--- title: 'Globals' description: 'The data baseline injects into the Eleventy data cascade: _baseline, _pageContext, _snapshot, _node, _backlinks, _outgoing, _navigator, reserved keys, and the date global.' slug: 'globals' type: 'article' date: 2026-04-28T00:00:00.000Z lang: 'en' url: 'https://www.eleventy-baseline.dev/docs/core-reference/globals/' --- Baseline registers a handful of global data keys and a few Nunjucks globals. Most of them are reference targets you can read in templates; the rest are reserved namespaces that keep module-namespaced data from colliding with filters. --- ## `_baseline` The plugin's runtime introspection object. Built in three additive merges as the entry point runs. The shape mirrors Eleventy's own `eleventy` global: identity fields (`name`, `version`) at the top level, `env` for environment signals, with Baseline-specific data (`options`, `features`, `paths`) alongside. ```js _baseline = { name: 'Eleventy Baseline', version, // npm package version env: { mode, package }, // mode = ELEVENTY_ENV; package = npm package name options: { // Snapshot of the resolved options object (state.options). }, features: { verbose, multilang, sitemap, navigator, head: { titleSeparator, showGenerator }, assets: { esbuild }, hasImageTransformPlugin }, paths: { input, output, includes, data, assets, public } }; ``` --- ### Top-level identity | Key | Type | Source | | --------- | ------ | --------------------- | | `name` | string | `'Eleventy Baseline'` | | `version` | string | npm package version | Lifted to the top level so they sit alongside `_baseline.env` and `_baseline.features` the same way Eleventy's `eleventy.version` sits alongside `eleventy.env`. If you used `_baseline.env.name` or `_baseline.env.version` previously, those moved to `_baseline.name` and `_baseline.version`. ### `_baseline.env` | Key | Type | Source | | --------- | ------ | -------------------------- | | `mode` | string | `process.env.ELEVENTY_ENV` | | `package` | string | npm package name | A note on `mode`: it reflects `ELEVENTY_ENV`, **not** Eleventy's own `ELEVENTY_RUN_MODE`. The two are different signals: `ELEVENTY_ENV` is the environment your process started in (`development`, `production`, whatever you set), while `ELEVENTY_RUN_MODE` is what Eleventy is doing right now (`build`, `serve`, `watch`). Baseline uses the former for activation defaults (e.g. navigator on in dev). The latter shows up in the drafts preprocessor. They have caught people out before; reach for the one that names the signal you mean. --- ### `_baseline.options` A snapshot of the resolved `options` object (`state.options`). Carries every option Baseline computed after merging your `options` argument with defaults, in its on-the-wire shape (so `multilang`, not `multilingual`; `assets.esbuild`, not `assetsESBuild`). Useful for templates and filters that want to behave differently based on what was configured. If you only need the boolean "is X active?" answer, `_baseline.features` below is the resolved view. `_baseline.options` is the raw resolved input. ### `_baseline.features` Resolved option flags. Reflects what Baseline decided after merging your `options` argument with defaults. | Key | Type | Notes | | ------------------------- | -------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | `verbose` | boolean | Mirrors `options.verbose`. | | `multilang` | boolean | See note on naming below. | | `sitemap` | boolean | Mirrors `options.sitemap`. | | `navigator` | boolean \| object | Mirrors `options.navigator` (boolean shorthand or `{ template, inspectorDepth }` object form). | | `head.titleSeparator` | string \| undefined | Set if you provided one; otherwise `undefined` here, with the head module applying its own default (`' – '`) at module-init time. | | `head.showGenerator` | boolean \| undefined | Set if you provided one; otherwise `undefined` here, with the head module defaulting to `false` at module-init time. | | `assets.esbuild` | object | Forwarded to esbuild verbatim. | | `hasImageTransformPlugin` | boolean | Detected via `eleventyConfig.hasPlugin('eleventyImageTransformPlugin')`. | A naming nit worth flagging: the user-facing option is **`multilingual`**, but the resolved state key is **`multilang`** (short form). The `features` object reflects state, so you read `_baseline.features.multilang` even though you wrote `options.multilingual`. ### `_baseline.paths` Resolved directory paths from `eleventyConfig.directories`. Read-only; useful for filters and shortcodes that need to know where things live on disk. | Key | Default | Notes | | ---------- | ----------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | `input` | `src` | | | `output` | `dist` | | | `includes` | `_includes` | | | `data` | `_data` | | | `assets` | `assets` | The assets virtual directory. | | `public` | `static` | The public virtual directory; on-disk folder is `static/`. See [[config-export \| Config export]]. | If you previously used `_baseline.assets.input` or `_baseline.assets.output`, those keys moved. They are now `_baseline.paths.assets` (a directory path) and `_baseline.paths.output`. The shape changed in the audit; old references will need updating. --- ## `_pageContext` A normalised per-page object built at cascade-time and exposed to every