diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 204a924..0c486e5 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -12,4 +12,8 @@ publish_beta: compile
 	@echo
 	./bin/publish --beta --delete
 
-.PHONY: compile publish publish_beta
+test:
+	@echo
+	./bin/test
+
+.PHONY: compile publish publish_beta test
diff --git a/Readme.md b/Readme.md
index 9a8c106..fd079dd 100644
--- a/Readme.md
+++ b/Readme.md
@@ -19,9 +19,9 @@ Execution, trying TDD for the first time:
 
     - [x] Write a test harness that renders a site and then checks the output with `diff -r`
 
-    - [ ] Port _layout.ejs to Swift code
+    - [x] Write a site generator that renders www/index.html from site.json
 
-    - [ ] Write a site generator that renders www/index.html from site.json
+    - [ ] Port _layout.ejs to Swift code
 
     - [ ] Add support for CSS files
 
diff --git a/SiteGenerator/.gitignore b/SiteGenerator/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d3ad818
--- /dev/null
+++ b/SiteGenerator/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+.DS_Store
+/.build
+/Packages
+/*.xcodeproj
+/.swiftpm
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/SiteGenerator/Package.resolved b/SiteGenerator/Package.resolved
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8f069df
--- /dev/null
+++ b/SiteGenerator/Package.resolved
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+{
+  "object": {
+    "pins": [
+      {
+        "package": "PathKit",
+        "repositoryURL": "https://github.com/kylef/PathKit.git",
+        "state": {
+          "branch": null,
+          "revision": "e2f5be30e4c8f531c9c1e8765aa7b71c0a45d7a0",
+          "version": "0.9.2"
+        }
+      },
+      {
+        "package": "Spectre",
+        "repositoryURL": "https://github.com/kylef/Spectre.git",
+        "state": {
+          "branch": null,
+          "revision": "f14ff47f45642aa5703900980b014c2e9394b6e5",
+          "version": "0.9.0"
+        }
+      },
+      {
+        "package": "Stencil",
+        "repositoryURL": "https://github.com/stencilproject/Stencil.git",
+        "state": {
+          "branch": null,
+          "revision": "0e9a78d6584e3812cd9c09494d5c7b483e8f533c",
+          "version": "0.13.1"
+        }
+      }
+    ]
+  },
+  "version": 1
+}
diff --git a/SiteGenerator/Package.swift b/SiteGenerator/Package.swift
index e69de29..843e2d3 100644
--- a/SiteGenerator/Package.swift
+++ b/SiteGenerator/Package.swift
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+// swift-tools-version:5.0
+// The swift-tools-version declares the minimum version of Swift required to build this package.
+
+import PackageDescription
+
+let package = Package(
+    name: "SiteGenerator",
+    dependencies: [
+        .package(url: "https://github.com/stencilproject/Stencil.git", from: "0.13.0")
+    ],
+    targets: [
+        // Targets are the basic building blocks of a package. A target can define a module or a test suite.
+        // Targets can depend on other targets in this package, and on products in packages which this package depends on.
+        .target(
+            name: "SiteGenerator",
+            dependencies: ["Stencil"]),
+        .testTarget(
+            name: "SiteGeneratorTests",
+            dependencies: ["SiteGenerator"]),
+    ]
+)
diff --git a/SiteGenerator/Readme.md b/SiteGenerator/Readme.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..55002ee
--- /dev/null
+++ b/SiteGenerator/Readme.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+# SiteGenerator
+
+A static site generator for [samhuri.net](https://samhuri.net).
+
+See https://github.com/samsonjs/samhuri.net for details.
diff --git a/SiteGenerator/Sources/SiteGenerator/Generator.swift b/SiteGenerator/Sources/SiteGenerator/Generator.swift
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f5e5936
--- /dev/null
+++ b/SiteGenerator/Sources/SiteGenerator/Generator.swift
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+//
+//  Generator.swift
+//  SiteGenerator
+//
+//  Created by Sami Samhuri on 2019-12-01.
+//
+
+import Foundation
+import PathKit
+import Stencil
+
+public final class Generator {
+    private let fileManager: FileManager = .default
+
+    public let site: Site
+    public let sourceURL: URL
+
+    private let renderer: Environment
+
+    public init(sourceURL: URL) throws {
+        let publicURL = sourceURL.appendingPathComponent("public")
+        self.renderer = Environment(loader: FileSystemLoader(paths: [Path(publicURL.path)]))
+        let siteURL = sourceURL.appendingPathComponent("site.json")
+        self.site = try Site.decode(from: siteURL)
+        self.sourceURL = sourceURL
+    }
+
+    public func generate(targetURL: URL) throws {
+        try fileManager.createDirectory(at: targetURL, withIntermediateDirectories: true, attributes: nil)
