diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index dcb685d..2f9c5c3 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -25,6 +25,13 @@ This will read `https://localhost:800/sitemap.xml` and download the entire
 website to the `dist/` directory in a format that can be served from a simple
 file server running at `frontside.com`.
 
+Wherever your site refers to itself with an absolute url, staticalize replaces
+the `--site` origin with `--base`. It does this in html documents — `<a href>`,
+`<link href>`, and any `src` or `content` attribute — and in textual bodies such
+as `llms.txt`, markdown, feeds, json, css and javascript. Assets that are not
+text are copied byte for byte. This means `--base` is the only place a
+deployment has to say where it lives.
+
 ### CLI
 
 ```
diff --git a/downloader.ts b/downloader.ts
index b0c08d7..4cfa3ba 100644
--- a/downloader.ts
+++ b/downloader.ts
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ import { fromHtml } from "hast-util-from-html";
 import { toHtml } from "hast-util-to-html";
 import { selectAll } from "hast-util-select";
 import { useTaskBuffer } from "./task-buffer.ts";
-import { rebase } from "./rebase.ts";
+import { rebase, RebaseTextStream } from "./rebase.ts";
 import { createApi } from "@effectionx/context-api";
 
 export interface Downloader extends Operation<void> {
@@ -74,6 +74,18 @@ export const DownloadApi = createApi("@staticalize/download", {
           }
         }
 
+        // anchors are rewritten but not followed: the sitemap says what the
+        // site is made of, and downloading every link would crawl past it
+        let anchors = selectAll("a[href]", html);
+
+        for (let anchor of anchors) {
+          let href = anchor.properties.href as string;
+
+          if (href.startsWith(host.origin)) {
+            anchor.properties.href = rebase(new URL(href), base).href;
+          }
+        }
+
         let assets = selectAll("[src]", html);
 
         for (let element of assets) {
@@ -103,6 +115,28 @@ export const DownloadApi = createApi("@staticalize/download", {
           ok: true,
           bytes: new TextEncoder().encode(output).byteLength,
         };
+      } else if (isTextual(response.headers.get("Content-Type"))) {
+        let bytes = 0;
+        let counted = new TransformStream<Uint8Array, Uint8Array>({
+          transform(chunk, controller) {
+            bytes += chunk.byteLength;
+            controller.enqueue(chunk);
+          },
+        });
+
+        let destdir = dirname(path);
+        yield* until(ensureDir(destdir));
+        yield* until(
+          Deno.writeFile(
+            path,
+            response.body!
+              .pipeThrough(new TextDecoderStream())
+              .pipeThrough(new RebaseTextStream(host, base))
+              .pipeThrough(new TextEncoderStream())
+              .pipeThrough(counted),
+          ),
+        );
+        return { ok: true, bytes };
       } else {
         let size = Number(response.headers.get("Content-Length") ?? 0);
         let destdir = dirname(path);
@@ -120,6 +154,25 @@ export const DownloadApi = createApi("@staticalize/download", {
   },
 });
 
+/**
+ * Is this a content type whose body is text we can rewrite urls in?
+ *
+ * Everything else is streamed to disk byte for byte, so a binary body is never
+ * decoded and re-encoded.
+ */
+function isTextual(contentType: string | null): boolean {
+  if (!contentType) {
+    return false;
+  }
+  let type = contentType.split(";")[0].trim().toLowerCase();
+  return type.startsWith("text/") ||
+    type.endsWith("+json") ||
+    type.endsWith("+xml") ||
+    ["application/json", "application/xml", "application/javascript"].includes(
+      type,
+    );
+}
+
 function* fetchWithRetry(
   url: string,
   signal: AbortSignal,
diff --git a/rebase.ts b/rebase.ts
index b12fb20..e7cc5e5 100644
--- a/rebase.ts
+++ b/rebase.ts
@@ -20,3 +20,43 @@ export function rebase(source: URL, base: URL): URL {
   url.pathname = `${base.pathname.replace(/\/$/, "")}${source.pathname}`;
   return url;
 }
+
+/**
+ * A TransformStream that replaces self-referencing urls with the public base.
+ *
+ * There is no document to walk in a text body, so unlike the html pass this is
+ * a substitution of the crawl origin rather than a rewrite of known
+ * url-bearing attributes. It runs over the response as it arrives, so the
+ * memory it holds is a chunk and change rather than the whole document.
+ */
+export class RebaseTextStream extends TransformStream<string, string> {
+  #carry = "";
+
+  constructor(host: URL, base: URL) {
+    let needle = host.origin;
+    // the crawl origin stands for the root of the site, so it maps onto the base
+    // the same way any other url does. the result carries a trailing slash, which
+    // the urls in the body bring themselves.
