JamsEdu

JamsEdu is a feature-rich yet user-friendly static site generator designed specifically for open-source content. Originally developed to facilitate rapid creation and deployment of university courses, JamsEdu offers an ideal solution for non-technical users to swiftly build static websites with a focus on STEM content.

Key Features:

JamsEdu prioritizes simplicity while providing a robust set of features. It's perfect for users who need a quick static site with the following capabilities:

• 🪝 Customizable build hooks
• 🧩 Custom elements with Element Behaviors
• 🌐 Easy internationalization (I18n) through variable usage
• 🏷️ Efficient short tags
• 🎨 Flexible templates, variables, and template chaining
• 🖌️ Comprehensive theme support
• 💻 Local development server with live reload
• 🚀 Simple CLI for building and watching

What JamsEdu Doesn't Offer

To maintain its simplicity and focus, JamsEdu intentionally excludes some advanced static site generator features:

• ❌ Automated internationalization (I18n)
• ❌ Automatic (dynamic) pagination; although with JHP you can do this yourself
• ❌ Built for you custom tags or components
• ❌ Collections or tags
• ❌ Front Matter
• ❌ Shortcodes

Choose the Right Tool

If your project requires more advanced features or you're planning to build a blog or CMS-like static site, consider these alternatives:

• For advanced features and blogs: Eleventy or Astro
• If you need enhanced interactivity and reusable components: Svelte

For anything more complex, or if you need a comprehensive content management system (CMS), you might want to look beyond static site generators and use a traditional CMS platform like WordPress.

Note

The exclusion of frameworks like React, Next.js, or Vue.js is intentional. JamsEdu focus is on prebuilt static sites. If your needs extend beyond that scope, this might not be the right tool for your project.

Basic Usage

The rest of this page is a developers quick start guide to using JamsEdu. If you want the full documentation or consider yourself a non-technical user visit the website instead.

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Installation

You should have node v22+ installed on your machine along with a node package manager, usually npm or pnpm. The preferred method of using JamsEdu is to install it globally on your machine:

# Install with PNPM
pnpm install -g @caboodle-tech/jamsedu

# OR install with NPM
npm install -g @caboodle-tech/jamsedu

After restarting your terminal, you should now be able to use the JamsEdu command line tool. To review the cli manual and see all the options available to you, run:

jamsedu --help

To start your first project navigate in your terminal to the location where you would like to create a project and run:

jamsedu --init

Change directories into the project you just created and you're ready to start developing. Run the following command to start a local server and start watching your project for changes:

jamsedu --watch

# OR to see more details that could aid in development

jamsedu --watch --verbose

At this point you're ready to explore more advanced features of JamsEdu:

• Adding template processing hooks
• Additional configuration options
• Customizing JamsEdu components (see template docs/ folder)

JamsEdu Configuration File

The JamsEdu configuration file is required for every JamsEdu project. The jamsedu.config.js file should be placed at the root of your project. All paths referenced in the configuration should be relative to this root location. You do not need to include preceding path parts like ./ or ../. The following is a bare minimum configuration file:

export default {
    destDir: 'www',
    srcDir: 'src',
    templateDir: 'src/templates'
};

Option	Explanation
destDir	Where the files for the compiled (built) site will be placed.
srcDir	Where the sites source files are stored.
templateDir	Where the template files and variables for your site are; this should be within the srcDir somewhere!

Configuration Options

doNotCopy (array)

By default, JamsEdu prevents js, json, md, sass, scss, and ts files from being copied to the built site. To modify these restrictions, add the doNotCopy array to your configuration:

export default {
    doNotCopy: ['js', 'sass', 'scss', 'ts', 'private.json', ...],
    destDir: 'www',
    srcDir: 'src',
    templateDir: 'src/templates'
};

Warning

Setting this option overwrites JamsEdu's default settings. You must include all file extensions you want to prevent from being output. Ensure you don't accidentally expose sensitive files! Consider using the keep compiler directive for exceptions instead.

When adding file extensions to doNotCopy, omit the leading dot. For complex file extensions (e.g., some-important-file.private.json), add the entire extension without the dot: 'private.json'.

hooks (object)

Hooks allow you to register custom processing functions into JamsEdu's template process. After the primary template process has completed, the file then passes through all registered hooks before output. Register hooks by adding the hooks object to your configuration:

export default {
    hooks: {
        your_custom_hook: (html, som) => {...}
    },
    destDir: 'www',
    srcDir: 'src',
    templateDir: 'src/templates'
};

The key should be a unique identifier for your hook, and the value should be a callback function (typically an imported module). Hooks must return either the original html or a modified version. For implementation details, refer to JamsEdu's built-in hooks.

Tip

Be careful when naming hooks. Existing hooks can be overwritten by registering a new hook with the same name. This feature allows you to overwrite JamsEdu's built-in hooks if desired.

verbose (boolean)

JamsEdu provides minimal output by default. To increase verbosity, you can:

1. Use the --verbose command-line flag for occasional detailed output.
2. Set the verbose flag permanently in the configuration:

export default {
    verbose: true,
    destDir: 'www',
    srcDir: 'src',
    templateDir: 'src/templates'
};

websiteUrl (string)

Optional website URL for your site. The website url should contain the protocol and domain name:

export default {
    destDir: 'www',
    srcDir: 'src',
    templateDir: 'src/templates',
    websiteUrl: 'https://example.com'
};