Helpers & variables reference¶

Everything available inside a template (.hbs): Ekit helpers, utility helpers, built-in Handlebars helpers and the variables provided by the rendering engine.

Ekit helpers¶

Helper	Usage	Result
`#single`	`{{#single ekdata.article}}…{{/single}}`	Renders the block with the record as `this`. Renders nothing when the value is empty; takes the first item of a list.
`ekasset`	`{{ekasset 'css/main.css'}}`	URL of a site asset (`assets/` folder).
`ekdbasset`	`<img src="{{ekdbasset this.image}}">`	URL of a file stored in a file field of a table. Empty when the field is empty.
`ekmedia`	`{{ekmedia 'photos/team.jpg'}}`	URL of a project media file, by its path in the project's media folder. For file fields, prefer `ekdbasset`.
`ektrans`	`{{ektrans 'HERO_TITLE'}}`	Translation of the key in the current language (`i18n/<lang>.json`). Returns the key itself when it is missing.
`t`	`{{t 'HERO_TITLE'}}`	Short alias of `ektrans`.

<link rel="stylesheet" href="{{ekasset 'css/index.css'}}">

{{#single ekdata.article}}
  <h1>{{this.title}}</h1>
  <img src="{{ekdbasset this.cover}}" alt="{{this.title}}">
{{/single}}

Text & formatting¶

Helper	Usage	Result
`upper`	`{{upper this.city}}`	`PARIS`
`lower`	`{{lower this.code}}`	`fr-fr`
`substring`	`{{substring this.name 0 1}}`	Characters from `start` to `end` (e.g. initials).
`truncate`	`{{truncate this.summary 120}}`	Cuts to the given length and adds `...`. The length is required.
`default`	`{{default this.subtitle 'No subtitle'}}`	The value, or the fallback when the value is empty.
`split`	`{{#each (split this.cities ',')}}<span>{{this}}</span>{{/each}}`	Text cut into a list (pieces trimmed, empty ones removed). The separator is optional (`,` by default).
`trim`	`{{trim this.code}}`	The text without the surrounding spaces.
`join`	`{{join this.tags ' · '}}`	A list joined into one text.

Dates¶

Two helpers are available, with different format syntaxes:

Helper	Usage	Format tokens
`date`	`{{date this.publishedAt 'DD/MM/YYYY HH:mm'}}`	`DD`, `MM`, `YYYY`, `HH`, `mm` — default `DD/MM/YYYY`
`formatDate`	`{{formatDate this.publishedAt 'd MMMM yyyy'}}`	date-fns tokens — default `yyyy-MM-dd`
`year`	`© {{year}}`	Current year

An empty or invalid date renders nothing (date).

Logic¶

Comparison helpers are used as sub-expressions, inside parentheses:

Helper	Usage
`eq`	`{{#if (eq this.status 'published')}}…{{/if}}`
`and`	`{{#if (and this.online this.featured)}}…{{/if}}` — any number of values: all must be filled
`or`	`{{#if (or this.promo this.new this.sale)}}…{{/if}}` — any number of values: one is enough
`ternary`	`<li class="{{ternary (eq view 'blog') 'active' ''}}">`
`lt` `lte` `gt` `gte`	`{{#if (lt this.price 10)}}…{{/if}}` — lower than, lower or equal, greater than, greater or equal. Numbers (also written as text, like `"9"`) and dates (`2026-10-09`) are compared by value; an empty value is never lower or greater.

ternary is also useful in datasources, to build values from the URL:

sort:
  field: "{{ternary (eq query.sort 'price') 'price' 'title'}}"

Data & URLs¶

Helper	Usage	Result
`json`	`{{json this.tags}}`	JSON text of a value (for debugging or data attributes).
`jsonUrl`	`?cursor={{jsonUrl cursors.articles}}`	JSON encoded for a URL — used for pagination links.
`ekform`	`{{#ekform "contact"}} … {{/ekform}}`	Site form: `<form>` tag with the right address, spam protection and language.
`list`	`{{#list this.tags}}<span>{{this}}</span>{{/list}}`	Renders the block for each item.
`linked`	`{{#each (linked @root.ekdata.contacts 'company' this)}}…{{/each}}`	Entries of a list whose relation field (`company`) points to the given record — for example the contacts of the company shown in the loop.

Relations between tables¶

A relation field is always a list of the linked entries, even when there is only one link. Each linked entry has its uid and the fields of its table:

{{#each ekdata.contacts}}
  <p>{{this.name}} — {{#each this.company}}{{this.name}}{{/each}}</p>
{{/each}}

To show the entries that point to the current record (the contacts of each company), declare both datasources and use linked. Inside a loop, other datasources are reached through @root:

{{#each ekdata.companies}}
  <h2>{{this.name}}</h2>
  <ul>
    {{#each (linked @root.ekdata.contacts 'company' this)}}<li>{{this.name}}</li>{{/each}}
  </ul>
{{/each}}

Passing data to JavaScript

Do not write {{{json …}}} inside a <script> tag: a value containing </script> would break the page. Use ekit.data instead — it is escaped safely.

Unknown helpers

Only the helpers of this page exist. A page that calls another one ({{formatMoney …}}) cannot be displayed: visitors get a "page temporarily unavailable" error, and the AI assistant never writes such a call.

Built-in Handlebars helpers¶

Helper	Usage
`#each`	`{{#each ekdata.articles}}…{{/each}}` — inside: `@index`, `@first`, `@last`
`#if` / `else`	`{{#if this.image}}…{{else}}…{{/if}}`
`#unless`	`{{#unless this.online}}Offline{{/unless}}`
`#with`	`{{#with this.author}}{{name}}{{/with}}`
`lookup`	`{{lookup ekdata 'my-alias'}}` — access a property whose name contains dashes
`>`	`{{> header}}` — include a partial

Variables available in templates¶

Variable	Content
`ekdata.<alias>`	Data of each datasource: a list, a single record (`uid` / `slug`) or a Method response
`this`	Current record inside `#each` / `#single`
`lang`	Current language (`en`, `fr`…)
`view`	Current view name
`slug`	Slug of the URL (`/en/blog/<slug>`)
`params`	`params.lang`, `params.view`, `params.slug`
`query`	URL query parameters (`?q=…` → `query.q`)
`queryString`	Current query string, including `?` (empty when there is none)
`i18n`	Translations of the current language (`i18n.HERO_TITLE`)
`metas`	Values of the `metas` block of the front matter, variables resolved
`record`	Record loaded by the page (`uid` / `slug` datasource)
`cursors.<alias>` / `prevCursors.<alias>`	Pagination cursors of a list datasource
`hasMore.<alias>` / `hasPrev.<alias>`	`true` when a next / previous page exists
`total.<alias>` / `pages.<alias>`	Number of entries (filter included) and of pages — with `count: true`
`page.<alias>`	Number of the page displayed (`1` on the first page)

Inside a loop or a partial: @root

In {{#each}} and in partials, the context is the current entry: {{lang}} is empty there. Use {{@root.lang}} (and @root. for any page value), which works everywhere — for example <a href="/{{@root.lang}}/blog/{{this.slug}}/">.

SEO tags¶

The metas block is not written into the page automatically: the layout outputs it, so you keep full control over the <head>:

<head>
  <title>{{metas.title}}</title>
  <meta name="description" content="{{metas.description}}">
  <meta property="og:title" content="{{metas.og.title}}">
  {{#if metas.og.image}}<meta property="og:image" content="{{metas.og.image}}">{{/if}}
</head>