Configuration Reference

PolicyPress is configured through a single config.toml file at the repository root. It is a Zola configuration file. PolicyPress-specific settings live under [extra.policypress], keeping them cleanly separated from theme-level settings in [extra].

Required fields🔗

These fields must be present or PolicyPress will exit with an error before building anything.

Field	Location	Description
`base_url`	top-level	Canonical URL of the published site (e.g. `"https://security.example.com"`)
`organization`	`[extra.policypress]`	Organization name — injected into PDFs and via `{{ org() }}` shortcode
`logo`	`[extra.policypress]`	Filename of the logo image relative to `static/` (e.g. `"logo.png"`)
`pdf_color`	`[extra.policypress]`	Hex accent color used on PDF cover pages (e.g. `"#0e90f3"`)
`policy_dir`	`[extra.policypress]`	Path to the policy directory relative to `content/` (e.g. `"policies/"`)

Example minimal configuration:

base_url = "https://security.example.com"
title = "Example Co Security Center"
compile_sass = true
theme = "policypress"

[[taxonomies]]
name = "SCF"
render = false

[[taxonomies]]
name = "TSC2017"
render = true

[extra.policypress]
organization = "Example Co"
logo = "logo.png"
pdf_color = "#0e90f3"
policy_dir = "policies/"

PDF and build options🔗

Field	Location	Type	Default	Description
`redact_web`	`[extra.policypress]`	bool	`false`	When `true`, renders a redaction bar over `{% redact() %} … {% end %}` blocks on the website. Does not affect PDF generation — use `--redact` on the CLI.
`show_draft_pdfs`	`[extra.policypress]`	bool	`false`	When `true`, links to draft PDFs appear on the policy index page

Draft and redact modes can also be set at build time via GitHub Action inputs or CLI flags (--draft / --redact). Action inputs always override config.toml.

Site content fields🔗

Field	Location	Type	Default	Description
`lead`	`[extra.policypress]`	string	-	Subtitle shown below the site title on the homepage
`policy_root`	`[extra.policypress]`	string	-	Zola internal link to the policies section index (e.g. `"@/reports/scf.md"`)
`scf_report_page`	`[extra.policypress]`	string	-	Internal link to the SCF compliance report page
`soc2_report_page`	`[extra.policypress]`	string	-	Internal link to the SOC 2 report page

The main navigation bar is controlled by [[extra.menu.main]] entries. Each entry accepts:

Field	Type	Description
`title`	string	Display label
`url`	string	Target URL
`icon`	string	Font Awesome class (e.g. `"fas fa-file-alt"`)
`weight`	integer	Sort order - lower numbers appear first

[[extra.menu.main]]
title = "Policies"
url = "/policies/"
icon = "fas fa-file-alt"
weight = 10

Team directory🔗

The team page is populated from [[extra.policyteam.members]] entries:

Field	Type	Required	Description
`name`	string	yes	Full name
`title`	string	yes	Job title
`email`	string	no	Contact email
`phone`	string	no	Contact phone
`image`	string	no	Filename under `static/`
`page`	string	no	Path to a content page for the team member

Branding🔗

Field	Location	Type	Default	Description
`brand_color`	`[extra]`	string	theme default	Hex color for the web theme’s primary/accent surfaces (buttons, links, badges, highlights). Applied at load time - no SCSS recompile needed. Set it to the same value as `pdf_color` so web and PDF branding match.
`pdf_color`	`[extra.policypress]`	string	-	Hex accent color for PDF cover pages and rules (see Required fields).
`logo`	`[extra.menu]` / `[extra.policypress]`	string	-	The navbar logo is `[extra.menu].logo` (web); the PDF title-page/header logo is `[extra.policypress].logo`; `[extra.schema].logo` and `[extra.open].image` set the JSON-LD and Open Graph images.

[extra]
brand_color = "#0e90f3"

Homepage🔗

Two homepage layouts are available, selected by homepage_style in [extra]:

Value	Layout
`"dashboard"` (default)	A compliance dashboard computed from your policies - policy count, reviews overdue, framework coverage, and a per-policy review-status list - plus any `[extra.frontpage.features.cards]` shown as navigation tiles. Best for an internal ISMS.
`"marketing"`	A landing page (hero, feature grid, quick actions, statistics) driven by `[extra.frontpage]`. Best for a public-facing site.

[extra]
homepage_style = "dashboard"   # or "marketing"

The [extra.frontpage] keys below drive the marketing layout. All sub-keys are optional - omit any section to hide it. In dashboard mode only features.cards is used (as navigation tiles).

Section	Description
`[extra.frontpage.hero]`	`title` and `subtitle` for the hero banner
`[extra.frontpage.cta]`	Primary call-to-action button: `text` and `url`
`[extra.frontpage.secondary_cta]`	Secondary call-to-action button
`[extra.frontpage.features]`	Feature cards grid (`title`, `subtitle`, `[[cards]]`)
`[extra.frontpage.quick_actions]`	Quick-action tiles (`title`, `subtitle`, `[[actions]]`)
`[[extra.frontpage.statistics]]`	Statistics strip - each entry has `number` and `label`

Taxonomies🔗

Taxonomies let you cross-reference policies against compliance frameworks. Each taxonomy declared in config.toml can appear in policy front matter.

[[taxonomies]]
name = "TSC2017"    # SOC 2 Trust Services Criteria
render = true       # generates a browseable taxonomy page

[[taxonomies]]
name = "SCF"        # Secure Controls Framework
render = false      # indexed for reports but no public page

Values used in policy front matter must match exactly (case-sensitive).

[[extra.menu.social]]
name = "GitHub"
pre  = '<svg …></svg>'   # inline SVG icon
url  = "https://github.com/your-org"
weight = 10

Open Graph tags for link previews:

[extra.open]
enable  = true
image   = "logo.png"        # fallback OG image
og_locale = "en_US"

[extra.footer]
info = 'Powered by <a href="…">PolicyPress</a>'

[[extra.footer.nav]]
name   = "Privacy"
url    = "/policies/privacy/"
weight = 10

Favicon🔗

PolicyPress ships a default favicon. To use your own, place a favicon.ico in your repository’s static/ directory — Zola serves files from static/ before falling back to the theme, so your file takes precedence automatically.

static/
  favicon.ico   ← drop your icon here; replaces the theme default
  logo.png

Modern browsers also pick up PNG icons. If you want to supply multiple sizes or a web manifest, add them to static/ and they will be served alongside your site without any config changes.

Standard Zola fields🔗

These standard Zola settings are relevant to PolicyPress deployments:

Field	Recommended value	Notes
`compile_sass`	`true`	Required - PolicyPress ships SCSS
`theme`	`"policypress"`	Required
`build_search_index`	`true`	Powers the site search widget
`generate_feeds`	`true` or `false`	Optional Atom feed
`minify_html`	`false`	Safe to enable for production
`[markdown].smart_punctuation`	`true`	Recommended for policy prose
`[markdown].github_alerts`	`true`	Enables `> [!NOTE]` callouts
`[markdown].bottom_footnotes`	`true`	Recommended

Configuration Reference

Required fields🔗

PDF and build options🔗

Site content fields🔗

Navigation🔗

Team directory🔗

Branding🔗

Homepage🔗

Taxonomies🔗

Footer🔗

Favicon🔗

Standard Zola fields🔗

Configuration Reference

Required fields🔗

PDF and build options🔗

Site content fields🔗

Navigation🔗

Team directory🔗

Branding🔗

Homepage🔗

Taxonomies🔗

Social links and Open Graph🔗

Footer🔗

Favicon🔗

Standard Zola fields🔗