diff --git a/bower.json b/bower.json
index 83c745c..69a836a 100644
--- a/bower.json
+++ b/bower.json
@@ -38,5 +38,8 @@
     "forEachAsync": "~5.0.5",
     "node-uuid": "~1.4.2",
     "markdown-it": "~3.0.2"
+  },
+  "resolutions": {
+    "bluebird": "~2.6.2"
   }
 }
diff --git a/deardesi.js b/deardesi.js
index 122d7be..c8031b1 100644
--- a/deardesi.js
+++ b/deardesi.js
@@ -31,6 +31,10 @@
   , 12: 'December'
   };
 
+  function firstCap(str) {
+    return str.replace(/^./, function ($1) { return $1.toUpperCase(); });
+  }
+
   function pad(str) {
     str = str.toString();
     if (str.length < 2) {
@@ -170,7 +174,8 @@
       themename = desi.config.themes.default;
     }
     if (!layout) {
-      layout = 'post.html';
+      // TODO make configurable
+      layout = 'posts.html';
     }
 
 
@@ -210,7 +215,7 @@
       ;
 
     desi.urls = desi.config.urls = {};
-    if (development) {
+    if (true || development) {
       desi.urls.base_path = desi.config.development.base_path;
       desi.urls.url = desi.config.development.url;
       desi.urls.development_url = desi.config.development.url;
@@ -229,11 +234,26 @@
     dthemes = getDirty(cacheByPath, cacheBySha1, desi.meta.themes);
     droot = getDirty(cacheByPath, cacheBySha1, [desi.meta.root], dthemes);
     dfiles = getDirty(cacheByPath, cacheBySha1, desi.meta.collections, dthemes);
+
+    /*
+    if (!droot.length) {
+      console.error("no root files to get");
+    }
+    if (!dfiles.length) {
+      console.error("no content files to get");
+    }
+    if (!dthemes.length) {
+      console.error("no theme files to get");
+    }
+    if (!droot || !dfiles || !droot) {
+      throw new Error("didn't read files");
+    }
+    */
     
     return PromiseA.all([
-      fsapi.getContents(Object.keys(droot))
-    , fsapi.getContents(Object.keys(dfiles))
-    , fsapi.getContents(Object.keys(dthemes))
+      Object.keys(droot).length ? fsapi.getContents(Object.keys(droot)) : PromiseA.resolve([])
+    , Object.keys(dfiles).length ? fsapi.getContents(Object.keys(dfiles)) : PromiseA.resolve([])
+    , Object.keys(dthemes).length ? fsapi.getContents(Object.keys(dthemes)) : PromiseA.resolve([])
     ]).then(function (arr) {
       // TODO XXX display errors in html
       function noErrors(o) {
@@ -260,6 +280,8 @@
   console.info('getting config, data, caches...');
 
   return PromiseA.all([fsapi.getConfig(), fsapi.getData(), fsapi.getCache(), fsapi.getPartials()]).then(function (arr) {
+    console.info('config');
+    console.log(arr[0]);
     var config = arr[0]
       , data = arr[1]
       , cache = arr[2]
@@ -268,10 +290,16 @@
       , themenames = Object.keys(config.themes)
           .filter(function (k) { return 'default' !== k; })
           //.map(function (n) { return path.join(n, 'layouts'); })
+      , assetnames = Object.keys(config.assets)
       ;
 
-    console.info('loaded config, data, caches.');
-    console.log(arr);
+    console.info('loaded config, data, caches, partials');
+    console.log({
+      config:   arr[0]
+    , data:     arr[1]
+    , cache:    arr[2]
+    , partials: arr[3]
+    });
     console.info('last update: ' + (cache.lastUpdate && new Date(cache.lastUpdate) || 'never'));
 
     // TODO make document configurability
@@ -295,7 +323,21 @@
         , extensions: ['md', 'markdown', 'htm', 'html', 'jade']
         }
       )
+    , fsapi.getMeta(
+        assetnames
+      , { dotfiles: false 
+        //, extensions: ['md', 'markdown', 'htm', 'html', 'jade', 'css', 'js', 'yml']
+        }
+      )
     ]).then(function (things) {
+      console.info('loaded theme meta, root meta, collection meta');
+      console.log({
+        theme:      things[0]
+      , root:       things[1]
+      , collection: things[2]
+      , asset:      things[3]
+      });
+
       function noErrors(map) {
         Object.keys(map).forEach(function (path) {
           map[path] = map[path].filter(function (m) {
@@ -316,11 +358,25 @@
         return map;
       }
 
