structpages

name

structpages

description

Guide for building Go web applications with the structpages framework (struct-based routing + templ + HTMX). Use when writing routes, pages, page groups, Props methods, handler methods (ServeHTTP), page components, partials, HTMX partial rendering and nested swap levels, URL generation (URLFor/ID/IDTarget), RenderTarget/RenderComponent patterns, or middleware with structpages. Also use when the user asks about structpages patterns, conventions, vocabulary, or debugging structpages issues.

structpages Framework Guide

structpages provides struct-based routing for Go web apps, integrating with http.ServeMux, templ templating, and HTMX.

Quick Reference

For detailed API docs, see reference.md. For real-world patterns and examples, see examples.md.

Vocabulary

structpages has its own canonical terms for its recurring patterns. Where a React / Next.js / React Router concept maps cleanly, it's noted as a cross-reference for knowledge transfer — but the structpages term is primary. Two guardrails: Go wins where Go owns the concept (ServeHTTP is a handler method, not a "server action"), and pure composition isn't named (a layout is just a component that takes children — there's no "layout route").

Core nouns

Term	What it is	Cross-ref
page	a route-tagged struct — a node in the route tree	Next/RR route/page
page group	a page with no render of its own (no Page or ServeHTTP), only child pages; served through its /{$} page	— (not a "layout route")
component	a standalone templ Foo() block — reusable, mount-independent, package-prefixed id	React component
page component	a templ (p Page) Foo() method — mount-aware, receiver in scope (incl. Page, Content). Used two ways: composition (called inside another page component) and re-rendering (returned alone as a partial)	React component (bound)
children	templ { children... } composition	React children
partial	a page component returned on its own as an HTMX response to re-render just that region — a role a page component plays, not a distinct kind	HTMX

The props cluster

Term	What it is	Cross-ref
Props method	the Props(...) method that loads data via DI	like RR loader / Next getServerSideProps
props struct	the named struct type the Props method returns and page components accept	like a React props type
props	a value of the props struct, in flight into a page component	React props (the value)

The chain reads: the Props method returns a props struct; that props value is handed to a page component.

Methods on a page

Term	Method	Job
Page method	Page(props)	the main render entry — a page component that composes the full page (layout + content)
Props method	Props(...)	loads data via DI → returns the props struct
handler method	ServeHTTP(...)	imperative entry: mutate / redirect / serve JSON, or render a partial via RenderComponent — the Go http.Handler shape
Middlewares method	Middlewares()	declares middleware for the page + descendants

(Content is not a framework concept — just a conventional page component name for a layout's main region; the matcher treats it like any other page component.)

The two render entries differ in flavor: the Page method renders declaratively (compose page components); the handler method renders imperatively (write the response, or hand a page component to RenderComponent). Both ultimately render through page components.

API helpers (literal — these are the public API)

RenderComponent, RenderTarget, URLFor, ID / IDTarget, Ref, WithArgs (dependency injection / args).

Loose comparisons (analogies, not structpages terms)

For readers arriving from React/Next — transfer aids, not structpages vocabulary.

structpages	React/Next analogy	note
/{$} route of a page group	RR index route	nothing special — just the group's own page
Page method vs handler method	declarative page vs imperative Route Handler / API route	two ways to respond within one router — not "Page Router vs App Router"
component composition	Server Component composition	both render on the server

Request Lifecycle

For a rendering page: route match → Props method (with RenderTarget injected to pick the region) → page component render — Page for full loads, a partial for HTMX requests targeting that region's id. A handler method (ServeHTTP) bypasses this pipeline: it responds imperatively, optionally handing a page component to RenderComponent.

Core Concepts

1. Route Definition

Routes are struct fields with route: tags. Format: route:"[METHOD] /path [Title]"

type pages struct {
    home    `route:"/{$}   Home"`            // exact root match
    about   `route:"/about About"`           // all methods (default)
    create  `route:"POST /create Create"`    // POST only
    detail  `route:"/item/{itemId} Item"`    // path parameter
    files   `route:"/files/{path...} Files"` // wildcard
}

If no method is given, the route accepts all methods (internally stored as "ALL").

Name path params specifically — {itemId}, not {id}. Nested routes compose into a single pattern, so two levels each declaring {id} collide: ServeMux rejects duplicate wildcard names in a pattern (/order/{id}/item/{id} panics at mount), and URLFor's map[string]any params couldn't tell them apart anyway. Specific names compose cleanly: /order/{orderId}/item/{itemId}.

