Phillip England
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Introduction

ThisPage is a robust static site generator designed for speed and simplicity. It combines a custom HTML-first templating engine with automatic Tailwind CSS integration and a built-in administrative interface for content management.

⚡ Live Reloading

Changes to templates, components, or static files trigger an immediate rebuild.

🎨 Tailwind Native

Automatically downloads and configures the Tailwind v4 binary for your architecture.

🛡️ Admin Interface

Built-in file editor, uploader, and zip deployment system secured by session tokens.

Installation & Setup

Install the thispage CLI tool to get started.

# Initialize a new project
thispage init my-website admin securepassword123

# Enter the directory
cd my-website

# Start the development server
thispage serve

The server will start on port 8080 by default. Tailwind CSS will automatically download and start watching your static/input.css file.

Project Structure

When you initialize a project, the following directory structure is created:

my-website/
├── .thispage/         # Credentials and seeds (gitignored)
├── components/        # Reusable HTML snippets (nav, footer)
├── layouts/           # Master page wrappers
├── live/              # The compiled static site (do not edit directly)
├── static/            # CSS, JS, Images
│   └── input.css      # Tailwind entry point
├── templates/         # Your actual pages
├── data.db            # SQLite database for sessions/rate limiting
└── .env               # Environment variables

CLI Commands

Command Arguments Description
init <name> <user> <pass> Creates a new project with admin credentials. Use --force to overwrite.
serve [path] [port] Builds the site, starts the file watcher, and runs the HTTP server.
build <path> Compiles the site once without starting a server.
watch <path> Watches for file changes and rebuilds, but does not serve HTTP.
mount <path> <user> <pass> Generates new credentials/seed for an existing project (useful after git clone).
credentials <path> Displays the current encrypted admin credentials and session key.

Templating Engine

ThisPage uses a custom tokenizer and compiler. It does not use standard Go templates, but rather a custom syntax focused on composition.

Layouts & Blocks

Define a master layout using slots or blocks, then inherit it in your templates.

layouts/guest_layout.html

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<body>
    {{ slot "main" }}
</body>
</html>

templates/index.html

{{ layout "./layouts/guest_layout.html" }}

    {{ block "main" }}
        <h1>Welcome to my site</h1>
        <p>This content is injected into the slot.</p>
    {{ endblock }}

{{ endlayout }}

Components & Includes

You can reuse HTML snippets using the include directive. You can also pass properties to components.

templates/index.html

{{ include "./components/navbar.html" title="Home Page" }}

components/navbar.html

<nav>
    <div>{{ prop "title" }}</div>
</nav>

Tailwind CSS Integration

ThisPage has native support for Tailwind CSS. You do not need Node.js installed.

When you run thispage serve, the system:

  1. Checks for a valid Tailwind binary in ~/.thispage/bin.
  2. Downloads the correct binary for your OS/Arch (v4.1.18) if missing.
  3. Runs the binary in watch mode, compiling static/input.css to static/output.css.

Simply use Tailwind utility classes in your HTML files, and they will work immediately.

Admin Interface

Access the admin panel by navigating to /login or /admin. The admin system allows you to manage the site directly from the browser.

📝 Live Editing

When logged in as admin, an "Edit" button appears on live pages, linking directly to the source file in the admin editor.

📁 File Manager

Create, rename, delete, and upload files. Navigate through templates, components, and static assets.

🚀 Zip Deployment

Upload a .zip file containing your project structure to instantly deploy updates. Includes logic to prevent "Zip Slip" attacks.

📦 Export

Download a full backup of your project (templates, components, static files) as a .zip file.

Security & Auth

Security is built into the core:

  • • Encryption: Credentials are stored using AES-GCM encryption with a project-specific seed.
  • • Rate Limiting: Login attempts are tracked by IP. 5 failed attempts trigger a temporary block. Excessive failures trigger a permanent blacklist.
  • • Session Management: Secure, HTTP-only cookies are used for session management.
  • • Path Traversal Protection: The file system router and admin endpoints strictly validate paths to ensure they stay within the project root.