-      var themes = noErrors(things[0])
-        , root = noErrors(things[1])[config.rootdir]
+      var themes      = noErrors(things[0])
+        , root        = noErrors(things[1])[config.rootdir]
         , collections = noErrors(things[2])
+        , assets      = noErrors(things[3])
         ;
 
+      if (!themes[Object.keys(themes)[0]].length) {
+        console.error('Missing THEMES!');
+        throw new Error('It seems that your themes directory is missing');
+      }
+
+      if (!root.length) {
+        console.error('Missing ROOT!');
+      }
+
+      if (!collections[Object.keys(collections)[0]].length) {
+        console.error('Missing Collections!');
+      }
+
       return {
         config: config
       , data: data
@@ -329,10 +385,43 @@
           themes: themes
         , collections: collections
         , root: root
+        , assets: assets
         }
       , partials: partials
       };
     });
+  }).then(runDesi).then(function (desi) {
+    var files = {}
+      ;
+
+    // copy assets -> easy!
+    // TODO check cache
+    Object.keys(desi.meta.assets).forEach(function (key) {
+      var assets = desi.meta.assets[key]
+        ;
+
+      // TODO fix compiled_path + base_path
+      assets.forEach(function (asset) {
+        console.log(asset);
+        files[path.join(asset.relativePath, asset.name)] = path.join(desi.config.compiled_path, 'assets', asset.relativePath, asset.name);
+      });
+    });
+
+    return Object.keys(files).length && fsapi.copy(files).then(function (copied) {
+      if (copied.error) {
+        console.error(copied.error);
+        throw new Error(copied.error);
+      }
+
+      if (copied.errors && copied.errors.length) {
+        console.error("Errors copying assets...");
+        copied.errors.forEach(function (err) {
+          console.error(err);
+        });
+      }
+
+      return desi;
+    }) || PromiseA.resolve(desi);
   }).then(runDesi).then(function (desi) {
     return readFrontmatter(desi.content.root.concat(desi.content.themes.concat(desi.content.collections))).then(function () {
       return desi;
@@ -343,26 +432,28 @@
 
     desi.content.root.forEach(function (page) {
       var name = path.basename(page.path, path.extname(page.path))
+        , nindex
         ;
 
       //if (-1 === desi.data.navigation.indexOf(name) && 'index' !== name)
-      if (-1 === desi.data.navigation.indexOf(name)) {
+      nindex = desi.data.navigation.indexOf(name);
+      if (-1 === nindex) {
         return;
       }
 
-      desi.navigation.push({
-        title: page.yml && page.yml.title || name.replace(/^./, function ($1) { return $1.toUpperCase(); })
-      , href: '/' + name
-      , path: '/' + name
+      desi.navigation[nindex] = {
+        title: page.yml && page.yml.title || firstCap(name)
+      , href: desi.urls.base_path + '/' + name
+      , path: desi.urls.base_path + '/' + name
       , name: name
       , active: false // placeholder
-      });
+      };
     });
 
-
     desi.content.root.forEach(function (page) {
       page.yml = page.yml || {};
-      page.yml.layout = page.yml.layout || 'default';
+      // TODO make default layout configurable
+      page.yml.layout = page.yml.layout || '_root';
 
       if (!page.relativePath) {
         page.relativePath = path.dirname(page.path);
@@ -371,6 +462,11 @@
 
       page.relativePath = page.relativePath.replace(desi.config.rootdir, '').replace(/^\//, '');
       page.path = path.join(page.relativePath, page.name);
+
+      // TODO make bare root routes configurable
+      page.yml.permalink = page.yml.permalink || page.path.replace(/\.\w+$/, '');
+
+      page.yml.title = page.yml.title || firstCap(page.name.replace(/\.\w+$/, ''));
     });
 
     desi.content.collections = desi.content.collections.filter(function (article) {
@@ -395,13 +491,24 @@
 