Nesting creates URL hierarchies:

type pages struct {
    admin adminPages `route:"/admin Admin"`
}
type adminPages struct {
    dashboard `route:"/{$} Dashboard"`    // -> /admin/
    users     `route:"/users Users"`      // -> /admin/users
}

Mounting a module's static-asset subtree alongside its pages. Use the wildcard form for prefix subtrees — path.Join strips trailing slashes when computing the full route, so route:"/static/" registers as an exact GET /admin/static (no prefix match). Mount route:"GET /static/{path...} Assets" on a small ServeHTTP page serving an embedded FS instead. This keeps the module self-contained: /admin and /admin/static/* register together, with no separate pub.Handle(…) call to keep in sync. Full pattern (embed, middleware, link-side considerations): examples.md §12.

2. Page Response Patterns

There are four main shapes — choose based on what the page does. The first renders declaratively (Props method + Page method); the other three are handler methods (ServeHTTP).

A page that renders: Props method + Page method

type MyPage struct{}

type MyPageProps struct {
    Items []Item
}

// Props fetches data. Parameters are type-matched via DI.
func (p MyPage) Props(r *http.Request, appCtx *AppContext) (MyPageProps, error) {
    items, err := appCtx.Store.GetItems(r.Context())
    if err != nil {
        return MyPageProps{}, err
    }
    return MyPageProps{Items: items}, nil
}

// Page wraps in layout (used for full page loads — non-HTMX, or HTMX with no matching target)
templ (p MyPage) Page(props MyPageProps) {
    @AppShellLayout() {
        @p.Content(props)
    }
}

// Content renders the body (used by convention for HTMX partials targeting "#…content")
templ (p MyPage) Content(props MyPageProps) {
    <div>...</div>
}

For regions inside Content that must swap independently (master-detail panes, dialogs), add inner levels — see §5c.

A handler method that returns a partial (most common HTMX form action)

type AddTodo struct{}

func (a AddTodo) ServeHTTP(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) error {
    text := r.FormValue("text")
    if text != "" {
        store.Add(text)
    }
    // Construct the refreshed partial and return it as the response
    return structpages.RenderComponent(Index{}.TodoList(store.List()))
}

This is the canonical pattern for POST/DELETE handlers that update state and return a refreshed partial. Pass a constructed component — a normal Go call the compiler checks. Page structs are stateless, so a zero-value receiver (Index{}) constructs a sibling page's component just as well as your own. The reflective method-expression form (RenderComponent(Index.TodoList)) is reserved for components whose parameters the framework should DI-inject — see §5b.

A handler method that redirects (no HTML response)

Don't call http.Redirect directly in an HTMX app — during an HTMX request the XHR follows the 3xx and swaps the redirect target's body into the partial's swap target. Return a control-flow signal instead and let the global error handler send the right mechanism per request kind: HX-Location for HTMX (ajax navigation, like a boosted link; HX-Redirect instead when the destination needs a full browser load), 303 otherwise.

// Control-flow signal, not a real error — rides the error-return path.
type Redirect struct{ To string }
func (Redirect) Error() string { return "redirect" }

func (p SubmitForm) ServeHTTP(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request, appCtx *AppContext) error {
    // perform action...
    url, err := structpages.URLFor(r.Context(), DetailPage{}, map[string]any{"itemId": id})
    if err != nil { return err }
    return Redirect{To: url}
}

The WithErrorHandler branch that turns Redirect into the response is in examples.md §13. The URL comes from URLFor, never a string literal (route-literal lint).

A handler method that serves JSON (API endpoint, no error return)

API endpoints use the no-error form so writes go straight to the wire (unbuffered) and the framework's HTML error handler stays out of it. You own the response — including errors, which are JSON like everything else (no http.Error; its text/plain body is not an API response):

type TrackTime struct{}

func (p TrackTime) ServeHTTP(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request, appCtx *AppContext) {
    var body trackTimeRequest
    if err := json.NewDecoder(r.Body).Decode(&body); err != nil {
        writeJSONError(w, http.StatusBadRequest, "invalid request")
        return
    }
    if err := appCtx.Store.UpdateTime(r.Context(), body); err != nil {
        writeJSONError(w, http.StatusInternalServerError, "update failed")
        return
    }
    w.WriteHeader(http.StatusOK)
}

// One small app-level helper — the API's single error shape:
func writeJSONError(w http.ResponseWriter, status int, msg string) {
    w.Header().Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
    w.WriteHeader(status)
    json.NewEncoder(w).Encode(map[string]string{"error": msg})
}

ServeHTTP supports four signatures (see reference.md for details). The DI form (extra arg types beyond w, r) buffers the response only when the method has a return value.

