Content Directory

This is a reference for the paths.input and paths.ignore fields in mdsite.yml. They control where MD-Site finds Markdown files and which files it publishes.

Important

Edit paths.input when Markdown files live in a subdirectory rather than next to mdsite.yml. Use paths.ignore to exclude Markdown from publication and content-derived features. The renderer reads both fields directly from mdsite.yml.

1. Default Behavior

If you omit paths.input, MD-Site treats the directory that contains mdsite.yml as the content directory. mdsite init leaves paths.input empty unless it finds a docs/ (or doc/) subdirectory, in which case it points paths.input there.

my-site/
├── mdsite.yml
├── index.md      ← homepage
├── guide.md
└── about.md

2. Pointing at a Subdirectory

When you want to keep mdsite.yml (and files like .nvmrc, .gitignore, your favicon source) at the project root but organize all Markdown in a dedicated folder, set paths.input to that folder. The path is resolved relative to the directory containing mdsite.yml.

paths:
  input: content

This reads Markdown from the content/ subdirectory, producing this layout:

my-site/
├── mdsite.yml     ← config lives here
├── .nvmrc
├── .gitignore
└── content/       ← Markdown lives here
    ├── index.md   ← homepage
    ├── about.md
    └── guide/
        └── intro.md

Note

mdsite init writes paths.input automatically when it finds a docs/ or doc/ subdirectory. For any other layout, add or edit the paths: block by hand.

3. The Homepage

The file named index.md at the root of the content directory becomes your site's homepage and is served at /.

With the default layout, that is index.md next to mdsite.yml.
With paths.input: content, that is content/index.md.

If the homepage is missing, check that an index.md exists at the content directory root. A common cause is a paths.input value that does not point at the folder actually holding index.md.

4. What Goes Where

Location	Holds
Config directory (where `mdsite.yml` lives)	`mdsite.yml`, `.nvmrc`, `.gitignore`, favicon source
Content directory (where Markdown lives)	all `*.md` files, including `index.md`

Keeping these concerns separate keeps your repository tidy when it also holds non-site files alongside mdsite.yml.

Tip

Output: With the correct paths.input value, every Markdown file in that directory becomes a page, and index.md becomes the homepage.

5. Ignoring Markdown files

Set paths.ignore to one rule or a list of rules:

paths:
  ignore:
    - internal/
    - "guides/*.private.md"
    - "**/notes.md"

Defaults and replacement

The default is ['AGENTS.md', 'CLAUDE.md']. When paths.ignore is omitted, both bare names are ignored at any directory depth.

A scalar or array replaces the defaults; it does not extend them:

paths:
  ignore: INTERNAL.md

Use an empty array to disable the default rules:

paths:
  ignore: []

README.md remains published.

Rule syntax

Rule	Example	Match
Bare name	`notes.md`	That name at any depth
Relative path	`guides/internal.md`	That path within the content directory
Directory	`archive/`	Markdown under that directory
`*` wildcard	`guides/*.private.md`	Matching files at that path level
`**` wildcard	`**/notes.md`	Matching files across directory levels

Negation with ! is not supported. Negated or malformed entries are rejected rather than ignored silently.

Scope and built-ins

Configured rules exclude matches from:

published content;
generated navigation, search, and metadata;
direct Markdown reads configured in menus and footers.

Built-in exclusions for hidden directories, node_modules, dist, and *.draft.md remain separate. paths.ignore: [] does not disable them, and they cannot be disabled through paths.ignore.