+        let indexHTML = try renderer.renderTemplate(name: "index.html", context: ["site": site])
+        let indexURL = targetURL.appendingPathComponent("index.html")
+        try indexHTML.write(to: indexURL, atomically: true, encoding: .utf8)
+    }
+}
diff --git a/SiteGenerator/Sources/SiteGenerator/Site.swift b/SiteGenerator/Sources/SiteGenerator/Site.swift
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..68e848a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/SiteGenerator/Sources/SiteGenerator/Site.swift
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+//
+//  Site.swift
+//  SiteGenerator
+//
+//  Created by Sami Samhuri on 2019-12-01.
+//
+
+import Foundation
+
+public struct Site: Codable {
+    public let author: String
+    public let email: String
+    public let title: String
+    public let url: String
+}
+
+public extension Site {
+    static func decode(from url: URL) throws -> Site {
+        let json = try Data(contentsOf: url)
+        return try JSONDecoder().decode(Site.self, from: json)
+    }
+}
diff --git a/SiteGenerator/Sources/SiteGenerator/main.swift b/SiteGenerator/Sources/SiteGenerator/main.swift
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3f53f72
--- /dev/null
+++ b/SiteGenerator/Sources/SiteGenerator/main.swift
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+//
+//  main.swift
+//  SiteGenerator
+//
+//  Created by Sami Samhuri on 2019-12-01.
+//
+
+import Foundation
+
+func main(sourcePath: String, targetPath: String) throws {
+    let sourceURL = URL(fileURLWithPath: sourcePath)
+    let targetURL = URL(fileURLWithPath: targetPath)
+    let generator = try Generator(sourceURL: sourceURL)
+    try generator.generate(targetURL: targetURL)
+}
+
+let sourcePath = CommandLine.arguments[1]
+let targetPath = CommandLine.arguments[2]
+
+// TODO: validate args
+
+try! main(sourcePath: sourcePath, targetPath: targetPath)
diff --git a/SiteGenerator/Tests/LinuxMain.swift b/SiteGenerator/Tests/LinuxMain.swift
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8b7ffc0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/SiteGenerator/Tests/LinuxMain.swift
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+import XCTest
+
+import SiteGeneratorTests
+
+var tests = [XCTestCaseEntry]()
+tests += SiteGeneratorTests.allTests()
+XCTMain(tests)
diff --git a/SiteGenerator/Tests/SiteGeneratorTests/SiteGeneratorTests.swift b/SiteGenerator/Tests/SiteGeneratorTests/SiteGeneratorTests.swift
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3e76450
--- /dev/null
+++ b/SiteGenerator/Tests/SiteGeneratorTests/SiteGeneratorTests.swift
@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+import XCTest
+import class Foundation.Bundle
+
+final class SiteGeneratorTests: XCTestCase {
+    func testExample() throws {
+        // This is an example of a functional test case.
+        // Use XCTAssert and related functions to verify your tests produce the correct
+        // results.
+
+        // Some of the APIs that we use below are available in macOS 10.13 and above.
+        guard #available(macOS 10.13, *) else {
+            return
+        }
+
+        let fooBinary = productsDirectory.appendingPathComponent("SiteGenerator")
+
+        let process = Process()
+        process.executableURL = fooBinary
+
+        let pipe = Pipe()
+        process.standardOutput = pipe
+
+        try process.run()
+        process.waitUntilExit()
+
+        let data = pipe.fileHandleForReading.readDataToEndOfFile()
+        let output = String(data: data, encoding: .utf8)
+
+        XCTAssertEqual(output, "")
+    }
+
+    /// Returns path to the built products directory.
+    var productsDirectory: URL {
+      #if os(macOS)
+        for bundle in Bundle.allBundles where bundle.bundlePath.hasSuffix(".xctest") {
+            return bundle.bundleURL.deletingLastPathComponent()
+        }
+        fatalError("couldn't find the products directory")
+      #else
+        return Bundle.main.bundleURL
+      #endif
+    }
+
+    static var allTests = [
+        ("testExample", testExample),
+    ]
+}
diff --git a/SiteGenerator/Tests/SiteGeneratorTests/XCTestManifests.swift b/SiteGenerator/Tests/SiteGeneratorTests/XCTestManifests.swift
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2f0d547
--- /dev/null
+++ b/SiteGenerator/Tests/SiteGeneratorTests/XCTestManifests.swift
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+import XCTest
+
+#if !canImport(ObjectiveC)
+public func allTests() -> [XCTestCaseEntry] {
+    return [
+        testCase(SiteGeneratorTests.allTests),
+    ]
+}
+#endif
diff --git a/bin/compile b/bin/compile
index d4e799f..1a390ec 100755
--- a/bin/compile
+++ b/bin/compile
@@ -8,9 +8,8 @@ SOURCE_DIR="$1"
 TARGET_DIR="$2"
 