Error handling in handlers

The error-returning forms of ServeHTTP — and every Props method — run against a buffered response writer. On a non-nil error the buffer is discarded and the error goes to the WithErrorHandler callback. So:

• Never call http.Error (or write w) in an error-returning handler or in Props. If you write then return err, the write is discarded; if you write then return nil, you bypass the error handler. Just return the error.
• For a specific status code, return a typed error (e.g. ErrorWithStatus{Status, Title, Message}) that the global handler unwraps with errors.As. Plain errors fall through to a logged 500.
• API/JSON endpoints use the no-error handler-method form — direct w writes are correct there because you own the status code and skip the buffering wrapper. Write JSON error bodies, not http.Error.
• For streaming (SSE), flush with http.NewResponseController(w) — it works from either ServeHTTP form (the buffered wrapper implements FlushError()/Unwrap()) and is the only way to guarantee unbuffered delivery through other middleware.

See examples.md §13 for the full pattern, including the WithErrorHandler wiring.

3. URL Generation

structpages.URLFor(ctx, page, args...) returns (string, error). In templ, attribute values can take (string, error) directly:

<a href={ structpages.URLFor(ctx, MyPage{}) }>Link</a>
<a href={ structpages.URLFor(ctx, DetailPage{}, map[string]any{"itemId": item.ID}) }>Detail</a>
<form action={ structpages.URLFor(ctx, SavePage{}, map[string]any{"itemId": item.ID}) } method="POST">

Prefer map[string]any for path parameters. It's explicit at the call site, survives route changes, and reads as a single value rather than a sequence of positional or alternating args. Positional and key/value-pair forms also work (see reference.md §URLFor Args Formats) but are easier to misalign during refactors.

For appending query strings, pass a []any of segments — the strings are concatenated as the URL template, and the map[string]any fills both path and query placeholders:

url, err := structpages.URLFor(ctx,
    []any{MyList{}, "?page={page}&q={q}"},
    map[string]any{"page": pageNum, "q": query},
)

The recommended URLFor shape is two arguments: URLFor(ctx, page, params). Pick the right page form, hand off path/query placeholders in a map[string]any for params.

form	shape	use when
bare typed page	URLFor(ctx, MyPage{}, params)	the type is mounted exactly once
typed chain	URLFor(ctx, []any{Parent{}, Leaf{}}, params)	same leaf type mounted under multiple parents — parent disambiguates
chain + URL fragment	URLFor(ctx, []any{Parent{}, Leaf{}, "?tab={t}"}, params)	need to append a query template or path suffix
string (auto-Ref)	URLFor(ctx, "Parent.Field", params)	can't import the page type (cross-package cycle). Equivalent to Ref("Parent.Field") — top-level strings only; strings inside []any are still URL fragments.
Ref by qualified name	URLFor(ctx, Ref("Parent.Field"), params)	explicit form of the string sugar above; pick whichever reads better at the call site

Always strict. A bare type that matches multiple nodes errors instead of silently picking one. The error lists every match and recommends the chain form. There is no opt-out — silent first-match is always wrong, so disambiguating at the call site is mandatory.

Page groups resolve to their index. A page group — a page with no render of its own, only child pages — is never served at its bare path: ServeMux matches only its subtree, and the bare path 307-redirects to add the trailing slash. So URLFor on a page group returns its index child's URL (the /{$} route), carrying the canonical trailing slash: URLFor(ctx, Section{}) → /section/, not /section. Leaf pages return their own bare path unchanged. Link a page group by its type and the URL serves a 200 directly, with no redirect hop — don't hand-append a trailing slash, and don't link to the slashless form.

