Semantics

Current Render Rules

• Default render mode is spa.
• Source pages do not declare render modes.
• load {} or go ssr {} selects request-time SSR and requires the SSR addon.
• Page IDs must be unique within the manifest.
• Component names must be unique within the manifest.
• Dynamic build-time routes such as /blog/{slug} require a paths {} block. Action endpoints on those pages inherit the generated concrete paths.
• SPA navigation enhancement is optional runtime behavior over literal internal links. Route existence, route output, auth, and server behavior remain owned by generated files and generated Go.
• load {} runs at request time.
• SPA pages may declare act blocks without SSR.

Current Metadata Semantics

• @route is required for page sources. @guard is optional but a page is not public by default: a page that declares no @guard builds with a missing_page_guard warning and its route is denied (403) at request time until access is stated. Declare @guard public to serve a page on purpose; declare custom guard IDs or native RBAC IDs such as role:admin and permission:posts.write for protected pages. @guard public must stand alone. Access is never granted by omission.
• @page is optional for file-backed page sources. When omitted, page ID derives from the source filename by removing .page.gwdk or .gwdk. Explicit @page keeps page identity stable across file renames.
• @title, @description, @canonical, and @image record document metadata used by generated HTML output. If @title is omitted, generated output falls back to the page ID. @image feeds generated Open Graph and Twitter image tags when social head output is enabled by page or config metadata.
• @layout records ordered page layout references. Bare references resolve to same-package layout IDs or legacy package-less layouts. Cross-package layouts require use alias "package" and qualified refs such as alias.root.
• @guard records guard IDs. Generated SSR, action, and API handlers run declared non-public guards before request-time user logic. Guarded generated apps require matching backing functions and fail Go compilation when those functions are missing. Non-public page guards require request-time page rendering because build-time SPA output emits plain static HTML.
• Generated SSR, action, and API handlers are protected by runtime panic boundaries that return no-store HTTP 500 responses before headers are written.
• paths {} records that dynamic SPA paths are declared and preserves raw body text internally. SPA builds can execute literal string declarations such as => { slug: "hello-gowdk" } to expand dynamic route output paths.
• build {} records block presence and raw body text internally. SPA builds can execute one literal string declaration such as => { title: "Hello" } and expose those values to view {} interpolation. SPA builds can also execute one imported no-argument Go function call such as => interop.FeaturedCopyForBuild() when the page declares import interop "github.com/...".
• load {} runs at request time for SSR or request-time hybrid pages. Generated SSR supports => { field, user.name } declarations and same-package Go load functions named Load<PageID> that receive ssr.LoadContext.
• view {} records block presence and raw body text for the current app-shell HTML subset. SPA builds interpolate route params and component props in text and attribute values, escaping the result.
• act Name POST "/path" records exact exported action handler symbols and endpoint paths.
• api Name METHOD "/path" records exact exported API handler symbols, methods, and endpoint paths.

Planned Semantics

Future compiler phases must define broader symbol resolution, type checking, layout composition, full component resolution, route parameter binding into imported build {} calls, real typed action decoding and execution, generated API/fragment execution, partial updates, cache/revalidation behavior, and richer guard response behavior.