       // TODO read the config for this collection for how to create premalink
       if (!yml.permalink) {
+        if (page.name) {
+          page.htmlname = page.name.replace(/\.\w+$/, '.html');
+        }
         page.path = page.path || path.join(page.relativePath, page.name);
+        page.htmlpath = page.path.replace(/\.\w+$/, '.html');
         // TODO strip '_root' or whatever
         // strip .html, .md, .jade, etc
-        yml.permalink = path.join(desi.urls.base_path, path.basename(page.path, path.extname(page.path)));
+        yml.permalink = page.htmlpath;
+        console.info('1', yml.permalink);
       }
+
+      if (!/\.html?$/.test(yml.permalink)) {
+        console.info(page.yml.permalink);
+        yml.permalink = path.join(yml.permalink, 'index.html');
+      }
+
       //yml.permalinkBase = path.join(path.dirname(yml.permalink), path.basename(yml.permalink, path.extname(yml.permalink)));
-      yml.permalink = path.join(path.dirname(yml.permalink), path.basename(yml.permalink, path.extname(yml.permalink)));
+      //yml.permalink = path.join(path.dirname(yml.permalink), path.basename(yml.permalink, path.extname(yml.permalink)));
 
       if (!page.yml.uuid) {
         // TODO only do this if it's going to be saved
@@ -439,7 +546,7 @@
       //entity.second = entity.published_at.second;
 
       // The root index is the one exception
-      if (/^\/?index$/.test(entity.yml.permalink)) {
+      if (/^\/?index(\.html?)?$/.test(entity.yml.permalink)) {
         entity.yml.permalink = '';
         console.info('found index', entity);
       }
@@ -500,7 +607,7 @@
         set = yearsArr[yindex];
 
         if (!set.months[mindex]) {
-          set.months[mindex] = { month: f.month, pages: [] };
+          set.months[mindex] = { month: months[parseInt(f.month, 10)], pages: [] };
         }
         set = set.months[mindex];
 
@@ -554,16 +661,20 @@
       // TODO less / sass / etc
       compiled.push({ contents: entity.body || entity.contents, path: path.join(desi.config.compiled_path, 'themes', entity.path) });
       if (/stylesheets.*\.css/.test(entity.path) && (!/google/.test(entity.path) || /obsid/.test(entity.path))) {
+        // TODO XXX move to a partial
         desi.assets.push(
-          '<link href="' + entity.path + '" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" media="all">'
+          '<link href="' + desi.urls.base_path + '/themes/' + entity.path + '" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" media="all">'
         );
       }
     }
+    desi.navigation.filter(function (n) {
+      return n;
+    });
     console.log(desi.navigation);
     function compileContentEntity(entity, i, arr) {
       console.log("compiling " + (i + 1) + "/" + arr.length + " " + (entity.path || entity.name));
 
-      var child = ''
+      var previous = ''
         , layers
         , view
         ;
@@ -572,7 +683,6 @@
 
       view = {
         page: entity.yml // data for just *this* page
-      , content: child    // processed content for just *this* page
       //, data: desi.data   // data.yml
       // https://github.com/janl/mustache.js/issues/415
       , data: num2str(desi.data)
@@ -590,6 +700,7 @@
         // TODO concat theme, widget, and site assets
       , assets: desi.assets.join('\n')
       };
+
       //console.log('rel:', view.relative_url);
       view.site.author = desi.data.author;
       view.site.navigation = JSON.parse(JSON.stringify(desi.navigation));
@@ -601,14 +712,20 @@
       });
       // backwards compat
       view.site['navigation?to_pages'] = view.site.navigation;
+      view.site['navigation?to__root'] = view.site.navigation;
+      view.data.navigation = view.site.navigation;
+      view.data['navigation?to_pages'] = view.site.navigation;
+      view.data['navigation?to__root'] = view.site.navigation;
 
       layers.forEach(function (current) {
         // TODO meta.layout
         var body = (current.body || current.contents || '').trim()
           , html
+          , curview = {}
           ;
 
-        current.path = current.path || entity.relativePath + '/' + entity.name;
+        // TODO move to normalization
+        current.path = current.path || (entity.relativePath + '/' + entity.name);
 
         if (/\.(html|htm)$/.test(current.path)) {
           html = body;
@@ -622,29 +739,42 @@
           console.error('unknown parser for ' + (entity.path));
         }
 
-        view.content = child;
+        view.content = previous;
+        view.page.content = previous;
 
-        child = Mustache.render(html, view, desi.partials);
+        // to prevent perfect object equality (and potential template caching)
+        Object.keys(view).forEach(function (key) {
+          curview[key] = view[key];
+        });
+        previous = Mustache.render(html, curview, desi.partials);
       });
 
