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assemble

Get the rocks out of your socks! Assemble makes you fast at creating web projects. Assemble is used by thousands of projects for rapid prototyping, creating themes, scaffolds, boilerplates, e-books, UI components, API documentation, blogs, building websit

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assemble NPM version Build Status

Get the rocks out of your socks! Assemble makes you fast at creating web projects. Assemble is used by thousands of projects for rapid prototyping, creating themes, scaffolds, boilerplates, e-books, UI components, API documentation, blogs, building websites / static site generator, alternative to jekyll for gh-pages and more! Assemble can also be used with gulp and grunt.

Welcome to Assemble! We're happy to announce the release of Assemble v0.16.0! If you're new to assemble, the About section and FAQ might be a good place to start.

You might also be interested in other members of the assemble family: generate, verb and update.

Get in touch!

Have questions, suggestions, or want to discuss assemble? Join the conversation on gitter or give us a shout on twitter. The assemble team and community are always happy to help!

Table of Contents

(TOC generated by verb using markdown-toc)

About

What is Assemble?

Assemble makes it easy to create, customize, generate and maintain complete web projects. Here are some highlights:

  • Render templates using any template engine, including handlebars, lodash, swig and pug, and anything supported by consolidate.
  • Engine detection: If you register multiple engines, Assemble will automatically detect the correct one to use on each template at render time.
  • gulp plugins: Full support for gulp plugins. Read our gulp FAQ for more info about gulp support.
  • Collections: First class collection support, with paging, pagination, lists (arrays), groups and sorting. Collections even support plugins and collection-specific routes.
  • Markdown: Transform content from markdown or any other plain text format to HTML using plugins, middleware helpers or engines.
  • Easy to extend: Extremely pluggable and easy to extend with helpers, plugins, routes, middleware or engines.
  • Data: Use any data source for rendering templates, making it easy to begin a project using mock data and switch "live" data source later on.

Why assemble?

Why should I use assemble, instead of X?

  • Granular control over context
  • Use middleware at any point in the render cycle
  • Flow control using gulp-style tasks
  • Built with base. Learn assemble and you'll know how to use verb, generate, update and other base apps.
  • Plugin ecosystem
  • Facilitates the use of modular, encapsulated components in your markup, like pages, partials and layouts, resulting in consistent design across your projects.
  • Functional, expressive API
  • Intuitive CLI, with commands that map elegantly to API methods and conventions

What can I do with assemble?

Use assemble to create:

CLI Usage

Install assemble

To run assemble from the command line, you will first need to install it globally using npm:

$ npm install --global assemble

This adds assemble to your system path, allowing it to be run from any directory.

assemblefile.js

If you'd like to see how assemble works, run assemble

TODO...

Getting started

Example

Render a template with with handlebars:

var assemble = require('assemble');
var app = assemble();
var locals = {title: 'Home!'};

// add a "page" 
app.page('home.hbs', {content: 'This is '});

// render it!
app.render('home.hbs', locals, function(err, view) {
  if (err) throw err;

  console.log(view.content);
  //=> 'This is Home!'
});

Running tasks

Create an assemblefile.js and add tasks to run:

var assemble = require('assemble');
var htmlmin = require('gulp-htmlmin');
var app = assemble();

app.page('a.hbs', {content: '...'});
app.page('b.hbs', {content: '...'});
app.page('c.hbs', {content: '...'});

app.task('default', function() {
   return app.toStream('pages')
    .pipe(app.renderFile())
    .pipe(htmlmin())
    .pipe(app.dest('site'));
});

// expose your instance of assemble
module.exports = app;

API and CLI

Use assemble via CLI or API

To run tasks, you can do one of the following:

  • CLI: install Assemble globally then use the assemble command
  • API: use the .build method

CLI: Install Assemble globally

Install assemble using npm with the following command:

$ npm install --global assemble

With assemble installed, you may now run assemble from any project that has an assemblefile.js in its root (the "root" of a project is wherever package.json is).

API: Use the .build method

(This can be in any file, not just an assemblefile.js)

app.build('default', function(err) {
  if (err) throw err;
  console.log('done!');
});

Learn more about tasks.

CLI

Run assemble from the command line.

$ assemble <tasks> [options]

Note that for most command line options, order or definition makes no difference, so tasks can be defined before or after options.

Tasks

Optionally specify one or more tasks to run. Multiple tasks are separated by a space.

Example

To run tasks foo and bar, you would enter the following in the command line:

$ assemble foo bar

Options

Non-task commands and options are prefixed with -- and are specified using any of the following formats:

  • single value, like --foo, or
  • key-value pair, like --foo=bar. Also, key-value pairs may be separated by either = or a single whitespace, so --foo=bar and --foo=bar should both work.

Additionally, as mentioned above, tasks may be defined before or after options, so both of the following are equivalent:

$ assemble --cwd foo bar
# or 
$ assemble foo bar --cwd

Example

To emit views as they're loaded and log them to stderr, run assemble with the following command:

$ assemble --emit view
# or
$ assemble --emit=view

Object expansion

Object-paths may be specified using dot-notation for either the key or value in a command line argument.

