Consumer-owned vs Engine-owned

Nivel's architecture works because ownership stays explicit. Consumers keep the files that express site intent. The engine owns reusable docs behavior and generated internals.

Consumer-owned

• docs content and optional leaf-level MDX components
• the docs graph
• pages/+docs.ts and visible Vike shell files
• theme files, Tailwind sources, logos, favicons, and brand assets

Engine-owned

• docs graph validation and resolution
• generated Vike route files
• MDX and code-block setup
• layout primitives such as navbar, sidebar, table of contents, pagination, and meta head wiring

This split keeps consumers understandable while still avoiding duplicated route, nav, and metadata logic. For the visible file layout, read Project Shape.