Directory Structure

● Differs from Ruby Jekyll — modified

No .jekyll-cache, .sass-cache, or .jekyll-metadata — the build cache lives in jigyll-$USER under the system temp dir, and jigyll serve renders in memory without writing _site.

A basic Jigyll site usually looks something like this:

.
├── _config.yml
├── _data
│   └── members.yml
├── _drafts
│   ├── 2026-07-01-begin-with-the-crazy-ideas.md
│   └── 2026-07-03-on-simplicity-in-technology.md
├── _includes
│   ├── footer.html
│   └── header.html
├── _layouts
│   ├── default.html
│   └── post.html
├── _posts
│   ├── 2025-10-29-why-every-programmer-should-play-nethack.md
│   └── 2026-04-26-barcamp-boston-4-roundup.md
├── _sass
│   ├── _base.scss
│   └── _layout.scss
├── _site
└── index.html # can also be an 'index.md' with valid front matter

Differs from Jekyll. No .jekyll-cache, .sass-cache, or .jekyll-metadata is ever created in your project. Jigyll's build cache lives outside the source tree, in jigyll-$USER under the system temp directory ($TMPDIR on macOS, /tmp on Linux). Set the JIGYLL_DISABLE_CACHE environment variable to turn it off. Note the draft filenames above carry date prefixes — Jigyll requires them, unlike Jekyll.

An overview of what each of these does:

File / Directory	Description
`_config.yml`	Stores configuration data. Many of these options can be specified from the command line, but it's easier to specify them here so you don't have to remember them.
`_drafts`	Drafts are unpublished posts. Learn how to work with drafts.
`_includes`	These are the partials that can be mixed and matched by your layouts and posts to facilitate reuse. The Liquid tag `{% include file.ext %}` can be used to include the partial in `_includes/file.ext`.
`_layouts`	These are the templates that wrap posts and pages. Layouts are chosen on a page-by-page basis in the front matter. The Liquid tag `{{ content }}` is used to inject content into the web page.
`_posts`	Your dynamic content: blog posts. The naming convention of these files is important, and must follow the format `YEAR-MONTH-DAY-title.MARKUP`. The permalinks can be customized for each post, but the date and markup language are determined solely by the file name.
`_data`	Well-formatted site data should be placed here. Jigyll autoloads `.yml`, `.yaml`, `.json`, and `.csv` files in this directory (subfolders are namespaced by folder name), accessible via `site.data`.
`_sass`	These are Sass partials that can be imported into your `main.scss`, which is then processed into a single stylesheet. See assets.
`_site`	This is where the generated site is placed when you run `jigyll build`. It's a good idea to add this to your `.gitignore` file. Note that `jigyll serve` renders entirely in memory and never writes here.
`index.html` or `index.md`, and other HTML/Markdown files	Provided that the file has a front matter section, it will be transformed by Jigyll.
Other files/folders	Except for the special cases listed above, every other directory and file — `css`, `images`, `favicon.ico`, and so forth — is copied verbatim to the generated site as a static file.

Every file or directory beginning with ., _, #, or ~ in the source directory is excluded from the destination. Such paths have to be explicitly listed in the config file under the include key to make sure they're copied over:

include:
  - _pages
  - .htaccess