Declare.js

A flat-file static site engine for manifests and long-form opinion essays. Built with Astro.

Features

• Markdown-based content — no database, no CMS
• Auto-discovery of content categories from content/ directories
• Auto-generated Table of Contents from headings
• LaTeX math support via KaTeX ($inline$ and $$block$$)
• License metadata per document (text_license, image_license)
• YAML-based site configuration
• Minimalist serif typography

Getting Started

npm install
npm run dev

Open http://localhost:4321 in your browser.

Configuration

Edit declare.config.yaml at the project root:

title: My Site
tagline: A flat-file engine for manifests and opinion essays.
showPoweredBy: true

Option	Type	Description
title	string	Site name shown in the header
tagline	string	Subtitle shown below the title
showPoweredBy	boolean	Show or hide the "Powered by declare.js" footer

Also set your site URL in astro.config.mjs:

export default defineConfig({
  site: 'https://your-domain.com',
  // ...
});

Adding Content

Categories

Every directory inside content/ automatically becomes a section on the homepage. No code changes needed.

content/
├── manifests/       → /manifests/{slug}
├── blog/            → /blog/{slug}
└── ideas/           → /ideas/{slug}

To add a title and description to a section, create a same-named Markdown file inside the directory:

content/manifests/manifests.md   ← section meta
content/blog/blog.md             ← section meta

The meta file uses only title and description in its frontmatter — no published date.

Articles

Create a Markdown file in any content directory:

---
title: "Your Title"
description: "A short description shown on the homepage."
published: 2026-01-01
author: "Your Name"
text_license: "AGPL-3.0-only"
image_license: "CC BY 4.0"
tags: ["tag1", "tag2"]
draft: false
---

## Section One

Supports **Markdown**, `code`, and math: $E = mc^2$.

$$\int_0^\infty e^{-x}\,dx = 1$$

Drafts

Set draft: true in frontmatter to hide an article from the homepage and skip building its page.

Frontmatter Reference

Field	Type	Required	Default	Description
title	string	yes	—	Document title
description	string	yes	—	Short summary (homepage + meta)
published	date	no	—	Publication date (ISO 8601). Omit in section meta files
updated	date	no	—	Last updated date
author	string	no	AnmiTaliDev	Author name
text_license	string	no	—	License for the text (e.g. CC BY-SA 4.0)
image_license	string	no	—	License for images
tags	string[]	no	[]	Tag list
draft	boolean	no	false	Set true to hide from listings and builds

Project Structure

declare.js/
├── content/                  ← your content (edit freely)
│   └── {category}/
│       ├── {category}.md     ← optional section meta
│       └── {slug}.md         ← articles
├── declare.config.yaml       ← site settings (edit freely)
├── astro.config.mjs          ← Astro config (set site URL)
└── src/                      ← engine internals (do not modify)

Commands

Command	Action
npm run dev	Start dev server at localhost:4321
npm run build	Build to ./dist/
npm run preview	Preview build locally

Author

AnmiTaliDev anmitalidev@nuros.org

License

AGPL-3.0-only. See LICENSE.