Shortcodes

Various template engines can be extended with shortcodes for easy reusable content. This is sugar around Template Language Custom Tags. Shortcodes are supported in JavaScript, Liquid, Nunjucks, and Handlebars templates.

Here are a few examples:

{% user firstName, lastName %}

{% user firstName lastName %}

{% user firstName, lastName %}

module.exports = function({ firstName, lastName }) {
  return `<h1>${this.user(firstName, lastName)}</h1>`;
};

<!-- Note the three opening and closing curly brackets (the triple-stash) -->
{{{ user firstName lastName }}}

module.exports = function(eleventyConfig) {
  // Shortcodes added in this way are available in:
  // * Markdown
  // * Liquid
  // * Nunjucks
  // * Handlebars (not async)
  // * JavaScript

  eleventyConfig.addShortcode("user", function(firstName, lastName) { … });

  // Async support for `addShortcode` is new in Eleventy v2.0.0-beta.1
  eleventyConfig.addShortcode("user", async function(myName) { /* … */ });

  // Async method available
  eleventyConfig.addAsyncShortcode("user", async function(myName) { /* … */ });
};

A shortcode returns content (a JavaScript string or template literal) that is used in the template. You can use these however you’d like—you could even think of them as reusable components.

Read more about using shortcodes on the individual Template Language documentation pages:

• JavaScript *.11ty.js (with async support)
• Liquid *.liquid (with async support)
• Nunjucks *.njk (with async support)
• Handlebars *.hbs (no async support)

Paired Shortcodes Jump to heading #

The shortcodes we saw above were nice, I suppose. But really, they are not all that different from a filter. The real ultimate power of Shortcodes comes when they are paired. Paired Shortcodes have a start and end tag—and allow you to nest other template content inside!

{% user firstName, lastName %}
  Hello {{ someOtherVariable }}.

  Hello {% anotherShortcode %}.
{% enduser %}

{% user firstName, lastName %}
  Hello {{ someOtherVariable }}.

  Hello {% anotherShortcode %}.
{% enduser %}

{{# user firstName lastName }}
  Hello {{ someOtherVariable }}.

  Hello {{ anotherShortcode }}.
{{/ user }}

module.exports = function(data) {
  let userContent = `Hello ${data.someOtherVariable}

Hello ${this.anotherShortCode()}`;

  // pass the content as the first parameter.
  return `<h1>${this.user(userContent, data.firstName, data.lastName)}</h1>`;
};

When adding paired shortcodes using the Configuration API, the first argument to your shortcode callback is the nested content.

module.exports = function(eleventyConfig) {
  // Shortcodes added in this way are available in:
  // * Markdown
  // * Liquid
  // * Nunjucks
  // * Handlebars (not async)
  // * JavaScript

  eleventyConfig.addPairedShortcode("user", function(content, firstName, lastName) { … });

  // Async support for `addPairedShortcode` is new in Eleventy v2.0.0-beta.1
  eleventyConfig.addPairedShortcode("user", async function(content, myName) { /* … */ });

  // Async method available
  eleventyConfig.addPairedAsyncShortcode("user", async function(content, myName) { /* … */ });
};

Read more about using paired shortcodes on the individual Template Language documentation pages:

• JavaScript *.11ty.js (with async support)
• Liquid *.liquid (with async support)
• Nunjucks *.njk (with async support)
• Handlebars *.hbs (no async support)

Asynchronous Shortcodes Jump to heading #

This is supported by Liquid, Nunjucks, and JavaScript template types (Handlebars is not async-friendly).

module.exports = function(eleventyConfig) {
  // Async support for `addShortcode` and `addPairedShortcode` is new in Eleventy v2.0.0-beta.1
  eleventyConfig.addShortcode("single", async function(myName) { /* … */ });
  eleventyConfig.addPairedShortcode("paired", async function(content, myName) { /* … */ });

  // Async methods available in Eleventy v0.10.0+
  eleventyConfig.addAsyncShortcode("single", async function(myName) { /* … */ });
  eleventyConfig.addPairedAsyncShortcode("paired", async function(content, myName) { /* … */ });
};

Scoped Data in Shortcodes Jump to heading #

A few Eleventy-specific data properties are available to shortcode callbacks.

• this.page
• this.eleventy Added in v2.0.0-beta.1

module.exports = function(eleventyConfig) {
  // Make sure you’re not using an arrow function here: () => {}
  eleventyConfig.addShortcode("myShortcode", function() {
    // this.page
    // this.eleventy
  });
};

Per-Engine Shortcodes Jump to heading #

You can also specify different functionality for shortcodes in each engine, if you’d like. Using the addShortcode or addPairedShortcode function is equivalent to adding the shortcode to every supported template engine.

module.exports = function(eleventyConfig) {
  // Liquid
  eleventyConfig.addLiquidShortcode("user", function(firstName, lastName) {});
  eleventyConfig.addPairedLiquidShortcode("user", function(content, firstName, lastName) {});

  // Nunjucks
  eleventyConfig.addNunjucksShortcode("user", function(firstName, lastName) {});
  eleventyConfig.addPairedNunjucksShortcode("user", function(content, firstName, lastName) {});

  // Handlebars
  eleventyConfig.addHandlebarsShortcode("user", function(firstName, lastName) {});
  eleventyConfig.addPairedHandlebarsShortcode("user", function(content, firstName, lastName) {});

  // JavaScript Template Function (New in 0.7.0)
  eleventyConfig.addJavaScriptFunction("user", function(firstName, lastName) {});
  eleventyConfig.addJavaScriptFunction("user", function(content, firstName, lastName) {}); // Faux-paired shortcode

Async Friendly Per-Engine Shortcodes Jump to heading #

Learn more about these on the individual template engine pages for Nunjucks, Liquid, and 11ty.js JavaScript.

  // Async-friendly
  // Liquid is already async-friendly
  eleventyConfig.addLiquidShortcode("user", async function() {});
	eleventyConfig.addPairedLiquidShortcode("user", async function(content) {});

  // Nunjucks Async
  eleventyConfig.addNunjucksAsyncShortcode("user", async function() {});
  eleventyConfig.addPairedNunjucksAsyncShortcode("user", async function(content) {});

	 // JavaScript Template Function (make sure you `await` these!)
  eleventyConfig.addJavaScriptFunction("user", async function() {});
  eleventyConfig.addJavaScriptFunction("user", async function(content) {}); // Faux-paired shortcode
};

Other pages in Configuration:

• Passthrough File Copy
• Ignore Files
• Filters
  • url
  • slugify
  • log
  • get*CollectionItem
• Shortcodes
• Custom Tags
• Events
• Watch and Serve
  • Eleventy Dev Server
  • Browsersync
  • Vite

Related Docs

• Template Custom Tags
• Template Filters
• Template Language—Handlebars
• Template Language—JavaScript
• Template Language—Liquid
• Template Language—Nunjucks