⌘K
API Reference

Rendering Functions

api-reference theming

All functions below return a string — always echo them; none print output directly except where noted.

Content

render_content_html(string $html, array $item = null): string

Full rich content rendering: complete shortcode parsing (galleries, TOC, callouts, quotes, buttons, recent_articles, recent_projects, contact_form…). When $item['content_format'] === 'markdown', converts Markdown to HTML first, then runs the shortcode pipeline.

🚫

Never display $item['content'] directly — always pass it through this function.

echo render_content_html($item['content'] ?? '', $item);

render_site_logo(array $settings, string $class = '', string $alt = ''): string

` tag for the configured site logo. Empty string if none is set.

If a -light and -dark variant of the configured logo both exist on disk (e.g. site_logo is files/logo.webp and files/logo-light.webp + files/logo-dark.webp are also present), both <img> tags are rendered (classes snk-logo-dark / snk-logo-light) along with a small inline <style> block — emitted once per request even if the function is called more than once — that toggles visibility via the [data-theme] attribute a themes dark/light switch sets on <html>. Pure CSS, no extra JS, no flash on switch. Falls back to the single configured logo when either variant is missing.

render_site_favicon(array $settings): string

<link rel="icon"> for the configured favicon, MIME-typed from the file extension (ico, svg, png, gif, webp).

render_site_title(array $settings, string $pageTitle): string

Site title string, respecting show_site_title_in_header.

render_content_title(array $item): string

<h1> title block. Empty string if show_title is false.

render_meta_tags(array $settings, string $metaTitle, string $metaDescription, array $pageData = null): string

All SEO tags: description, Open Graph, canonical URL, JSON-LD schema.org markup.

render_header_scripts(array $headerScripts): string

Injects every <head> asset. Call once, in header.php. Actual injection order:

  1. <base> tag + generator meta
  2. window.CMS_BASE_URL / window.CMS_LANG as inert JSON islands, then assets/js/front-boot.js (not deferred — assigns them before anything else runs)
  3. assets/css/synaptikCSS.php loaded non-blocking (media="print" + assets/js/css-async.js swap), with a <noscript> fallback
  4. theme/{active}/css/style.css
  5. assets/js/main.js (deferred)
  6. RSS <link rel="alternate">
  7. highlight.js + language packs, only if the rendered page actually contains a code block
  8. $headerScripts (conditional gallery scripts, etc.)
  9. theme/{active}/js/script.js (deferred, if the file exists)

See Front-End Loading Pipeline for what front-boot.js and css-async.js actually do and why each is a separate cached file rather than an inline script.

render_featured_image(array $item): string

<div class="featured-image"> block. Empty string if no image or show_featured_image is false.

render_content_date(array $item): string

Publication date if show_date is true, formatted per date_format.

render_content_category(array $item): string

Category badge link. Empty string if no category.

render_content_tags(array $item): string

Tag links block. Empty string if no tags.

render_content_gallery(array $item): string

Legacy gallery block from $item['gallery']. For inline galleries in $item['galleries'], use [gallery id="N"] in content instead.

render_footer_content(): string

Footer text (supports {year}) and social links.

Cards

render_article_card(array $article): string / render_project_card(array $project): string

Delegate to theme/{active}/partials/article-card.php / project-card.php if present; built-in default otherwise.

get_article_summary(array $article, int $length = 150): string

$article['summary'] if set, otherwise an auto-generated clean excerpt. Loads the full item on demand if content is absent (index-mode context).

render_related_items(array $item, int $limit = 5): string

Empty string unless $item['show_related_items'] is true. Manual mode: resolves the exact {type, slug} references in $item['related_items']. Auto mode (when that array is empty): scores every other item by shared tags (+1 each) and matching category (+2), index-only — no full item files read.

Homepage sections

render_home_articles(array $data, array $settings): string

Article grid with pagination, respecting show_articles_on_homepage, articles_per_page, per-article show_on_homepage.

render_home_projects(array $data, array $settings): string

Same, for projects (show_projects_on_homepage, projects_per_page).

Custom fields

render_item_custom_fields(array $item, string $type): string

Renders custom fields in schema order with their configured labels — URL fields as links, checkboxes as checkmarks, text/number with nl2br. Empty string if no schema or no values.

get_custom_field(array $item, string $key, mixed $default = ''): mixed

Single field's value, or $default.

render_search_ui(): string

Full search overlay markup (#search-overlay). Always generated, regardless of show_search_icon, so Ctrl+K keeps working. Call before </body>.

render_search_icon(): string

Nav bar search <li>. Empty string if show_search_icon is false.

Galleries

renderGallery(array $galleryItems, string $layout = 'grid'): string

Dispatches to the matching renderer. Layouts: grid, masonry, justified, carousel — each with lightbox support except carousel (prev/next controls instead).

getGalleryScripts(string $galleryLayout): string

Inline JS/CSS a given layout needs.

Navigation

renderHierarchicalMenu(array $settings, array $data): string

The single entry point for menu rendering — internally falls back to renderDefaultMenu() when use_custom_menu is off or main_menu is empty, otherwise builds and renders the custom menu tree (passed through the menu_tree filter — see Filters — before rendering). Emits bare <ul><li><a> for the custom-menu path — no CSS classes, style it yourself.

renderDefaultMenu(array $data): string

Auto-menu from content marked show_in_menu, sorted by default_menu_order. Always reloads fresh indices via sl_load_index(), never reads $data directly.

Contact form

render_contact_form_html(): string

Full form: CSRF, honeypot, rate limiting, optional hCaptcha. Injects its CSS once per page. Callable directly or via [contact_form].

Breadcrumbs

getBreadcrumbs(string $type, string $slug = '', string $title = '', string $category = ''): string

HTML breadcrumbs for any page type; category links resolve the full hierarchical path.