-      // TODO add html meta-refresh redirects
-      compiled.push({ contents: child, path: path.join(desi.config.compiled_path, entity.yml.permalink, 'index.html') });
+      console.log({ contents: previous });
+
+      // NOTE: by now, all permalinks should be in the format /path/to/page.html or /path/to/page/index.html
+      compiled.push({ contents: previous, path: path.join(desi.config.compiled_path, entity.yml.permalink/*, 'index.html'*/) });
       entity.yml.redirects = entity.yml.redirects || [];
-      if (entity.yml.permalink) {
-        entity.yml.redirects.push(entity.yml.permalink + '.html');
+      if (/\/index.html$/.test(entity.yml.permalink)) {
+        entity.yml.redirects.push(entity.yml.permalink.replace(/\/index.html$/, '.html'));
+      } else {
+        entity.yml.redirects.push(entity.yml.permalink.replace(/\.html?$/, '/index.html'));
       }
       entity.yml.redirects.forEach(function (redirect) {
-        child = 
+        var content
+          ;
+
+        // TODO move to partial
+        content = 
           '<html>'
             + '<head>'
               + '<title>Redirecting to ' + entity.yml.title + '</title>'
               + '<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="0;URL=\''
-                + desi.urls.url + path.join(entity.yml.permalink)
+                + desi.urls.url + path.join(desi.urls.base_path, entity.yml.permalink)
               + '\'" />'
             + '</head>'
             + '<body>'
               + '<p>This page has moved to a <a href="'
-                + desi.urls.url + path.join(entity.yml.permalink)
+                + desi.urls.url + path.join(desi.urls.base_path, entity.yml.permalink)
               +'">'
                 + entity.yml.title
               + '</a>.</p>'
@@ -652,7 +782,7 @@
         + '</html>'
         ;
 
-        compiled.push({ contents: child, path: path.join(desi.config.compiled_path, redirect) });
+        compiled.push({ contents: content, path: path.join(desi.config.compiled_path, redirect) });
       });
     }
 
@@ -680,9 +810,9 @@
 
     // because some servers / proxies are terrible at handling large uploads (>= 100k)
     // (vagrant? or express? one of the two is CRAZY slow)
-    console.info('saving compiled files');
+    console.info('saving compiled files', desi.compiled);
     while (compiled.length) {
-      batches.push(compiled.splice(0, 1));
+      batches.push(compiled.splice(0, 500));
     }
 
     now = Date.now();
@@ -716,6 +846,7 @@
   }).catch(function (e) {
     console.error('A great and uncatchable error has befallen the land. Read ye here for das detalles..');
     console.error(e.message);
+    console.error(e);
     throw e;
   });
 }('undefined' !== typeof exports && exports || window));
diff --git a/lib/deardesi-browser.js b/lib/deardesi-browser.js
index d565b6a..96c411a 100644
--- a/lib/deardesi-browser.js
+++ b/lib/deardesi-browser.js
@@ -246,6 +246,20 @@
     });
   };
 
+  fsapi.copy = function (files) {
+    var body = { files: files };
+    body = JSON.stringify(body); // this is more or less instant for a few MiB of posts
+    return request.post('/api/fs/copy', body).then(function (resp) {
+      var response = JSON.parse(resp)
+        ;
+
+      // not accurate for utf8/unicode, but close enough
+      response.size = body.length;
+      return response;
+    });
+
+  };
+
   fsapi.putFiles = function (files) {
     var body = { files: files };
     body = JSON.stringify(body); // this is more or less instant for a few MiB of posts
diff --git a/lib/fsapi.js b/lib/fsapi.js
index 740a01e..6be7d67 100644
--- a/lib/fsapi.js
+++ b/lib/fsapi.js
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ var PromiseA      = require('bluebird').Promise
   , safeResolve   = require('./deardesi-utils').safeResolve
   , sha1sum       = function (str) { return require('secret-utils').hashsum('sha1', str); }
   , mkdirp        = PromiseA.promisify(require('mkdirp'))
+  , fsExtra       = PromiseA.promisifyAll(require('fs.extra'))
   ;
 
 function strip(prefix, pathname) {
@@ -157,6 +158,92 @@ function getfs(blogdir, filepaths) {
   });
 }
 
