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# Layouts

> **Studio writes this format for you.** Layouts appear alongside pages and components in [Pages, layouts, components](/docs/studio/projects/pages-layouts-components), and you edit them on the same canvas.

A layout is an ordinary Jx document that provides the shell shared across pages, such as navigation, a footer and wrappers, with HTML `<slot>` elements marking where page content is injected. It is the same slot mechanism [components](/docs/framework/concepts/components) use, run at compile time instead of DOM time.

## Layout documents

A minimal layout registers its chrome components via `$elements` (paths relative to the layout file) and places one default `<slot>`:

```json&#x20;shiki
```

A layout doesn't have to own `<html>`. jxsuite.com's docs layout is a flex `<div>` with a sidebar; the compiler still wraps the result in a full HTML document with the merged `<head>`.

## Declaring a layout

Pages opt in with a top-level `$layout`, resolved from the **project root** (not the page's folder):

```json&#x20;shiki
```

- If a page omits `$layout`, the site default from `project.json``defaults.layout` applies.
- `"$layout": false` renders the page with no layout at all, which suits standalone landing pages and embeds.

The page's `children` are distributed into the layout's `<slot>` positions when the page compiles.

## Named slots

Layouts can define several regions by naming their slots:

```json&#x20;shiki
```

Pages target a named slot with the standard `slot` attribute; children without one go to the default slot:

```json&#x20;shiki
```

Per the HTML spec, a `<slot>`'s own children are fallback content, and they render only when the page supplies nothing for that slot.

## Nesting

A layout may declare its own `$layout`, composing shells:

```json&#x20;shiki
```

Saved as `layouts/blog-post.json`, this wraps blog pages in blog chrome while inheriting the site shell from `base.json`. Inner layouts resolve first, so the page's content threads through every level.

## What merges

Compiling a page against its layout produces one document:

- **Children**: page children are distributed into the layout's slots.
- **State**: the layout's `state` is kept and the page's is merged over it; **the page wins** on any shared key. Layouts can carry state of their own; jxsuite.com's docs layout loads the sidebar nav with a `ContentEntry`.
- **`$media`, `style`, `attributes`**: merged the same way, page over layout.
- **`$head`**: merged site → layout → page, later entries winning for singletons like `<title>`; see [SEO and metadata](/docs/framework/site/seo).

Layouts also receive the compiler-injected contexts: `$page` (`title`, `url`, `params`) and `$site` (`name`, `url`, plus site state). See [project.json](/docs/framework/site/project-json).

## Related

- [Routing](/docs/framework/site/routing): which pages exist and how they resolve
- [Components](/docs/framework/concepts/components): the runtime slot mechanism layouts reuse
- [SEO and metadata](/docs/framework/site/seo): the `$head` merge in detail

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Start here[Overview](/docs/start/)Get started[Install Jx Studio](/docs/start/install/)[Your first project](/docs/start/first-project/)[A tour of Jx Studio](/docs/start/studio-tour/)Tutorials[Tutorial: interactive component](/docs/start/first-component/)[Tutorial: blog with collections](/docs/start/first-collection/)[Video tutorials](/docs/start/videos/)Coming from another tool[Coming from WordPress](/docs/start/coming-from-wordpress/)[Coming from Webflow or Framer](/docs/start/coming-from-webflow/)[Coming from Wix or Squarespace](/docs/start/coming-from-wix/)[Coming from Lovable or Builder.io](/docs/start/coming-from-ai-builders/)Studio[Overview](/docs/studio/)[The desktop app](/docs/studio/desktop/)The workspace[Overview](/docs/studio/interface/)[Welcome screen](/docs/studio/interface/welcome-screen/)[Editors and views](/docs/studio/interface/modes/)[The canvas](/docs/studio/interface/canvas/)[Documents and panes](/docs/studio/interface/tabs/)[Quick 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architecture[Overview](/docs/framework/site/)[project.json](/docs/framework/site/project-json/)[Routing](/docs/framework/site/routing/)[Layouts](/docs/framework/site/layouts/)[Content collections](/docs/framework/site/content-collections/)[Jx Markdown](/docs/framework/site/jx-markdown/)[Obsidian vault as content](/docs/framework/site/obsidian-vault/)[Relationships](/docs/framework/site/relationships/)[SEO and metadata](/docs/framework/site/seo/)[Locales and languages](/docs/framework/site/i18n/)[Images](/docs/framework/site/images/)[Redirects](/docs/framework/site/redirects/)[Feeds](/docs/framework/site/feeds/)[Site search](/docs/framework/site/search/)[Build output and adapters](/docs/framework/site/deployment/)How compilation works[Overview](/docs/framework/build/)[The dev server](/docs/framework/build/dev-server/)[CLI commands](/docs/framework/build/cli/)Working with agents[Overview](/docs/framework/agents/)[Authoring rules for 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