Chain semantics. Inside []any{...}, leading typed values form a chain through the page tree: the first resolves to a node via the normal lookup; each subsequent typed value descends into a child of that type (must be unique among siblings, else error). Once a string appears, no more typed values are allowed; remaining strings concat literally to the pattern. The slice is positional — all chain steps first, then all URL fragments; a typed value after a string fragment errors at runtime with the offending position.

type root struct {
    Components componentsRoot `route:"/components Components"`
    Patterns   patternsRoot   `route:"/patterns Patterns"`
}
type componentsRoot struct { Detail entryPage `route:"/{slug} Component"` }
type patternsRoot   struct { Detail entryPage `route:"/{slug} Pattern"` }

// Bare URLFor errors — entryPage matches two nodes.
url, err := structpages.URLFor(ctx, entryPage{}, map[string]any{"slug": "button"})

// Chain anchors at the parent struct; descends into the entryPage child.
url, err := structpages.URLFor(ctx,
    []any{componentsRoot{}, entryPage{}},
    map[string]any{"slug": "button"})
// → "/components/button"

Validating URLs (no dangling URLs in production)

Page names, route strings, and Ref strings stay stringly typed even in the chain form. structpages-lint (below) is the primary guard — it validates them statically in CI. For URLs the linter can't see (built from runtime data, or behind dynamic dispatch), examples.md §14 shows a boot-time validateURLs(sp) inventory and an integration test that asserts rendered hrefs.

Lint your templates and URL calls

Rule of thumb: never write an in-app URL as a string literal. Resolve it by page type — structpages.URLFor(ctx, SomePage{}) — so the literal can't drift when routes move; the typed call breaks the build instead. When an import cycle blocks naming the page type (a shared chrome package that its own leaf pages import), register a URL resolver from the package that can see the types, rather than reaching for a hard-coded route string.

structpages-lint enforces this in CI. Install once, then wire in alongside go test:

go install github.com/jackielii/structpages/tools/lint/cmd/structpages-lint@latest
structpages-lint ./...

It catches four classes of bug: dangling URLFor/Ref calls (urlfor, ref, params), unmounted ID/IDTarget receivers (id, idtarget), hard-coded URLs in .templ URL-bearing attributes (url-attr), and .go string literals that equal a mounted route (route-literal). See reference.md §Lint Tool for the full category table and the structpages:lint:ignore suppression syntax (prefer //-style directives in both .go and .templ — HTML comments render into every response).

Templ attribute expressions take (string, error) directly — no wrapper needed there. The exception, still inside templ, is a context that needs a plain string, like templ.Attributes map values; use a small must helper for those (and only those):

func must[T any](v T, err error) T {
    if err != nil { panic(err) }
    return v
}

@PrimaryButton(templ.Attributes{
    "hx-get": must(structpages.URLFor(ctx, UserNewModal{})),
}) { + New User }

4. HTMX Partial Rendering

This is the framework's central loop. One method reference — e.g. MyPage.UserList — drives three sites that must agree, and ID/IDTarget make them agree by construction:

1. Composition site — where the page component is composed in, wrap it in an element with id={ structpages.ID(ctx, MyPage.UserList) }.
2. Trigger site — the element that fires the update points hx-target={ structpages.IDTarget(ctx, MyPage.UserList) } at the page's own route (hx-get={ structpages.URLFor(ctx, MyPage{}) }).
3. Server site — all HTMX requests for a page go to the SAME route; structpages matches the HX-Target header back to the page component by id, and the Props method branches on the injected RenderTarget with sel.Is(p.UserList) to load just that region's data and render it (§5).

Because all three derive from the same method reference, renaming the method or moving the mount can't desynchronize them — there is no string id to drift. Never hand-write the id at one site and generate it at another.

structpages.ID / structpages.IDTarget generate deterministic element IDs from method references. The id is the page's full field-name path from the root joined with the method (ID returns "my-page-user-list" for a top-level page, "admin-users-user-list" when nested; IDTarget prepends #). Including the ancestor path guarantees two different mounts never collide. If the full id exceeds the length budget (default 40 chars, see WithMaxIDLength) it degrades to the compact leaf-only form ("user-list") with a stable hash suffix when the leaf name is shared. Components (standalone templ blocks) are prefixed by their package name (ID(ctx, UserWidget) → "<package>-user-widget"). For plain string arguments both functions return the string unchanged — IDTarget("body") is "body", not "#body".