+function makeAllDirs(dirpaths) {
+  var errors = []
+    ;
+
+  return forEachAsync(dirpaths, function (pathname) {
+    return mkdirp(pathname).catch(function (e) {
+      // TODO exclude attempting to write files to this dir?
+      errors.push({
+        type: 'directory'
+
+      , directory: pathname
+
+      , message: e.message
+      , code: e.code
+      , errno: e.errno
+      , status: e.status
+      , syscall: e.syscall
+      });
+
+    });
+  }).then(function () {
+    return errors;
+  });
+}
+
+function copyfs(blogdir, files) {
+  // TODO switch format to { source: ..., dest: ..., opts: ... } ?
+  var results = { errors: [] }
+    , dirpaths = {}
+    , sources = Object.keys(files)
+    ;
+
+  return forEachAsync(sources, function (source) {
+    /*
+    var nsource = safeResolve(blogdir, source)
+      ;
+    */
+
+    var dest = safeResolve(blogdir, files[source])
+      , pathname = path.dirname(dest)
+      //, filename = path.basename(dest)
+      ;
+
+    dirpaths[pathname] = true;
+    
+    return Promise.resolve();
+  }).then(function () {
+    // TODO is it better to do this lazy-like or as a batch?
+    // I figure as batch when there may be hundreds of files,
+    // likely within 2 or 3 directories
+    return makeAllDirs(Object.keys(dirpaths)).then(function (errors) {
+      errors.forEach(function (e) {
+        results.errors.push(e);
+      });
+    });
+  }).then(function () {
+    // TODO allow delete?
+    return forEachAsync(sources, function (source) {
+      return fsExtra.copyAsync(safeResolve(blogdir, source), safeResolve(blogdir, files[source])).catch(function (e) {
+        results.errors.push({
+          type: 'file'
+
+        , source: source
+        , destination: files[source]
+
+        , message: e.message
+        , code: e.code
+        , errno: e.errno
+        , status: e.status
+        , syscall: e.syscall
+        });
+      });
+    });
+  }).catch(function (e) {
+    results.error = {
+      message: e.message
+    , code: e.code
+    , errno: e.errno
+    , status: e.status
+    , syscall: e.syscall
+    };
+  }).then(function () {
+    return results;
+  });
+}
+
 function putfs(blogdir, files) {
   var results = { errors: [] }
     , dirpaths = {}
@@ -246,6 +333,7 @@ walkDirs('blog', ['posts'], { contents: false }).then(function (stats) {
 */
 
 module.exports.walk = { walkDirs: walkDirs, walkDir: walkDir };
+module.exports.copyfs = copyfs;
 module.exports.getfs = getfs;
 module.exports.putfs = putfs;
 module.exports.walkDir = walkDir;
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index cff9f74..3553419 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@
     "connect-send-json": "^1.0.0",
     "escape-string-regexp": "^1.0.2",
     "foreachasync": "^5.0.5",
+    "fs.extra": "^1.2.1",
     "json2yaml": "^1.0.3",
     "markdown": "^0.5.0",
     "markdown-it": "^3.0.2",
diff --git a/server.js b/server.js
index 115b3ce..da3e311 100644
--- a/server.js
+++ b/server.js
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ var connect     = require('connect')
   , send        = require('connect-send-json')
 
   , app         = connect()
+  , fsapi       = require('./lib/fsapi')
   , walk        = require('./lib/fsapi').walk
   , getfs       = require('./lib/fsapi').getfs
   , putfs       = require('./lib/fsapi').putfs
@@ -23,15 +24,7 @@ var connect     = require('connect')
 app
   .use(send.json())
   .use(query())
-  .use(function (req, res, next) {
-    console.log('before parse');
-    next();
-  })
   .use(bodyParser.json({ limit: 10 * 1024 * 1024 })) // 10mb
-  .use(function (req, res, next) {
-    console.log('after parse');
-    next();
-  })
   .use(require('compression')())
   .use('/api/fs/walk', function (req, res, next) {
       if (!(/^GET$/i.test(req.method) || /^GET$/i.test(req.query._method))) {
@@ -112,6 +105,25 @@ app
         res.json(results);
       });
     })
+  .use('/api/fs/copy', function (req, res, next) {
+      if (!(/^POST|PUT$/i.test(req.method) || /^POST|PUT$/i.test(req.query._method))) {
+        next();
+        return;
+      }
+
+      var opts = {}
+        , files = req.body.files
+        ;
+
+      if ('object' !== typeof files || !Object.keys(files).length) {
+        res.json({ error: "please specify POST w/ req.body.files" });
+        return;
+      }
+
+      return fsapi.copyfs(blogdir, files, opts).then(function (results) {
+        res.json(results);
+      });
+    })
 
   .use('/api/fs', function (req, res, next) {
       next();
@@ -119,12 +131,12 @@ app
     })
   .use('/api/fs/static', serveStatic('.'))
 
-  .use(serveStatic(blogdir))
   .use(serveStatic('.'))
+  .use(serveStatic(blogdir))
   ;
 
 module.exports = app;
 
-require('http').createServer().on('request', app).listen(80, function () {
-  console.log('listening 80');
+require('http').createServer().on('request', app).listen(process.argv[2] || 65080, function () {
+  console.log('listening ' + (process.argv[2] || 65080));
 });