Creating Zola Static Sites

Single-binary static site generator. Built-in Sass, image processing, Tera templating.

Quick Start

New Project:
- [ ] zola init my-site && cd my-site
- [ ] Edit config.toml: set base_url
- [ ] IF using theme: skip next step (theme provides templates)
- [ ] IF no theme: copy templates from skill assets/
- [ ] zola serve → http://127.0.0.1:1111 loads
- [ ] zola check → exit code 0

Commands

Command	Purpose	Verify Success
zola init	Create project	ls config.toml exists
zola serve	Dev server :1111	Browser loads site
zola build	Output to public/	ls public/index.html exists
zola check	Validate links	Exit 0, no errors printed

Core: Sections vs Pages

_ prefix = section (listing); no prefix = page (content):

Filename	Type	Template	Example URL
_index.md	section	section.html	/blog/ (listing)
index.md	page	page.html	/about/ (with assets)
post.md	page	page.html	/blog/post/

content/
├── _index.md        # section: /
├── about.md         # page: /about/
└── blog/
    ├── _index.md    # section: /blog/
    └── post.md      # page: /blog/post/

Frontmatter

section (_index.md):

+++
title = "Blog"
sort_by = "date"        # date|title|weight|none
paginate_by = 10
+++

page (*.md):

+++
title = "My Post"
date = 2024-01-15       # NO QUOTES or sorting breaks
[taxonomies]
tags = ["rust"]
+++

Internal Links

Build-validated with @/ prefix:

[About](@/about.md)
[Blog](@/blog/_index.md)

Workflows

Create Blog

Blog Setup:
- [ ] Create content/blog/_index.md with sort_by="date"
- [ ] Create post: content/blog/2024-01-15-hello.md
- [ ] IF multilingual: add blog/_index.fr.md per language
- [ ] zola serve → /blog/ shows listing (empty if no posts yet)
- [ ] zola serve → /blog/hello/ shows post
- [ ] IF pagination: add more posts than paginate_by to test
- [ ] zola check → passes

Add Taxonomies

Taxonomy Setup:
- [ ] config.toml: taxonomies = [{name = "tags", feed = true}]
- [ ] Page frontmatter: [taxonomies] tags = ["value"]
- [ ] IF need categories: add {name = "categories"} to array
- [ ] IF term has spaces: use slugified URL (/tags/my-tag/)
- [ ] zola serve → /tags/ lists tags
- [ ] zola serve → /tags/rust/ shows posts

Deploy

Production Deploy:
- [ ] zola check → passes (use --skip-external-links if slow)
- [ ] zola build → no errors
- [ ] ls public/index.html → exists
- [ ] IF feeds enabled: ls public/atom.xml → exists

Reference Files

Task	Reference	Load When User Asks About
Config	config-reference.md	Feeds, taxonomies, highlighting, search, link checker
Templates	tera-templates.md	Filters, loops, variables, macros, shortcodes
Content	content-organization.md	_index.md vs index.md, frontmatter, multilingual
Deploy	deployment-guides.md	Netlify, Cloudflare, GitHub Actions, Vercel, Firebase
Hybrid	astro-integration.md	Zola+Astro, Firebase export, shared navigation

Assets

Copy from skill assets/ directory:

Asset	Use For
templates/base.html	Base layout
templates/section.html	Listings with pagination
templates/page.html	Articles with TOC
templates/404.html	Error page
templates/shortcodes/	youtube.html, figure.html
config-templates/blog.toml	Blog preset
config-templates/docs.toml	Docs preset

Common Mistakes

Wrong	Right	Why
date = "2024-01-15"	date = 2024-01-15	Quoted dates are strings, break sorting
[About](about.md)	[About](@/about.md)	Missing @/ means no build validation
index.md in blog/	_index.md in blog/	Without _ it's a page, not a section
templates/blog.html	templates/section.html	Zola looks for section.html by default

Troubleshooting

Error	Fix	Verify
Template not found	Check spelling; ensure templates/ exists	ls templates/*.html shows files
Dates not sorting	Use date = 2024-01-15 (no quotes)	Posts appear in date order
Broken @/ links	Path from content/, include .md extension	zola check passes
Slow check	Skip external: zola check --skip-external-links	Completes in <10s

Debug: {{ __tera_context }} in template shows all variables.

Verbose: RUST_LOG=zola=info zola build

When Not to Use

• Other SSGs: Hugo, Jekyll, Eleventy use different syntax
• General Markdown: Questions without Zola context
• Pure Astro: Projects without Zola integration