Additionally, assemble uses expand-object (and some custom parsing) to make it easier to pass non-trivial options and commands via command line. So all of the following formats are possible.

Examples

Boolean values:

$ assemble --foo 
# { foo: true }

Key-value pairs:

$ assemble --foo=bar
# { foo: 'bar' }

Nested booleans:

$ assemble --option=foo 
# {options: { foo: true }}

Nested key-value pairs:

$ assemble --option=foo:bar
# {options: { foo: 'bar' }}

Deeply nested key-value pairs:

$ assemble --option=foo.bar.baz:qux
# {options: foo: { bar: { baz: 'qux' }}}}

Or on the left-side of the =:

$ assemble --option.foo.bar.baz=qux
# {options: foo: { bar: { baz: 'qux' }}}}

cwd

Change the cwd for the assemblefile.js to run, optionally specifying any tasks to run:

$ assemble <tasks> --cwd [directory]

Example

To run the scaffolds example in the examples/ directory, you would enter:

$ assemble --cwd examples/scaffolds

If successful, in the command line, you should see something like this:

screen shot 2016-01-09 at 1 35 52 pm

file

The name of which file to load when running, defaulting to assemblefile.js:

$ assemble --file assemblefile.dev.js

API

Assemble

Create an assemble app. This is the main function exported by the assemble module.

Params

  • options {Object}: Optionally pass default options to use.

Example

var assemble = require('assemble');
var app = assemble();

Templates API

Assemble has an extensive API for working with templates and template collections. In fact, the entire API from the templates library is available on Assemble.

While we work on getting the assemble docs updated with these methods you can visit the templates library to learn more about the full range of features and options.

Render cycle

TODO


File System API

Assemble offers the following low-level methods for working with the file system:

Assemble has first-class support for vinyl-fs, so any gulp plugin can be used in your assemble pipeline.

.src

Create a vinyl stream. Takes glob patterns or filepaths to the source files to read.

Params

  • glob {String|Array}: Glob patterns or file paths to source files.
  • options {Object}: Options or locals to merge into the context and/or pass to src plugins

Example

app.src('src/*.hbs');

// define `src` options
app.src('src/*.hbs', { layout: 'default' });

.dest

Specify a destination for processed files.

Params

  • dest {String|Function}: File path or rename function.
  • options {Object}: Options and locals to pass to dest plugins

Example

app.dest('dist/');

.copy

Copy files with the given glob patterns to the specified dest.

Params

  • patterns {String|Array}: Glob patterns of files to copy.
  • dest {String|Function}: Desination directory.
  • returns {Stream}: Stream, to continue processing if necessary.

Example

app.task('assets', function() {
  // return, to let assemble know when the task has completed
  return app.copy('assets/**', 'dist/');
});

Same as .src but takes glob patterns or filepaths for the symlinks to read.

Params

  • glob {String|Array}: Glob patterns or file paths

Example

app.symlink('src/*.hbs');

Task API

Assemble has the following methods for running tasks and controlling workflows:

.task

Define a task to be run when the task is called.

Params

  • name {String}: Task name
  • fn {Function}: function that is called when the task is run.

Example

app.task('default', function() {
  app.src('templates/*.hbs')
    .pipe(app.dest('site/'));
});

.build

Run one or more tasks.

Params

  • tasks {Array|String}: Task name or array of task names.
  • cb {Function}: callback function that exposes err

Example

app.build(['foo', 'bar'], function(err) {
  if (err) throw err;
  console.log('done!');
});

.watch

Watch files, run one or more tasks when a watched file changes.

Params

  • glob {String|Array}: Filepaths or glob patterns.
  • tasks {Array}: Task(s) to watch.

Example

app.task('watch', function() {
  app.watch('docs/*.md', ['docs']);
});

Discovering plugins

Plugins from any applications built on base should work with Assemble and can be used in your assemblefile.js:

  • [base][base-plugin]: find base plugins on npm using the baseplugin keyword
  • [assemble][assemble-plugin]: find assemble plugins on npm using the assembleplugin keyword
  • [generate][generate-plugin]: find generate plugins on npm using the generateplugin keyword
  • [templates][templates-plugin]: find templates plugins on npm using the templatesplugin keyword
  • [update][update-plugin]: find update plugins on npm using the updateplugin keyword
  • [verb][verb-plugin]: find verb plugins on npm using the verbplugin keyword

Authoring plugins

Visit the plugin documentation guide to learn how to use, author and publish plugins.

More information

FAQ

Website is outdated and being refactored!

Assemble's website, assemble.io, only has information related to gulp-assemble. We're working hard to update the site with information about the latest release.

In the meantime, you might find the WIP docs useful. The unit tests are also great examples!

Is the assemble website up-to-date?