// Site 1 — composition: set the element ID on the component's wrapper
<div id={ structpages.ID(ctx, MyPage.UserList) }>
    @p.UserList(props.Users)
</div>

// Site 2 — trigger: target that id, hit the page's own route
<input hx-get={ structpages.URLFor(ctx, MyPage{}) }
       hx-target={ structpages.IDTarget(ctx, MyPage.UserList) }
       hx-swap="outerHTML" />

// Site 3 — server: Props branches on the injected RenderTarget
func (p MyPage) Props(r *http.Request, sel structpages.RenderTarget) (MyPageProps, error) {
    if sel.Is(p.UserList) {
        return MyPageProps{}, structpages.RenderComponent(p.UserList(loadUsers(r)))
    }
    return MyPageProps{Users: loadUsers(r) /* … everything for the full page */}, nil
}

Self-render uses the current mount. When ID / IDTarget runs inside a page's own templ, the id derives from that mount's field name — so the same struct type mounted under different parents produces different ids per render context:

type root struct {
    AdminDash dashboardPage `route:"/admin"`
    UserDash  dashboardPage `route:"/user"`
}
// templ (p dashboardPage) Page() { <div id={ structpages.ID(ctx, p.Header) }>... }
// admin render emits id="admin-dash-header"; user render emits id="user-dash-header".

Cross-page references with multiple mounts must be unambiguous. When ID / IDTarget is called from outside the page (e.g. an outer story file generating a target selector) and the referenced struct type is mounted multiple times, each mount has its own path-based id — so a bare method expression is ambiguous and the call errors with the available mounts listed. (This holds even when the mounts share a field name: their ancestor paths still differ, so the ids differ.) Disambiguate with one of three primitives: the []any chain form, a Ref, or a standalone function (see Rule 11).

// IDTarget(ctx, []any{adminRoot{}, dashboardPage{}, "Header"})  // chain + string
// IDTarget(ctx, []any{adminRoot{}, dashboardPage.Header})       // chain + method expr
// IDTarget(ctx, Ref("AdminDash.Header"))                        // by field name
// IDTarget(ctx, EntryOverlaySlot)                               // standalone func: package-prefixed id

The chain form mirrors URLFor's shape: leading typed values are chain steps; the trailing element is either a string method name or a method expression whose receiver type IS the leaf. When both the explicit leaf type and the method expression's receiver appear, they must agree.

5. RenderTarget Pattern

For pages with multiple HTMX-updatable sections, inject RenderTarget into Props to load only the data each section needs. The shape that holds up in real pages:

• Partials get partial data, never the page props struct. Each partial branch builds just its region's data and hands the constructed component to RenderComponent — the page-props value returned alongside is ignored (Rule 4).
• The page props struct composes per-pane sub-structs (MyPageProps embeds UserPaneProps + GroupPaneProps); partials take their pane struct, so full render and partial re-render share one component signature.
• The default case falls back to full props, never empty props — browser navigation, boosted swaps, and unrecognised targets all need the whole page.

type MyPageProps struct {
    UserPaneProps
    GroupPaneProps
}

func (p MyPage) Props(r *http.Request, appCtx *AppContext, sel structpages.RenderTarget) (MyPageProps, error) {
    switch {
    case sel.Is(p.UserList):
        userPane, err := p.UserListProps(r, appCtx) // builds UserPaneProps
        if err != nil { return MyPageProps{}, err }
        return MyPageProps{}, structpages.RenderComponent(p.UserList(userPane))

    case sel.Is(p.GroupList):
        groupPane, err := p.GroupListProps(r, appCtx)
        if err != nil { return MyPageProps{}, err }
        return MyPageProps{}, structpages.RenderComponent(p.GroupList(groupPane))

    default: // Page, Content, or anything unrecognised — full props
        return p.fullProps(r, appCtx)
    }
}

func (p MyPage) fullProps(r *http.Request, appCtx *AppContext) (MyPageProps, error) {
    userPane, err := p.UserListProps(r, appCtx)
    if err != nil { return MyPageProps{}, err }
    groupPane, err := p.GroupListProps(r, appCtx)
    if err != nil { return MyPageProps{}, err }
    return MyPageProps{UserPaneProps: userPane, GroupPaneProps: groupPane}, nil
}

Why the constructed form: p.UserList(userPane) is a normal Go call, so the compiler checks arg types and counts. The alternative — RenderComponent(MyPage.UserList, userPane) or RenderComponent(sel, userPane) — goes through reflection inside the framework, which defers those checks to runtime. Use the reflective forms only when the method's params should be DI-injected by the framework (see §5b).

