afterwards. Markdown is supported either by itself or with another engine. No other templating engines can be combined in this way—Markdown is the exception here. Any other combination attempt will throw an error.

Markdown and nothing else

---
templateEngineOverride: md
---

Nunjucks and then Markdown

---
templateEngineOverride: njk,md
---

Use nothing (no transformations)

Any falsy value here will just copy the template content without transformation.

---
templateEngineOverride: false
---

Eleventy Documentation

RSS

RSS Plugin

Feature highlights

Installation

Upgrading from v2

Virtual Template

Virtual Template with addTemplate

Manual Template

Configuration

Supplies the following Nunjucks Filters

Less Important Filters

Use with other template languages

Sample Feed templates

Community Plugins

Watch and Serve

Watch Files and use Development Servers

Eleventy Dev Server Added in v2.0.0

Add Your Own Watch Targets

Reset configuration Added in v3.0.0

Reload without running a build

Ignore Watching Files

.gitignore

Configuration API Added in v2.0.0

Watch JavaScript Dependencies

Add delay before re-running

Advanced chokidar Configuration

Virtual Templates

Virtual Templates Added in v3.0.0

API

Example

Markdown, HTML (via Liquid) Layout

JavaScript

Release History

Release History

Major Branches

Full Release History

Command Line Usage

Command Line Usage

Re-run Eleventy when you save

--quiet if the Output is Too Noisy

--dryrun to do a Little Testing

--config to Change the Config file name

--to can output JSON Added in v1.0.0

--incremental for Partial Incremental Builds

--ignore-initial to run Eleventy without an Initial Build Added in v2.0.0

Deeper insight into Eleventy Internals

Using the Same Input and Output

Incremental

Incremental Builds

Additional Template Syntax Specific Features

🗓 To Do

Transforms

Transforms

Running Transforms Manually

Order of Execution

Plugins

Examples

Minify HTML Output

Testmonials

Testimonials

Opening a Terminal

Opening a Terminal

macOS

Windows

Linux

Editors

More resources

Overriding Languages

Overriding the Template Language

templateEngineOverride Examples

Replace with a single templating engine

Special case: pairing a templating engine with md Markdown

Markdown and nothing else

Nunjucks and then Markdown

Use nothing (no transformations)

Virtual Template with `addTemplate`

`.gitignore`

Advanced `chokidar` Configuration

`--quiet` if the Output is Too Noisy

`--dryrun` to do a Little Testing

`--config` to Change the Config file name

`--to` can output JSON Added in v1.0.0

`--incremental` for Partial Incremental Builds

`--ignore-initial` to run Eleventy without an Initial Build Added in v2.0.0

`templateEngineOverride` Examples

Special case: pairing a templating engine with `md` Markdown