No, as mentioned above, it's completely out-of-date. If you're using grunt-assemble, some of the documentation at assemble.io might still be useful. If you're using assemble v0.6.0 and higher, the documentation is probably wrong in almost every way.

We're actively (daily) working on a refactor and it's a very high priority.

What's the difference between assemble-core and assemble?

Assemble adds a CLI, a few built-in view collections: pages, layouts, and partials, middleware for parsing front-matter, and a few other basic defaults that we've found many users expect. If you'd prefer different defaults, assemble-core is a great starting point.

If you want something that handles templates, rendering, engines, helpers, collections, etc. but you don't need to run tasks or work with the file system, then consider using templates instead of assemble-core.

I use gulp, why is it recommended to use assemble directly, instead of running assemble with gulp?

You can run gulp plugins with assemble, but it won't always work the other way around. This is because, as a build system, assemble does things that gulp doesn't do, like handle middleware.

For example, assemble's .src and .dest methods have built-in .onStream, .preWrite, and .postWrite middleware handlers. If you still wish to use gulp and your build cycle includes middleware that requires these handlers, you can use the assemble-handle plugin with gulp to ensure that the handlers are still called as needed.

This is a long way of saying, you can find ways to make gulp work, but you would just be adding an extra dependency to your project to do things that assemble already does.

What is the relationship between gulp and assemble?

Please read our gulp FAQ for more information.

You might also be interested in these projects from @doowb and @jonschlinkert:

  • boilerplate: Tools and conventions for authoring and publishing boilerplates that can be generated by any build… more | homepage
  • generate: Command line tool and developer framework for scaffolding out new GitHub projects. Generate offers the… more | homepage
  • scaffold: Conventions and API for creating declarative configuration objects for project scaffolds - similar in format… more | homepage
  • update: Be scalable! Update is a new, open source developer framework and CLI for automating updates… more | homepage
  • verb: Documentation generator for GitHub projects. Verb is extremely powerful, easy to use, and is used… more | homepage

Similar projects

If assemble doesn't do what you need, there are some other great open source projects you might be interested in, created by our friends on GitHub (in alphabetical order):

Static site generators

Blog frameworks

Release history

v0.16.0

  • Added: .log() method, which also exposes additional methods, like .log.info(), .log.success(), etc.
  • docs were moved to support/docs, so that markdown docs can be built to the docs directory
  • docs were updated, new docs added
  • Moves some private prototype methods to static methods, to allow them to be used without creating an instance
  • Bumps assemble-core to v0.25.0

v0.15.0

  • Bumps assemble-core to v0.24.0 to get the latest versions of templates and base-data which removes the renameKey option from the .data method. Use the namespace option instead.

v0.14.0

Bumps assemble-core to v0.22.0 to take advantage of fixes and improvements to lookup methods: .find and getView. No API changes were made. Please let us know if regressions occur.

  • fixes List bug that was caused collection helpers to explode
  • Improvements to lookup functions: app.getView() and app.find()
  • Bumps base to take advantages of code optimizations.

v0.13.0

  • Bumps assemble-core to v0.21.0. Support for the queue property was removed on collections. See assemble-core for additional details.
  • Fixes bug where glob parent was not being used for file.base, causing dest directory to be relative to cwd instead of glob parent in some cases.
  • Some changes were made to context handling that effected one unit test out of ~1,000. although it's unlikely you'll be effected by the change, it warrants a minor bump
  • Externalizes common templates tests to base-test-runner, so that assemble plugins and other base applications can use the tests
  • Includes a fix from assemble-loader, where a bug caused renameKey to not always be used when defined on collection loader options.
  • Includes fixes from templates for resolving layouts

v0.12.0

  • Bumps assemble-core to v0.18.0, which includes a bump in templates. See the changelog on the templates library for more details.

v0.11.0

  • debug methods and related code have been removed
  • Bumps assemble-core to v0.17.0

v0.10.0

  • Adds support for using es6 generators with tasks
  • Bumps assemble-core to v0.15.0

v0.9.0

  • Bumps several dependencies. No API changes, this is mostly an optimization release. Be sure to completely remove node_modules and reinstall all dependencies to avoid errors such as isRegistered is not a function

v0.8.0

v0.7.0

  • Stability improvements and optimizations of the API introduced in v0.6.0.

v0.6.0

  • Major refactor. Assemble was completely re-written from the ground-up as a standalone node.js library and is no longer a grunt plugin. Grunt plugin support has been moved to grunt-assemble. Please see that repo for additional details.

Contributing

Pull requests and stars are always welcome. For bugs and feature requests, please create an issue.

Please read the contributing guide for avice on opening issues, pull requests, and coding standards.

If Assemble doesn't do what you need, please let us know

Authors

Jon Schlinkert

Brian Woodward

License

Copyright © 2016, Jon Schlinkert. Released under the MIT license.


This file was generated by verb, v0.9.0, on July 14, 2016.

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Package last updated on 15 Jul 2016

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