Family Directories and Families

Antora assigns preset, content-specific behavior to the source files stored in the family directories.

What’s a family directory?

A family directory groups source files that share the same function, processing requirements, and publishing rules. Antora recognizes five standard family directories: attachments, examples, images, pages, and partials.

📒 repository
  📄 antora.yml
  📂 modules
    📂 named-module
      📁 attachments
      📁 examples
      📁 images
      📁 pages
      📁 partials

Each family directory is optional. You only need to create a family directory if you have source files that should be stored in a specific family directory. That is, if a module doesn’t have any image files, don’t create an images directory. Set up the family directories you need at the root of a module directory. At runtime, Antora collects the source files stored in the family directories and assigns them to the corresponding family.

What’s a family?

A family is a classification Antora applies to each source file collected from a family directory. The assigned family corresponds to the name of the family directory. The families are:

Each source file is configured, converted, and published according to the preset behavior associated with its assigned family.

A source file that is assigned to a family is often referred to as resource. Antora assigns each resource that it catalogs a unique Antora resource ID that consists of five coordinates. One coordinate of the resource ID represents the family of the resource.