sukr/docs/content/architecture.md

title, description, weight, toc

title	description	weight	toc
Architecture	How sukr transforms markdown into zero-JS static sites	5	true

sukr is a 13-module static site compiler. Every feature that would typically require client-side JavaScript is moved to build-time.

Pipeline Overview

flowchart LR
    A[Walk content/] --> B[Parse frontmatter]
    B --> C[Stream markdown]
    C --> D{Code block?}
    D -->|Yes| E[Intercept]
    D -->|No| F[Pass through]
    E --> G[Render HTML]
    F --> G
    G --> H[Apply template]
    H --> I[Write public/]

Module Responsibilities

Module	Purpose
main.rs	Pipeline orchestrator — wires everything together
config.rs	Loads site.toml configuration
content.rs	Discovers sections, pages, and navigation structure
render.rs	Markdown→HTML with code block interception
highlight.rs	Tree-sitter syntax highlighting (14 languages)
math.rs	KaTeX rendering to MathML
mermaid.rs	Mermaid diagrams to inline SVG
css.rs	CSS minification via lightningcss
template_engine.rs	Tera template loading and rendering
feed.rs	Atom feed generation
sitemap.rs	XML sitemap generation
escape.rs	HTML/XML text escaping utilities
error.rs	Structured error types with source chaining

The Interception Pattern

The core innovation is event-based interception. Rather than parsing markdown into an AST and walking it twice, sukr streams pulldown-cmark events and intercepts specific patterns:

flowchart TD
    A[pulldown-cmark event stream] --> B{Event type?}
    B -->|Start CodeBlock| C[Buffer content]
    C --> D{Language tag?}
    D -->|rust, python, etc.| E[Tree-sitter highlighting]
    D -->|mermaid| F[Mermaid SVG rendering]
    D -->|math delimiters| G[KaTeX MathML]
    D -->|unknown| H[HTML escape only]
    E --> I[Emit highlighted spans]
    F --> I
    G --> I
    H --> I
    B -->|Other events| J[Pass through]
    I --> K[Continue stream]
    J --> K

This pattern avoids buffering the entire document. Each code block is processed in isolation as it streams through.

Why Zero-JS

Traditional SSGs ship JavaScript for:

Feature	Typical Approach	sukr Approach
Syntax highlighting	Prism.js, Highlight.js	Tree-sitter at build-time → <span class="hl-*">
Math rendering	MathJax, KaTeX.js	KaTeX at build-time → MathML (browser-native)
Diagrams	Mermaid.js	mermaid-rs at build-time → inline SVG
Mobile nav	JavaScript toggle	CSS :has() + checkbox hack

The result: zero bytes of JavaScript in the output. Pages load instantly, work without JS enabled, and avoid the complexity of client-side hydration.

Static Configuration Pattern

Tree-sitter grammars are expensive to initialize. sukr uses tree-house (Helix editor's Tree-sitter integration) with LazyLock to create language configurations exactly once:

/// Create a LanguageConfig for a language with embedded queries.
fn make_config(
    grammar: Grammar,
    highlights: &str,
    injections: &str,
    locals: &str,
) -> Option<LanguageConfig> {
    LanguageConfig::new(grammar, highlights, injections, locals).ok()
}

// Register Rust with embedded Helix queries
if let Ok(grammar) = Grammar::try_from(tree_sitter_rust::LANGUAGE)
    && let Some(config) = make_config(
        grammar,
        include_str!("../queries/rust/highlights.scm"),
        include_str!("../queries/rust/injections.scm"),
        include_str!("../queries/rust/locals.scm"),
    )
{
    config.configure(resolve_scope);
    configs.insert(Language::Rust, config);
}

This pattern ensures O(1) lookup per language regardless of how many code blocks exist in the site.

Single-Pass Content Discovery

The SiteManifest struct aggregates all content in one filesystem traversal:

• Homepage (_index.md at root)
• Sections (directories with _index.md)
• Section items (posts, projects, pages)
• Navigation tree (derived from structure + frontmatter weights)

This avoids repeated directory scans during template rendering.

Implementation Notes

sukr prioritizes output quality over minimal build-time footprint. Current dependency choices reflect this:

Feature	Library	Trade-off
Math	KaTeX	Full LaTeX coverage; heavier than minimal alternatives like latex2mathml
Diagrams	mermaid-rs	High-fidelity SVG; uses headless rendering under the hood

Lighter alternatives exist and may be evaluated as they mature. The goal is browser-native output with zero client-side JavaScript—build-time weight is a secondary concern.