Project Structure

What your project looks like depends on which path you picked.

#Binary CLI

leaf init creates a minimal tree. You only see content, assets, optional templates, and config.

my-docs/
  content/
    getting-started/
      introduction.md
  public/
    assets/
      css/app.css
      js/
      images/
  templates/              # optional overrides (Latte, PHP, or HTML)
  config.yml
  dist/                   # build output (deploy this)

Everything else — the framework, controllers, the build pipeline, the vendor graph — lives inside the leaf binary.

#content/

Your Markdown pages. Organized into sections (directories) with pages (.md files). Each file has title and order front matter.

#public/

Static assets copied verbatim to dist/. Put your logo, custom CSS overrides, fonts, and images here.

#templates/ (optional)

Drop Latte/PHP/HTML files here to override the bundled defaults. The binary merges your templates on top of the bundled theme at build time. Examples:

• templates/layouts/docs.latte → overrides the bundled docs layout
• templates/partials/nav.latte → overrides the bundled nav
• templates/landing.latte → rendered at / (if present, / no longer redirects to the first doc page)

You can use any of the three formats. Pick what fits:

• Latte for layouts, partials, blocks
• PHP (<?= $leafName ?>) if you prefer raw PHP views
• HTML if you want a static page without template variables (the binary copies it through)

To add standalone URLs like /about or /contact, drop Latte files under templates/pages/. See Custom Pages.

#config.yml

Site settings: name, version, sections, production URL. See Configuration Reference.

#dist/

Generated output. Static HTML, CSS, JS, sitemap.xml, robots.txt, search.json. Deploy this.

#Composer template

composer create-project zephyrus-framework/leaf my-docs — or leaf eject on an existing CLI project — gives you the full Zephyrus application alongside the same content/, templates/, public/, config.yml structure:

my-docs/
  app/
    Controllers/
      DocsController.php      # Routes and page rendering
    Models/Core/
      Application.php         # Extends Leaf\Kernel
    Views/
      layouts/docs.latte      # HTML wrapper for docs pages
      docs/page.latte         # Individual doc page template
      partials/               # Reusable components (nav, sidebar, footer)
      404.latte               # Error page
  bin/
    build.php                 # Static site build script
    router.php                # Dev server entry point
  content/                    # same as CLI
  public/                     # same as CLI
  templates/                  # optional; CLI-style overrides still work
  config.yml                  # same as CLI
  vendor/                     # Composer dependencies
  composer.json
  dist/

#Key files unique to the Composer path

#app/Models/Core/Application.php

Your application class. Extends Leaf\Kernel and provides dependency injection for controllers:

use Leaf\Kernel;

final class Application extends Kernel
{
    protected function createController(string $class): object
    {
        if ($class === DocsController::class) {
            return new DocsController(
                $this->contentLoader,
                $this->searchIndexBuilder,
                $this->leafConfig,
            );
        }
        return new $class();
    }
}

#bin/build.php

The build script. A file you own and can modify:

$app = new Application();
$command = new BuildCommand($app);
exit($command->run());

Add custom paths, hook into the pipeline, post-process output. See the BuildCommand reference.

#app/Controllers/

Where you add custom routes. Each controller is a Zephyrus class with #[Get], #[Post], etc. attribute-routed endpoints.

#Which files are shared between the two paths?

Everything under content/, templates/, public/, and config.yml is identical. You can move a project between paths via leaf eject (CLI → Composer) or by deleting app/, bin/, composer.json, and vendor/ (Composer → CLI).