diff --git a/src/zona/builder.py b/src/zona/builder.py
index de41e15..8e48a69 100644
--- a/src/zona/builder.py
+++ b/src/zona/builder.py
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ from rich import print
 from zona.models import Item, Metadata, ItemType, BuildCtx
 from zona import markdown as zmd
 from zona.templates import Templater
+from zona.layout import Layout
 from zona import util
 from pathlib import Path
 import frontmatter
@@ -40,28 +41,21 @@ def split_metadata(path: Path) -> tuple[Metadata, str]:
     return metadata, post.content
 
 
-def discover(root: Path, out_dir: Path) -> list[Item]:
-    required_dirs = {"content", "templates"}
-    found_dirs = {p.name for p in root.iterdir() if p.is_dir()}
-    missing = required_dirs - found_dirs
-    assert not missing, f"Missing required directories: {', '.join(missing)}"
-
+def discover(layout: Layout) -> list[Item]:
     items: list[Item] = []
 
-    subdir = "content"
-    base = root / subdir
+    base = layout.root / layout.content
     for path in base.rglob("*"):
         if path.is_file():
-            print(f"{subdir}: {path.relative_to(root)}")
             # we only parse markdown files not in static/
-            destination = out_dir / path.relative_to(base)
+            destination = layout.output / path.relative_to(base)
             item = Item(
                 source=path,
                 destination=destination,
-                url=str(destination.relative_to(out_dir)),
+                url=str(destination.relative_to(layout.output)),
             )
             if path.name.endswith(".md") and not path.is_relative_to(
-                root / "content" / "static"
+                layout.root / "content" / "static"
             ):
                 item.metadata, item.content = split_metadata(path)
                 item.type = ItemType.MARKDOWN
@@ -73,17 +67,17 @@ def discover(root: Path, out_dir: Path) -> list[Item]:
                     relative = path.relative_to(base).with_suffix("")
                     name = relative.stem
                     item.destination = (
-                        out_dir / relative.parent / name / "index.html"
+                        layout.output / relative.parent / name / "index.html"
                     )
-                rel_url = item.destination.parent.relative_to(out_dir)
+                rel_url = item.destination.parent.relative_to(layout.output)
                 item.url = "" if rel_url == Path(".") else rel_url.as_posix()
             items.append(item)
     return items
 
 
-def build(root: Path, items: list[Item]):
-    ctx = BuildCtx(root=root, base=root / "content")
-    templater = Templater(root / "templates")
+def build(layout: Layout, items: list[Item]):
+    ctx = BuildCtx(layout)
+    templater = Templater(layout.templates)
     ctx.item_map = {item.source.resolve(): item for item in items}
     # print(item_map)
     for item in ctx.item_map.values():
diff --git a/src/zona/cli.py b/src/zona/cli.py
index ac483ea..ca88713 100644
--- a/src/zona/cli.py
+++ b/src/zona/cli.py
@@ -1,18 +1,16 @@
 import typer
 from pathlib import Path
 from zona import builder, server
+from zona.layout import Layout, discover_layout
 
 app = typer.Typer()
 
 
 @app.command()
-def build(in_dir: str | None = None, out_dir: str | None = None):
-    if in_dir is None:
-        in_dir = "."
-    if out_dir is None:
-        out_dir = "public"
-    items = builder.discover(Path(in_dir), Path(out_dir))
-    builder.build(Path(in_dir), items)
+def build(root: Path | None = None, output: Path | None = None):
+    layout: Layout = discover_layout(root, output)
+    items = builder.discover(layout)
+    builder.build(layout, items)
 
 
 @app.command()
diff --git a/src/zona/layout.py b/src/zona/layout.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9bd8c92
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/zona/layout.py
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+from pathlib import Path
+from dataclasses import dataclass
+
+
+@dataclass
+class Layout:
+    root: Path
+    content: Path
+    templates: Path
+    output: Path
+
+    @classmethod
+    def from_input(cls, root: Path, output: Path | None = None) -> "Layout":
+        layout = cls(
+            root=root.resolve(),
+            content=(root / "content").resolve(),
+            templates=(root / "templates").resolve(),
+            output=(root / "public").resolve() if not output else output,
+        )
+        for path in [layout.content, layout.templates]:
+            if not path.is_dir():
+                raise FileNotFoundError(f"Missing required directory: {path}")
+        return layout
+
+
+def discover_layout(
+    cli_root: Path | None = None, cli_output: Path | None = None
+) -> Layout:
+    if cli_root:
+        root = cli_root
+    else:
+        # TODO: config based discovery
+        # We just set cwd for now
+        root = Path(".")
+    return Layout.from_input(root, cli_output)
diff --git a/src/zona/markdown.py b/src/zona/markdown.py
index 38afbd6..d31a4ef 100644
--- a/src/zona/markdown.py
+++ b/src/zona/markdown.py
@@ -35,7 +35,9 @@ class ZonaRenderer(HTMLRenderer):
             _href = href
             if href.startswith("/"):
                 # resolve relative to content root
-                resolved = (self.ctx.base / cur.relative_to("/")).resolve()
+                resolved = (
+                    self.ctx.layout.content / cur.relative_to("/")
+                ).resolve()
             else:
                 # treat as relative link and try to resolve
                 resolved = (self.source.parent / cur).resolve()
diff --git a/src/zona/models.py b/src/zona/models.py
index ee1fdff..4c703ed 100644
--- a/src/zona/models.py
+++ b/src/zona/models.py
@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@ from enum import Enum
 from datetime import date
 from dataclasses import dataclass, field
 
+from zona.layout import Layout
+
 
 @dataclass
 class Metadata:
@@ -34,6 +36,5 @@ class Item:
 
 @dataclass
 class BuildCtx:
-    root: Path
-    base: Path
+    layout: Layout
     item_map: dict[Path, Item] = field(default_factory=dict)