Global Data Files

Global data is data that is exposed to every template in an Eleventy project.

One way to create global data is through global data files: JSON and JavaScript files placed inside of the global data folder. The global data folder is placed inside the project's input directory (set by the dir.input configuration option), and the name of the global data folder is set by the dir.data configuration option (_data by default). All *.json and module.exports values from *.js files in this directory will be added into a global data object available to all templates.

You may also be interested in config global dataAdded in v1.0.0, which is another way to add global data to every template in an Eleventy project.

Example Jump to heading #

Consider a JSON data file located at _data/userList.json with the following content:

[
  "user1",
  "user2"
]

This data will be available to your templates under the userList key like this:

{
  userList: [
    "user1",
    "user2"
  ]
}

Folders Jump to heading #

If a data file is in a folder, the folder name will inform your global data object structure. For example, in our previous example, consider if our userList.json file was moved into a users folder at _data/users/userList.json.

Our data will be now available to your templates under a users key like so:

{
  users: {
    userList: [
      "user1",
      "user2"
    ]
  }
}

Using JavaScript instead of JSON Jump to heading #

Read more about using module.exports values in arbitrary JavaScript data files.

Sources of Data Jump to heading #

When the data is merged in the Eleventy Data Cascade, the order of priority for sources of data is (from highest priority to lowest):

1. Computed Data
2. Front Matter Data in a Template
3. Template Data Files
4. Directory Data Files (and ascending Parent Directories)
5. Front Matter Data in Layouts (this moved in 1.0)
6. Configuration API Global Data
7. Global Data Files ⬅

From the Community Jump to heading #

×26 resources courtesy of 11tybundle.dev curated by Bob Monsour

• Programmatically importing your Last.fm listening data to ListenBrainz — Cory Dransfeldt (2023)
• Using Wordpress as a headless CMS for Eleventy — Mike Aparicio (2023)
• Scratch that...use the Google Sheets API — Bob Monsour (2023)
• 11ty Second 11ty: Global Data files (JS and JSON) — Bryan Robinson (2022)
• Reading Comic Books in the Jamstack — Raymond Camden (2022)

Other pages in Data Cascade:

• Front Matter Data
  • Custom Front Matter
• Template & Directory Data Files
• Global Data Files
  • Data Preprocessing
• Data Deep Merge
• Config Global Data
• Computed Data

Related Docs

• Default Template Engine for Global Data Files