--- title: The Pennington mental model description: "A short map of the host, content sources, rendering pipeline, response pipeline, and DocSite/BlogSite templates before you dive into the deeper architecture pages." canonical_url: https://usepennington.net/explanation/core/mental-model/ sidecar_url: https://usepennington.net/explanation/core/mental-model.md content_hash: sha256:c1f83725d1e6e9f2f025d26f12248cedf781879a2c94c13f06a508d4fa85c22a tokens: 7042 uid: explanation.core.mental-model reading_time_minutes: 5 --- Under the Hood # The Pennington mental model A short map of the host, content sources, rendering pipeline, response pipeline, and DocSite/BlogSite templates before you dive into the deeper architecture pages. Pennington is easiest to understand as a normal ASP.NET app with a content engine inside it. You run the app while writing, and you ask the same app to build static files when publishing. That single idea explains most of the project: - The host is ASP.NET. `Program.cs` owns dependency injection, middleware order, Razor components, and any custom endpoints. - Content sources discover pages. Markdown folders, Razor pages, redirects, generated API reference, taxonomy pages, and custom services all report routes into the same site model. - The content pipeline turns discovered content into rendered content. A page moves from "I know where it is" to "I parsed its front matter" to "I rendered its HTML"; failures travel through the same pipeline so the build report can name them. - The response pipeline finishes the HTML. Cross-references, locale prefixes, base URLs, live reload, diagnostics, and other response processors run against the actual HTTP response. - Build mode crawls the host. `dotnet run` serves through Kestrel; `dotnet run -- build` starts the same app on an in-process test server, requests every discovered route, and writes the responses to disk. That is the whole map. Each deeper architecture page zooms into one box: [The content pipeline and union types](https://usepennington.net/explanation/core/content-pipeline.md) opens up the content pipeline, [The response-processing pipeline](https://usepennington.net/explanation/core/response-processing.md) the response pipeline, and [Dev mode and build mode share one code path](https://usepennington.net/explanation/core/dev-vs-build.md) the serve/build fork on the right edge. .b-7c0cb1c4{--beck-surface:var(--color-base-50, #ffffff);--beck-node-bg:var(--color-base-50, #ffffff);--beck-node-border:var(--color-base-200, #e2e8f0);--beck-node-shadow:0 1px 3px rgb(0 0 0 / 0.05), 0 4px 12px rgb(0 0 0 / 0.06);--beck-text:var(--color-base-800, #1e293b);--beck-text-muted:var(--color-base-500, #64748b);--beck-text-faint:var(--color-base-400, #94a3b8);--beck-primary:var(--color-primary-600, #175ddc);--beck-success:var(--color-emerald-500, #10b981);--beck-warn:var(--color-amber-500, 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reference · taxonomy · redirectsContent pipelinediscover · parse · renderResponse pipelinexrefs · locales · base URL · headBrowserStatic outputEvery source reports routes into the same site modelRendered HTML is finished by the response pipeline, never by the sourcesBuild mode crawls the same app and writes each response to disk ## The layers ### `Pennington` `Pennington` is the lower-level engine. It gives you content discovery, markdown parsing, rendering, route resolution, response processing, diagnostics, search artifacts, feeds, and static output. You bring the site shell: layout, navigation markup, styling, and any app-specific endpoints. Start here when you are embedding content into an existing ASP.NET app, building a custom layout, or mixing several kinds of content that do not fit a stock documentation or blog template. The first getting-started arc walks this path: [Create your first Pennington site](https://usepennington.net/tutorials/getting-started/first-site.md). ### `Pennington.DocSite` `Pennington.DocSite` is a pre-assembled documentation site on top of the engine. One `AddDocSite` call wires the engine, markdown content, DocSite layout, sidebar navigation, search, MonorailCSS styling, SPA navigation, feeds, and static build behavior. Start here for a conventional documentation site. You can still customize options and add extension points, but the template owns the article-shaped layout. The scaffold tutorial starts here: [Scaffold a documentation site with DocSite](https://usepennington.net/tutorials/docsite/scaffold.md). ### `Pennington.BlogSite` `Pennington.BlogSite` is the same idea for a blog-first site. It is a template, not a separate engine: the underlying runtime is still Pennington content discovery plus the shared ASP.NET request pipeline. Reach for it when the blog *is* the site; a blog alongside docs stays on DocSite. [What the DocSite and BlogSite templates wire for you](https://usepennington.net/explanation/positioning/docsite-positioning.md) owns that decision rule and why the two templates cannot share a host. ### `Pennington.UI` `Pennington.UI` is the Razor component library — table-of-contents and outline navigation, breadcrumbs, pagination, cards, badges, code blocks, callouts, the search modal, and the client-side SPA navigation script. DocSite and BlogSite reference it for you and pre-register the markdown-facing components, so you rarely call it directly on a template. You meet it the moment you go bare-engine. `AddPennington` does not assume a layout, so a custom shell that wants the same navigation chrome or wants to drop components into markdown pulls these in itself. The components and their parameters are catalogued in the UI reference: [Content components](https://usepennington.net/reference/ui/content.md), [Navigation components](https://usepennington.net/reference/ui/navigation.md), and [Utility components](https://usepennington.net/reference/ui/utility.md). To use them inside markdown, see [Drop a Razor component into a markdown page](https://usepennington.net/how-to/rich-content/ui-components-in-markdown.md). ### `Pennington.TreeSitter` `Pennington.TreeSitter` is the optional code-fragment extractor. It powers the `:symbol` fence — addressing a member by its name path so a code block shows one method instead of a whole file — across the languages tree-sitter parses. It is opt-in: register it with `AddTreeSitter` and point `ContentRoot` at the root that holds the source you want to fence. Nothing else changes, so you add it only when a site embeds live source. The recipes live in [Embed focused code samples](https://usepennington.net/how-to/code-samples/focused-code-samples.md). ## Terms you will see Term Meaning Host The ASP.NET app that registers Pennington and handles requests. Content source A service that discovers routes and records for pages or generated artifacts. Front matter Typed metadata parsed from the YAML block at the top of a markdown file. Route The URL and output-file mapping for a page or endpoint. Xref A symbolic link such as `` that resolves to the current route for a page or API member. Response processor A hook that rewrites the HTTP response before it reaches the browser or static output folder. Build report The diagnostics summary printed by `dotnet run -- build`. ## What to read next - Build a bare host: [Create your first Pennington site](https://usepennington.net/tutorials/getting-started/first-site.md) - Scaffold a documentation site: [Scaffold a documentation site with DocSite](https://usepennington.net/tutorials/docsite/scaffold.md) - Understand why dev and build share one app: [Dev mode and build mode share one code path](https://usepennington.net/explanation/core/dev-vs-build.md) - Understand the content pipeline internals: [The content pipeline and union types](https://usepennington.net/explanation/core/content-pipeline.md) - See what DocSite and BlogSite wire for you: [What the DocSite and BlogSite templates wire for you](https://usepennington.net/explanation/positioning/docsite-positioning.md) [Next The content pipeline and union types](https://usepennington.net/explanation/core/content-pipeline.md)