Global Data Files

Global data is data that is exposed to every template in an Eleventy project.

One way to create global data is through global data files: JSON and JavaScript files placed inside of the global data folder. The global data folder is placed inside the project's input directory (set by the dir.input configuration option), and the name of the global data folder is set by the dir.data configuration option (_data by default). All *.json and module.exports values from *.js files in this directory will be added into a global data object available to all templates.

You may also be interested in config global data, which is another way to add global data to every template in an Eleventy project.

Example

Consider a JSON data file located at _data/userList.json with the following content:

["user1", "user2"];

This data will be available to your templates under the userList key like this:

{
	userList: ["user1", "user2"];
}

Folders

If a data file is in a folder, the folder name will inform your global data object structure. For example, in our previous example, consider if our userList.json file was moved into a users folder at _data/users/userList.json.

Our data will be now available to your templates under a users key like so:

{
	users: {
		userList: ["user1", "user2"];
	}
}

Using JavaScript instead of JSON

Read more about using module.exports values in arbitrary JavaScript data files.

Sources of Data

When the data is merged in the Eleventy Data Cascade, the order of priority for sources of data is (from highest priority to lowest):

1. Computed Data
2. Front Matter Data in a Template
3. Template Data Files
4. Directory Data Files (and ascending Parent Directories)
5. Front Matter Data in Layouts (this moved in 1.0)
6. Configuration API Global Data
7. Global Data Files ⬅

From the Community

×53 resources courtesy of 11tybundle.dev curated by Bob Monsour

• Using Environment Variables in Eleventy Content Pages — Florian Eckerstorfer (2024)
• Simple Eleventy 3 Excerpts — Tyler Sticka (2024)
• Eleventy Experiment - Salesforce User Directory — Jeff Sikes (2024)
• GitHub Pages Reboot With 11ty — John Hobbs (2024)
• Building a Web Version of Your Mastodon Archive with Eleventy — Raymond Camden (2024)

Other pages in Data Cascade:

• Front Matter Data
  • Custom Front Matter
• Template & Directory Data Files
• Global Data Files
• Data Deep Merge
• Config Global Data
• Computed Data
• Validate Data

Related Docs

• Default Template Engine for Global Data Files