 function main() {
-  echo "* copy files from $SOURCE_DIR to $TARGET_DIR"
-  mkdir -p "$TARGET_DIR"
-  cp -rp "$SOURCE_DIR"/* "$TARGET_DIR"
+  echo "* generate site from $SOURCE_DIR into $TARGET_DIR"
+  "$THIS_DIR/sitegen" "$SOURCE_DIR" "$TARGET_DIR"
 
   # echo "* compile rss feed"
   # compile_feeds
diff --git a/bin/sitegen b/bin/sitegen
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..c729704
Binary files /dev/null and b/bin/sitegen differ
diff --git a/bin/test b/bin/test
index dce731b..f24d106 100755
--- a/bin/test
+++ b/bin/test
@@ -2,8 +2,13 @@
 
 set -e
 
+pushd "SiteGenerator" >/dev/null
+swift build
+cp .build/x86_64-apple-macosx/debug/SiteGenerator ../bin/sitegen
+popd >/dev/null
+
 for site in Tests/test-*; do
-  bin/compile "$site/in" "$site/actual" >/dev/null
-  diff -r "$site/expected" "$site/actual"
+  bin/compile "$site/in" "$site/actual" # >/dev/null
+  diff -ru "$site/expected" "$site/actual"
   rm -r "$site/actual"
 done
diff --git a/tests/test-index/expected/index.html b/tests/test-index/expected/index.html
index 825c61e..ac26573 100644
--- a/tests/test-index/expected/index.html
+++ b/tests/test-index/expected/index.html
@@ -1,3 +1,12 @@
 <!doctype html>
 <html>
+<head>
+  <title>Valar Morghulis</title>
+</head>
+<body>
+  <h1><a href="http://example.net">Valar Morghulis</a></h1>
+  
+<p>hello world</p>
+
+</body>
 </html>
diff --git a/tests/test-index/expected/site.json b/tests/test-index/expected/site.json
deleted file mode 100644
index 473e83e..0000000
--- a/tests/test-index/expected/site.json
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,6 +0,0 @@
-{
-  "title": "Valar Morghulis",
-  "author": "A man has no name",
-  "email": "jaqen@hotmail.com",
-  "url": "http://example.net"
-}
diff --git a/tests/test-index/in/index.html b/tests/test-index/in/index.html
deleted file mode 100644
index 825c61e..0000000
--- a/tests/test-index/in/index.html
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,3 +0,0 @@
-<!doctype html>
-<html>
-</html>
diff --git a/tests/test-index/in/public/index.html b/tests/test-index/in/public/index.html
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..99a41fc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test-index/in/public/index.html
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+{% extends "layout.html" %}
+{% block content %}
+<p>hello world</p>
+{% endblock %}
diff --git a/tests/test-index/in/public/layout.html b/tests/test-index/in/public/layout.html
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6c6d145
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test-index/in/public/layout.html
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+<!doctype html>
+<html>
+<head>
+  <title>{{ site.title }}</title>
+</head>
+<body>
+  <h1><a href="{{ site.url }}">{{ site.title }}</a></h1>
+  {% block content %}
+  {% endblock %}
+</body>
+</html>
diff --git a/tests/test-index/in/site.json b/tests/test-index/in/site.json
index 473e83e..b72b697 100644
--- a/tests/test-index/in/site.json
+++ b/tests/test-index/in/site.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
-  "title": "Valar Morghulis",
   "author": "A man has no name",
   "email": "jaqen@hotmail.com",
+  "title": "Valar Morghulis",
   "url": "http://example.net"
 }