Glossary

Quick reference for Uniweb terminology. Each entry links to the page where the concept is explained in detail.

Block The runtime representation of a section. Wraps parsed content, params, and navigation context. Components receive it as the block prop and can access block.page and block.website. See Kit Reference.

CCA (Component Content Architecture) The pattern at the core of Uniweb: content (markdown) and code (React components) are separate artifacts connected by convention. Content authors write markdown, developers build components, and the runtime connects them via frontmatter. See Component Content Architecture.

Content shape The guaranteed structure that the semantic parser extracts from markdown: title, subtitle, paragraphs, links, images, icons, items, sequence, etc. Arrays are always arrays, strings are always strings — no null checks needed. See Content Structure.

Context A theming environment applied per-section. The runtime wraps each section in a context class (context-light, context-medium, context-dark) based on the theme: frontmatter. Semantic tokens resolve differently in each context. See Thinking in Contexts.

Data schema The shape of a content type — the fields a person or an article has. A component names a schema for each content.data key it declares (data: { team: '@std/person' }), and a query names the schema whose records it reads. uniweb validate checks records against it, a fetch fills a declared key of its type, and the editor builds its form from it. It never changes a record: a field a record lacks reaches the component absent. Refs name a namespace: @/name (the foundation's own), @std/name (the shared standards), @org/name (an organization's). See Data Schemas.

Entity What a backend calls one stored thing of a data schema. In a site the word is record: a file in records/.

Extension A secondary foundation loaded at runtime via URL. Contributes section types but doesn't provide layouts or theme variables. Declared in site.yml under extensions:. See Extending Your Site.

Fetch A query: or fetch: declaration on a section, a page or the site. It names a query, may narrow it with its own where, sort and limit — never widening it — and fills a content.data key the section's component declares. A page's fetch reaches its own sections and its child pages' sections. See Data Fetching.

Foundation A Vite library project containing React components — the site's source code. Lives in src/ (single-foundation case), or foundations/*/, */src/ for multi-foundation layouts. Builds to dist/entry.js + dist/meta/schema.json. Provides section types, layouts, and theme variable declarations. See Building with Uniweb.

Frontmatter The YAML block between --- markers at the top of a markdown file. Contains type: (which component renders this section), theme:, params, and other configuration. This is the binding mechanism between content and code.

Host Who serves a site, and usually the provider of several of its services. Not a synonym for provider: a host serves the site, a provider supplies one service, and a site's form submissions can be provided by a third party its host has never heard of. A narrative term only — the framework never names a host in code, because a component that hardcodes one is welded to a single deployment. See Site Services.

Items Repeating content groups within a single markdown file, created by headings after the main body text. Used for feature cards, FAQ entries, team members. Accessed via content.items. See Content Structure.

Layout A page-level structure component that arranges areas (header, footer, sidebar, body). Lives in src/layouts/ in the foundation and layout/ in the site. The configuration cascade determines which layout each page uses. See Custom Layouts.

Meta.js A file that declares a section type's interface: content expectations, params (with types and defaults), presets, category, background behavior, and the content.data keys the section receives (data:). Optional — section types work without it, but a section receives only the content.data keys its component declares (plus any its foundation declares for every section). See Component Metadata.

Parametric page A page whose folder name is in brackets — [slug], [id], [...path] — with a URL for each record of its route query: /blog/:slug renders the article /blog/bamboo-season names. Other frameworks call these dynamic routes. See Parametric Pages.

Params Configurable options for a section type, defined in meta.js and set by content authors in frontmatter. Examples: variant: split, columns: 3. The runtime guarantees defaults — components never need to check for missing params. See Component Metadata.

Project In co-located layouts, a subdirectory that groups its own foundation and site (e.g., marketing/src/ + marketing/site/). Created with uniweb add project <name>. See Project Structures.

Provider Who or what supplies a service — often the host, sometimes a third party, sometimes the site itself. search.provider is the word scoped to one service, naming which provider answers search: index (a downloaded index, queried in the browser), endpoint (a server), or a foundation-supplied search transport. Distinct from the service, which is the slot it fills. See Site Services.

Query A named question over the site's records, declared in queries.yml (or under queries: in site.yml): which records (schema, scope, where), in what order (sort), how many (limit) — or a public JSON endpoint (url:). The records it selects are its set. Pages and sections name queries; they never read a file or a URL. See Queries.

Record One item of the site's repeating content — a blog post, a team member, a product — written as a file in records/, in the folder named for its data schema (records/std/article/). Putting a file there is what makes it a record, and records are what a query returns. A component receives records as a list under a content.data key, each carrying $route, the URL of the page that shows it. See Records.

Route query The query whose records a parametric page's URLs name — the page's own, else its parent page's, else the site's for a top-level page. A parametric page has a URL for each record of its route query's set and no other. See Parametric Pages.

Section type A React component in src/sections/ that content authors can reference by name in frontmatter (type: Hero). Files and folders at the root of src/sections/ are addressable by default. See Creating Components.

Service A named slot for an address the site does not hardcode — search, submit, tracking, assistant, backend, records, or any name a foundation invents. Offered by the host or declared in site.yml; where the host offers one, its offer wins. Presence is the switch: absent means the site does not have it, and a control for a service the site does not have is not drawn. See Site Services.

Semantic tokens CSS variables (--heading, --body, --section, --primary, --border, etc.) that resolve differently per context. Components use these instead of hardcoded colors so they adapt to any theme automatically. See Site Theming.

Site A Vite app containing markdown content, configuration, and pages. Lives in site/ (or sites/*/, */site/). Has pages/, layout/, site.yml, and theme.yml. This is where content authors work. The site's bootstrap is entry.js (a 6-line file calling start() from @uniweb/runtime — never edited by hand). See Building with Uniweb.

Workspace The top-level directory created by uniweb create — a pnpm monorepo containing one or more foundations, sites, and extensions. Has pnpm-workspace.yaml and a root package.json. See Project Structures.