Frontmatter Reference

Every Wheel of Heaven content file opens with TOML frontmatter — fields that tell Zola, the templates, and the AI extractor what kind of page this is and how to surface it.

This page is the full field reference. For how to use frontmatter when writing a specific kind of content, see the per-content-type guides under Contributing → Content.

Format#

Always TOML. Delimited with +++ (not ---):

+++
title = "Elohim"
description = "Biblical Hebrew term for the creators of life on Earth."
template = "wiki-page.html"

[extra]
claim_type = "direct"
+++

The [extra] table is Zola’s namespace for project-specific fields — distinct from the top-level fields Zola itself uses.

Top-level fields#

These are read by Zola directly.

Section-level top-level fields#

_index.md files for sections support extra top-level fields:

Taxonomies#

[taxonomies]
tags = ["ancient-astronauts", "genesis"]
authors = ["Zara Zinsfuss"]
categories = ["Research"]

The available taxonomies are configured in config.toml (currently tags, authors, categories).

[extra] fields#

Universal — apply to most content types#

Core claim binding#

Fields that bind a page to a claim record in the research core at an exact version. Page-type-agnostic.

Both are inert at render time. When the core repo is checked out beside data-content, its validator flags a page whose declared version no longer matches the controlling claim record (the page renders a stale claim), and warns when a page declares a claim that does not list it in public_derivatives.

Since the derivation contract was accepted (RFC 0003 / ADR 0002, 2026-08-15) these fields are required on new pages and fundamental rewrites, which must ground their load-bearing assertions in claim records before the prose is written — see Grounded Production. Existing pages are grandfathered; translations inherit their source page’s binding; Dispatches may bind but need not.

Depiction binding (briefs)#

The visual counterpart, for illustration briefs and audio-play scene specs rather than content pages (RFC 0004 / ADR 0003). Accepted; validator support is still an implementation step, so the binding is normative-only for now.

Rendered assets inherit their brief’s binding and are never bound directly.

Wiki — [extra] additions#

Timeline — [extra] additions#

Library book — [extra] additions#

For the section _index.md:

For an individual book page (content/library/<slug>.md) — the chapter and verse text is loaded from data-library JSON, but the page’s frontmatter still carries its metadata (title, description, claim_type, translation_status, etc.):

Article — [extra] additions#

(See universal fields above; Articles primarily use summary, claim_type, category, keywords, references.)

Reference objects#

Use stable source IDs whenever the cited source already exists in data/sources.json. The site resolves the visible title, author/date metadata, and source URL from that manifest. Those IDs also map to the generated local source pages at /sources/{id}/ in English and /{lang}/sources/{id}/ in translated shells, where the reverse Cited by list is rendered. The same ID is what body citations use via cite(id="...") on wiki pages, so the inline marker and the reference entry stay in sync.

[[extra.references]]
id = "sefaria"
note = "Primary digital access point for Hebrew Bible and Jewish source traditions."
locator = "Genesis 1:26"

Unknown IDs fail the website build before deploy. That keeps the content manifest, the rendered reference list, and the citation anchors on the page in lockstep.

Legacy records can still be used for sources that do not yet exist in the manifest. They are aggregated by the source builder and can later be converted to stable IDs.

[[extra.references]]
title = "Hamlet's Mill"
author = "Giorgio de Santillana and Hertha von Dechend"
date = "1969"
url = "https://wheelofheaven.github.io/de-santillana-von-dechend-hamlets-mill/"

Newsroom Dispatch — [extra] additions#

Social broadcast#

The Social Broadcast Pipeline reads two pieces of frontmatter when deciding what to post and how.

extra.broadcast — eligibility#

[extra]
broadcast = true                          # all enabled channels
broadcast = false                         # suppress entirely
broadcast = ["telegram"]                  # only Telegram

[social] — per-platform overrides#

Optional top-level block (not under [extra]). Each key is a platform name; the value overrides the mechanical default copy for that platform only. Unset platforms fall back to the default template.