page. One sentence here, full surface on its own page: see [[page-context | Page context]]. --- ## `_snapshot` A debugging snapshot populated by the navigator module. Available when navigator is active (default in development). Exposes: - `_snapshot.contentMap` - Eleventy's content map at the time the navigator template renders. - `_snapshot.pageContext` - every page-context object the registry has built so far. Read at module-init in templates that want to introspect the build. See the [[navigator | navigator module]] for the full picture; the navigator template at `/navigator-core.html` is the canonical consumer. `_snapshot.contentMap` is `null` while the navigator template itself renders, because the template renders before Eleventy emits `eleventy.contentMap`. Reading `_snapshot` from any other page sees the populated value. --- ## `_navigator` A Nunjucks global, registered by the navigator module. The cross-page read surface for plugin-produced data, shape `{ nodes, edges, backlinks }`: - **`_navigator.nodes`** is the per-page map from the content graph, keyed by URL. Each entry carries identity fields (`title`, `slug`, `description`, `lang`, `locale`, `date`, `url`, `breadcrumbs`) merged with extracted fields (`excerpt`, `headings`, `sections`, `images`). Identity comes from the page's `_pageContext`; the extracted fields come from the rendered HTML. - **`_navigator.edges`** is a flat array of every link in the graph. Each edge is `{ internal, from, to, text, rel }`. One edge per anchor in each page's extracted root. - **`_navigator.backlinks`** is the target-keyed enriched backlinks map: `{ targetUrl: Array<{ url, title?, excerpt? }> }`. Pre-joined with the source page's `title` and `excerpt` so consumers read enriched records directly. Authors paginate over `_navigator.backlinks` to generate "what links here" subpages, or read `_navigator.nodes` and `_navigator.edges` directly for cross-page features (related-page lists, navigation indices, link audits). The navigator is both a runtime-introspection surface and the public read surface for plugin-produced cross-page data; the per-page view of the same substrate is on `_node`, `_backlinks`, and `_outgoing` below. --- ## `_node`, `_backlinks`, and `_outgoing` Three computed cascade keys, populated per page from the content-graph pre-pass. - **`_node`** is the current page's own node from the content graph: identity fields (`title`, `slug`, `description`, `lang`, `locale`, `date`, `url`, `breadcrumbs`) merged with extracted fields (`excerpt`, `headings`, `sections`, `images`). Read it for the page's headings (a table-of-contents source), its own excerpt, or any of the identity fields without re-reading them through the cascade. - **`_backlinks`** is the array of edges where `to === page.url`: bare edge records, shape `{ internal, from, to, text, rel }`. Each entry names a page that links to the current one and the text of the link. Empty array if nothing links here. - **`_outgoing`** is the array of edges where `from === page.url`: same shape. Each entry names a page (or external URL) the current page links to. `_backlinks` and `_outgoing` carry raw edges, not enriched records. If you want the source page's `title` and `excerpt` for a backlink, read `_navigator.backlinks` (target-keyed and pre-joined) instead. Two consumers, two shapes: the per-page keys carry the most local view; the cross-page map carries the enriched, target-keyed view a backlinks-index template needs. All three keys read through `coreContext.runtime.contentGraph` via getters, so rebuilds that reassign the underlying graph reference are picked up automatically. Pages flagged `_internal: true` (synthetic templates like sitemap XML and schema endpoints) drop out of the graph cleanly, as do pages flagged `baselineExcludeFromGraph: true` (a graph-specific opt-out for renderable pages that should stay outside the graph: 404s, showcase index pages, anything that should render without self-referencing). `eleventyExcludeFromCollections: true` is Eleventy's collections opt-out and does not exclude a page from the graph on its own. A fourth key, `_edges`, is reserved in `INTERNAL_KEYS` but no value is currently bound to it. Placeholder for a future per-page or global edges surface. --- ## Reserved-but-empty keys The entry point reserves additional keys as empty objects: - `_assets` - `_head` - `_multilang` - `_sitemap` They exist so module-namespaced data can merge cleanly without colliding with same-named filters. No module currently writes into them; if you see one of these in a `_data` dump, it's `{}` by design. Together with `_baseline`, `_navigator`, `_snapshot`, `eleventyComputed._pageContext`, `eleventyComputed._node`, `eleventyComputed._backlinks`, and `eleventyComputed._outgoing` (all populated today) plus `eleventyComputed._edges` (reserved, currently unbound), that is twelve reserved keys. The full list lives in `INTERNAL_KEYS` in the entry point. See [[internals | Internals]]. --- ## See also - [[plugin-entrypoint | Plugin entrypoint]] - where these globals are registered. - [[page-context | Page context]] - `_pageContext` shape. - [[internals | Internals]] - `INTERNAL_KEYS` and the registry primitive. - [[navigator | Navigator module]] - `_snapshot`, `_runtime`, `_ctx`.