lektor-website/content/docs/project/file/contents.lr

title: Project File
---
summary: Covers everything about the project file in Lektor.
---
body:

The project file holds the main configuration of the project and is used to
identify the project for the user interface.  The project file is an INI file
(UTF-8 encoded like everything else in Lektor) and the minimal content is the
name of the project:

```ini
[project]
name = My Fancy Project
```

The name of the file can be arbitrary but must have the `.lektorproject`
extension or Lektor will not be able to find it.  When Lektor looks for a
project it looks upwards from the current folder until it finds a single
file with the `.lektorproject` extension and that's then the root of the project.

!! It's possible to build a Lektor project in the absence of a Project file,
but this usage is heavily discouraged.  It exists primarily for quick
testing situations.  But don't be confused if you encounter a Lektor project
that does not come with a corresponding project file.

## Config Sections

Within the project file there are various configuration sections.  The
following sections currently exist:

### `[project]`

This section controls some basics about the project:

`name`
> This is the human readable name of the project.  It's used in various
> places where the system wants to show the context of the operations.  For
> instance the admin panel will display this to indicate which project is
> being worked on.

`locale`
> This is the default locale of the website.  This defaults to `en_US` and
> can be changed to many others.  Most locales of the CLDR project are
> supported.  This information is for instance used to format dates.

`url`
> This is the full URL of the website.  If set this information can be used
> to enable the `external` URL generation parameter.  Lektor tries hard to
> make websites work in a way where this information is not necessary but
> some systems might need it.  For instance sitemaps require full URLs and
> not having them would be a violation of the specification.

`url_style`
> This controls the style of generated URL references through the
> [url_to :ref](../../api/utils/url-to/) function or filters.  The default
> value for this is `relative`.  The following values are possible:
>
> | Value      | Behavior
> | ---------- | -----------
> | `relative` | URLs are generated relative to the currently active page.
> | `absolute` | URLs are generated absolute (relative to root page)
> | `external` | URLs are generated with the fully canonical URL (external).
>
> There are advantages and disadvantages to all styles.  `relative` has the
> benefit that it works without any configuration no matter where you deploy
> to.  The downside is that you cannot have a page appear on multiple paths
> which for instance breaks custom error pages.  `absolute` is useful for
> situations where you have custom error pages and you generally know a bit
> about the server you are deploying to.  `external` generally makes not a lot
> of sense as default setting but exists for consistency's sake.
>
> For individual URLs that are generated with the [url_to
> :ref](../../api/utils/url-to/) function it's possible to override the
> default URL style.

`path`
> This setting can be used to configure a different path for the project
> tree.  This requires a bit of explanation:
>
> If this is not set (which is the default) then Lektor will find the
> content files right next to the project file.  However in some situations
> you might want to move a project file to a completely different location
> for instance because you want to have settings in there that you do not
> want to put into version control.  In that case you can set the `path`
> in the file to a path (absolute or relative to the project file) which
> resolves to the project tree.
>
> Note that if this setting is used some functionality in the desktop app
> might no longer work (for instance opening `.lr` files with a double click).

Example:

```ini
[project]
name = My Website
url = https://www.mywebsite.invalid/
locale = de_DE
```

### `[packages]`

This section controls the packages (plugins) that should be installed for
this project.  It's a simple key/value list where the key is the plugin
name and the value is the version number.

Example:

```ini
[packages]
lektor-webpack-support = 0.1
```

### `[servers.*]`

This section can be repeated and each instance sets up a server.  The `*`
needs to be replaced with the ID of the server.  This ID is used by the
command line tool to select the server to deploy to.  For more information
about this see the [Deployment Guide :ref](../../deployment/)

`name`
> Human readable name for this server (shown in the UI)

`target`
> The target URL for the server.  This URL is specific to the deployment
> method that is being used.  For a list of which URLs are supported refer
> to the deployment guides.

`enabled`
> This setting can be used to enable/disable the server.  The default is `yes`.

`default`
> This can be used to set a server to be used by default.  If only one server
> is configured it's an implicit default.

Example:

```ini
[servers.production]
name = Production
enabled = yes
default = yes
target = rsync://server/path/to/folder
```

### `[alternatives.*]`

This configures [Alternatives :ref](../../content/alts/).  It is repeated for
each intended alternative.  The default behavior is that alternatives are
disabled.

`name`
> The human readable name for the alternative.  The admin interface uses this.

`url_prefix`
> A prefix that is added in front of all URLs to identify this alternative.

`url_suffix`
> A suffix that is added behind all URLs to enable this alternative.  This is
> currently discouraged compared to the URL prefix as it might not yet work
> in all situations properly.

`primary`
> If this is set to `true` then the alternative is selected as primary.  For
> more information about this refer to the guide.

`locale`
> This setting can override the global site locale for a specific alternative.

Example:

```ini
[alternatives.en]
name = English
primary = yes
locale = en_US

[alternatives.fr]
name = French
url_prefix = /fr/
locale = fr
```