Note: only methods named Props are auto-invoked. *Props-suffixed helpers (UserListProps, GroupListProps above) are just regular methods the user calls from inside Props — there's no priority resolution. The per-pane helpers feed both the partial branches and fullProps, so each query is written once.

Components (standalone templ blocks) work the same way — just call the function:

case sel.Is(UserStatsWidget):
    return MyPageProps{}, structpages.RenderComponent(UserStatsWidget(loadStats()))

5b. RenderComponent by method expression (DI-injected params)

Page structs are stateless, so even a different page's component is normally constructed directly with a zero-value receiver — RenderComponent(MyPage{}.ItemList(items)) — and that stays the preferred form. The reflective method-expression form is for components whose parameters the framework should DI-inject rather than you supplying them:

// ItemList takes DI-injectable params (e.g. *http.Request, *AppContext) —
// the framework finds the mounted page, fills them, and invokes the method:
func (p MyDelete) ServeHTTP(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request, appCtx *AppContext) error {
    if err := store.Delete(...); err != nil { return err }
    return structpages.RenderComponent(MyPage.ItemList)
}

Explicit args are matched into the non-injected parameters (RenderComponent(MyPage.ItemList, items)), validated by reflection before the call — readable errors, but at runtime, not compile time. If you're loading the data yourself anyway, construct the component instead.

5c. Nested swap levels (Page → Content → Detail)

A page's page components can be composed into nested swap levels, each an independent HTMX target. The outer level wraps the next in its templ; the levels are not a tree the matcher walks — they're sibling page components on one page, each with its own id (§4). Because HX-Target selects the page component whose id it matches exactly, an HX-Target of a given level's id re-renders only that level, even though Page composes Content composes Detail. Compose one level per region you need to swap on its own:

• Page (the Page method) — the full document. Rendered on a cold load / hx-boost body swap. Composes the app layout around Content.
• Content — the page's main region (a naming convention, not a framework concept). Holds the page chrome — heading, back-link, toolbar — around the inner level. Rendered when only the main content swaps (boosted nav between pages).
• Detail (or another inner name) — a region inside Content that must swap on its own, independently of the chrome. Holds none of the page chrome.

templ (d FooDetail) Page(p Props)    { @ui.Layout(title) { <main class="…">@d.Content(p)</main> } }
templ (d FooDetail) Content(p Props) { <div id={ structpages.ID(ctx, FooDetail.Content) }>
                                          <a href={ back }>&larr; Foos</a>   // standalone-page chrome
                                          @d.Detail(p)
                                        </div> }
templ (FooDetail) Detail(p Props)    { <div id={ structpages.ID(ctx, FooDetail.Detail) } class="@container …">
                                          … fields, lifecycle actions, dialog mount …   // NO back-link, NO header
                                        </div> }

Why three levels, not two. The trap is reusing Content as the swap fragment for an embedded region — e.g. a master-detail inspector pane hosting the standalone detail page's Content. That drags the page chrome (back-link, page header, outer container) into the pane, where it's wrong. Splitting out Detail gives the embedded region a chrome-less partial while Content keeps the standalone-page chrome. The level you embed/swap is the one with no chrome of its own.

Master-detail rule of thumb. The list page renders a detail mount whose id is ID(ctx, FooDetail.Detail); rows hx-get the detail route with hx-target = IDTarget(ctx, FooDetail.Detail). Lifecycle actions and dialog handlers that re-render the detail also target — and RenderComponent — FooDetail.Detail, never .Content. The standalone detail page (deep-link / no-JS) is the only thing that renders Content (chrome + Detail).

Add a fourth level whenever a sub-region needs to swap independently again — the rule generalizes: one page component per independently-swappable region, outer wraps inner, embed/target the innermost that has no chrome above it.

6. Middleware

Global middleware via WithMiddlewares. Page-specific via Middlewares() method (also applies to all descendants):

func (p ProtectedPages) Middlewares(appCtx *AppContext) []structpages.MiddlewareFunc {
    return []structpages.MiddlewareFunc{RequireAuth(appCtx)}
}

MiddlewareFunc signature: func(http.Handler, *PageNode) http.Handler — receives the PageNode so middleware can inspect route metadata.

