The bootstrapper is the easiest way to configure an engine, add pipelines and modules to it, and process command-line arguments.

Creating A Bootstrapper

A bootstrapper can be created using the static Bootstrapper.Factory property:

using System;
using Statiq.App;

namespace MyGenerator
{
  public class Program
  {
    public static async Task<int> Main(string[] args) =>
      await Bootstrapper
        .Factory
        .CreateDefault(args)
        .RunAsync();
  }
}

When using Statiq Framework you can create a bootstrapper with the .CreateDefault(args) method on the Factory. Other Statiq projects like Statiq Web often have other factory methods like .CreateWeb(args).

The bootstrapper exposes a fluent API very similar to how ASP.NET Core and other modern .NET projects are provisioned.

Default Behavior

The bootstrapper does a lot by default when you call .CreateDefault(args). However, if you'd rather have more control over any of the default behavior, you can call a different creation method:

• Create(string[] args) will create the bootstrapper without any default behavior and it will be up to you to add any default behavior you want using other fluent methods.
• CreateDefault(string[] args, DefaultFeatures features) will create a bootstrapper with only the default features you specify.
• CreateDefaultWithout(string[] args, DefaultFeatures features) will create a bootstrapper with all the default features except the ones that you specify.

The default behavior of the bootstrapper is controlled by DefaultFeatures flags:

• None: No default features will be added.
• BootstrapperConfigurators: Adds all implementations of IConfigurator<Bootstrapper> and IConfigurator<IBootstrapper> (see configurators).
• Logging: Adds default logging providers such as the console logger.
• Settings: Sets default values for certain settings.
• EnvironmentVariables: Adds all environment variables as settings.
• ConfigurationFiles: Adds support for configuration files.
• BuildCommands: Adds the default pipelines and deploy commands as well as all ICommand implementations.
• CustomCommands: Adds all ICommand implementations without also adding the pipelines and deploy commands.
• Shortcodes: Adds all shortcodes.
• Namespaces: Adds all namespaces from all referenced assemblies to the Namespaces collection in the engine.
• Pipelines: Adds all pipelines in the entry assembly.
• All: Configures all default features.

W D Avoiding Default Behavior in Statiq Web

When you create a bootstrapper using the Bootstrapper.Factory.CreateWeb(args) extension method, it implies that the default bootstrapper behavior should be included and automatically configures all default behavior for Statiq Web. If you'd rather have more control over bootstrapper default behavior, you can use the AddWeb() extension method after creating a standard bootstrapper with something like .CreateDefaultWithout() instead.

For example, this creates a bootstrapper without adding pipelines from the entry assembly automatically:

using System;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using Statiq.App;
using Statiq.Web;

namespace MySite
{
  public class Program
  {
    public static async Task<int> Main(string[] args) =>
      await Bootstrapper
        .Factory
        .CreateDefaultWithout(args, DefaultFeatures.Pipelines)
        .AddWeb()
        .RunAsync();
  }
}

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