[social]
telegram = """
🛰️ <b>Custom Telegram lede</b>

Multi-paragraph copy goes here.
"""
not_before = "2026-05-22T13:00:00Z"

Per-page hand-rolled copy is the exception, not the norm — the mechanical default (title + summary + permalink + OG card) handles most dispatches well. Use [social] when the dispatch’s lede needs to match a specific tone or hook on a specific platform.

Resource — [extra] additions#

For entries in the source registry (resources section).

Valid medium values#

Templates per content type#

template should be set explicitly on every page. Defaults to the section’s page_template if not set; setting explicitly makes intent obvious to anyone reading.

Worked examples#

Wiki entry#

+++
title = "Elohim"
description = "Biblical Hebrew term for the creators of life on Earth — grammatically plural, meaning 'those who came from the sky.'"
template = "wiki-page.html"
toc = true

[extra]
claim_type = "direct"
editorial_pass = "2026-05"
category = "Core Concepts"
alternative_names = ["Aluhim", "Eloah (singular)"]
see_also = [
    { title = "Yahweh", path = "/wiki/yahweh/" },
    { title = "Council of Eternals", path = "/wiki/council-of-the-eternals/" }
]
external_links = [
    { title = "Elohim — Wikipedia", url = "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elohim" }
]
references = [
    { id = "the-book-which-tells-the-truth", locator = "Chapter 1" },
    { id = "a-hebrew-and-english-lexicon-of-the-old-testament" }
]
+++

Timeline entry#

+++
title = "Age of Aquarius"
description = "The current precessional age (1945–4105 CE) — the age of revelation."
template = "timeline-section.html"
weight = 12

[extra]
claim_type = "direct"
editorial_pass = "2026-05"
start_year = "1945"
end_year = "4105"
zodiac_sign = "aquarius"
symbol = "♒"
references = [
    { title = "Hamlet's Mill", author = "Giorgio de Santillana and Hertha von Dechend", date = "1969", url = "https://wheelofheaven.github.io/de-santillana-von-dechend-hamlets-mill/" }
]
+++

Article#

+++
title = "Why the Elohim hypothesis is more parsimonious than mainstream readings of Genesis"
description = "A side-by-side comparison of how the ancient-astronaut reading and the mythological-allegory reading account for the textual oddities in Genesis 1–11."
template = "articles-page.html"
date = 2026-05-15

[extra]
claim_type = "inferred"
editorial_pass = "2026-05"
summary = "Genesis contains specific, peculiar details — sequence of creation, anatomical language, multiple-creator grammar — that are easier to explain as an engineering log than as either myth or literal history."
category = "Hermeneutics"
keywords = ["Genesis", "Elohim hypothesis", "parsimony", "hermeneutics"]
references = [
    { id = "the-book-which-tells-the-truth", locator = "Chapter 1" }
]
+++

Newsroom Dispatch#

+++
title = "JWST resolves the most distant galaxy yet"
description = "JADES-GS-z14-0 sits at z=14.32. We re-read the canon's cosmology in light of how much earlier structure formed than models predicted."
template = "news-page.html"
date = 2026-05-08

[extra]
event_date = 2026-05-07
event_type = "discovery"
claim_type = "inferred"
summary = "The James Webb Space Telescope confirmed JADES-GS-z14-0 as the most distant galaxy ever observed. Cosmological structure formed earlier and faster than mainstream models predict — a wrinkle the Wheel of Heaven cosmology has long noted."
canon_links = [
    { title = "Elohim cosmology", path = "/wiki/elohim-cosmology/" }
]
sources = [
    { title = "JWST confirms distance to JADES-GS-z14-0", url = "https://www.nature.com/articles/...", outlet = "Nature", date = "2026-05-07" }
]
+++

See also#

• Wiki Entry — workflow for wiki entries specifically
• Article — workflow for Articles
• Newsroom Dispatch — workflow for Dispatches
• Editorial Passes — the claim_type and editorial_pass fields in detail