7. Dependency Injection

Register deps via WithArgs. They're matched by type into method parameters:

sp, err := structpages.Mount(mux, TopPages{}, "/", "App",
    structpages.WithArgs(appCtx),
)

// Now any Props/ServeHTTP/Middlewares/Init method can receive *AppContext
func (p MyPage) Props(r *http.Request, appCtx *AppContext) (Props, error) { ... }

Each registered type appears once. The matcher coerces between pointer and value forms and falls back to assignability, so a single *AppContext registration also satisfies parameters of any interface it implements. To register two values of the same underlying type, define named types to disambiguate.

Generic types and interface types are supported as well — see generics_injection_test.go for the tested matrix (pointer semantics, interface injection, slices/maps, complex constraints, type parameters).

*PageNode is always available for injection (the framework adds the current node automatically).

8. Testing renders with a bare context

Unit tests that render templ components directly — without spinning up an HTTP server — need a page tree in context.Background() so calls to URLFor / ID / IDTarget resolve. Use structpages.Parse (builds the tree, no mux) and sp.PageContext(ctx) (wraps ctx with the tree):

sp, err := structpages.Parse(webPages{}, "/", "App",
    structpages.WithArgs(fakeAppCtx),
)
if err != nil { t.Fatal(err) }
ctx := sp.PageContext(context.Background())

// Now URLFor in templ components and props helpers resolves against webPages{}.
buf := &bytes.Buffer{}
if err := MyPage{}.Page(props).Render(ctx, buf); err != nil { t.Fatal(err) }

This is the recommended fix for two patterns that fail under bare-context renders:

1. Component-level renders with handcrafted props. Props is hand-rolled; the only framework dep is URLFor in the templ. sp.PageContext is a one-line wrap.
2. Cross-module URL refs (e.g. appshell linking to Home in a sibling module). Mount only one sub-tree on a test mux and URLFor to siblings outside it fails. Building the canonical root via Parse(webPages{}, ...) gives the tree those refs need, without registering any routes.

Parse accepts the same options as Mount — WithArgs for DI args used by Props, WithURLPrefix if the test asserts prefixed URLs, etc. Mux-shaped options (middlewares) are accepted but inert since no handlers register.

Key Rules

1. Props methods extract path params via r.PathValue("param"), not function arguments.
2. Never hardcode URLs — always use structpages.URLFor.
3. Partials take ONLY their specific data, not the full props struct.
4. RenderComponent is returned as an error — when returned, the Props return values (other than the error) are ignored.
5. Prefer RenderComponent(p.X(args)) / RenderComponent(MyPage{}.X(args)) — constructed components are compile-time-checked; zero-value receivers make this work cross-page too. Reserve the reflective method-expression form for components whose params the framework should DI-inject (§5b).
6. Children are registered before parents on the mux (so nested-route conflicts resolve correctly).
7. Promoted (embedded) methods are skipped — only methods defined directly on the struct count.
8. URL params auto-fill from current request's route only — sibling routes with different param names do not auto-fill.
9. ErrSkipPageRender is only honored from Props (e.g. after writing a redirect). Returning it from ServeHTTP does nothing special.
10. Disambiguation primitives: type mounted under multiple parents → the []any{ParentPage{}, LeafPage{}} chain form (strict URLFor errors on bare lookups). Can't import the page type (cycle) → string page arg / Ref("Parent.Field"); validate Ref strings at boot (§3) and with structpages-lint.
11. Plain strings pass through ID and IDTarget unchanged — IDTarget("body") is "body", not "#body" (asymmetric to URLFor on purpose: literal CSS selectors are legitimate, literal URL paths are anti-pattern). For an id independent of mount position, define the slot as a component (standalone function) — IDTarget(ctx, EntryOverlaySlot) → "#<package>-entry-overlay-slot", package-prefixed, no mount-path dependence. Preferred shape for cross-package slot targeting (§4).
12. The form: struct tag is not read by the framework — only route: is. Anything else on a route field is ignored.
13. Never write w (e.g. http.Error) in Props or an error-returning ServeHTTP — they are buffered; return the error instead. Use a typed error like ErrorWithStatus for a specific status code. API/JSON endpoints use the no-error ServeHTTP(w, r, deps...) form, where direct writes are correct — JSON error bodies there, never http.Error (see examples.md §13).
14. Never hand-write a partial's element id — derive all three sites (composition id={ID(…)}, trigger hx-target={IDTarget(…)}, server sel.Is(…)) from the same method reference (§4).