+    let prefix = `${rebase(new URL(needle), base)}`.replace(/\/$/, "");
+    // a match can straddle a chunk boundary, so hold back the longest partial
+    // one and let the next chunk complete it
+    let keep = needle.length - 1;
+
+    super({
+      transform: (chunk, controller) => {
+        let text = (this.#carry + chunk).replaceAll(needle, prefix);
+        if (text.length > keep) {
+          controller.enqueue(text.slice(0, text.length - keep));
+          this.#carry = text.slice(text.length - keep);
+        } else {
+          this.#carry = text;
+        }
+      },
+      flush: (controller) => {
+        if (this.#carry.length > 0) {
+          controller.enqueue(this.#carry);
+        }
+      },
+    });
+  }
+}
diff --git a/test/rebase.test.ts b/test/rebase.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..49513ba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/rebase.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,110 @@
+import { expect } from "@std/expect";
+import { describe, it } from "@std/testing/bdd";
+
+import { rebase, RebaseTextStream } from "../rebase.ts";
+
+let host = new URL("http://localhost:8321");
+
+async function rebased(
+  chunks: string[],
+  base: URL,
+  from: URL = host,
+): Promise<string> {
+  let stream = ReadableStream.from(chunks)
+    .pipeThrough(new RebaseTextStream(from, base));
+  let out = "";
+  for await (let chunk of stream) {
+    out += chunk;
+  }
+  return out;
+}
+
+function cut(text: string, size: number): string[] {
+  let chunks: string[] = [];
+  for (let i = 0; i < text.length; i += size) {
+    chunks.push(text.slice(i, i + size));
+  }
+  return chunks;
+}
+
+describe("rebase", () => {
+  it("takes the protocol, host and port of the base", () => {
+    expect(rebase(new URL(`${host}about`), new URL("https://fs.com")).href)
+      .toEqual("https://fs.com/about");
+  });
+
+  it("prefixes the path of the base", () => {
+    expect(
+      rebase(new URL(`${host}about`), new URL("https://fs.com/effection")).href,
+    ).toEqual("https://fs.com/effection/about");
+  });
+
+  it("treats a trailing slash on the base as no path at all", () => {
+    expect(rebase(new URL(`${host}about`), new URL("https://fs.com/")).href)
+      .toEqual("https://fs.com/about");
+  });
+
+  it("keeps the query and fragment of the source", () => {
+    expect(
+      rebase(new URL(`${host}search?q=hi#top`), new URL("https://fs.com")).href,
+    ).toEqual("https://fs.com/search?q=hi#top");
+  });
+});
+
+describe("RebaseTextStream", () => {
+  it("replaces every occurrence in a body", async () => {
+    await expect(
+      rebased(
+        [`[API]: ${host}api.md and ${host}b.md`],
+        new URL(
+          "https://fs.com",
+        ),
+      ),
+    ).resolves.toEqual("[API]: https://fs.com/api.md and https://fs.com/b.md");
+  });
+
+  it("leaves urls on other hosts alone", async () => {
+    await expect(
+      rebased(
+        ["see https://google.com/a and http://localhost:9999/b"],
+        new URL(
+          "https://fs.com",
+        ),
+      ),
+    ).resolves.toEqual("see https://google.com/a and http://localhost:9999/b");
+  });
+
+  it("carries the path of the base", async () => {
+    await expect(
+      rebased([`${host}api.md`], new URL("https://fs.com/effection")),
+    ).resolves.toEqual("https://fs.com/effection/api.md");
+  });
+
+  it("matches urls split across chunk boundaries", async () => {
+    // the interesting cases are a match at the very start, at the very end,
+    // back to back with another, and bare with no path of its own
+    let body =
+      `${host}a.md then ${host}b.md${host}c.md and a bare ${host} to close`;
+    let want = body.replaceAll(host.origin, "https://fs.com");
+
+    for (let size of [1, 2, 3, 7, host.origin.length - 1, host.origin.length]) {
+      await expect(rebased(cut(body, size), new URL("https://fs.com")))
+        .resolves.toEqual(want);
+    }
+  });
+
+  it("emits a body that ends mid-match as it stands", async () => {
+    // a truncated url is not a url, so it survives rather than disappearing
+    let partial = host.origin.slice(0, -3);
+    await expect(rebased(
+      cut(`ends with ${partial}`, 4),
+      new URL(
+        "https://fs.com",
+      ),
+    )).resolves.toEqual(`ends with ${partial}`);
+  });
+
+  it("passes an empty body through", async () => {
+    await expect(rebased([], new URL("https://fs.com"))).resolves.toEqual("");
+  });
+});
diff --git a/test/staticalize.test.ts b/test/staticalize.test.ts
index fed628b..d9c846e 100644
--- a/test/staticalize.test.ts
+++ b/test/staticalize.test.ts
@@ -324,6 +324,135 @@ describe("staticalize", () => {
       "<loc>https://frontside.com/effection/about</loc>",
     );
   });
+
+  it("replaces self-referencing urls in anchors", async () => {
+    app.get(
+      "/",
+      (c) => c.html(`<a href="${host}about">about</a>`),
+    )
+      .get("/about", (c) => c.html("<h1>About</h1>"))
+      .get(...sitemap(["/", "/about"]));
+
+    await staticalize({
+      base: new URL("https://fs.com"),
+      host,
+      dir: "test/dist",
+    });
+
+    await expect(content("test/dist/index.html")).resolves.toContain(
+      `<a href="https://fs.com/about">about</a>`,
+    );
+  });
+
+  it("does not download pages that are only linked from an anchor", async () => {
+    app.get("/", (c) => c.html(`<a href="${host}unlisted">unlisted</a>`))
+      .get("/unlisted", (c) => c.html("<h1>Unlisted</h1>"))
+      .get(...sitemap(["/"]));
+
+    await staticalize({
+      base: new URL("https://fs.com"),
+      host,
+      dir: "test/dist",
+    });
+
+    await expect(exists("test/dist/unlisted/index.html")).resolves.toEqual(
+      false,
+    );
+  });
+
+  it("replaces self-referencing urls in text bodies", async () => {
+    app.get("/llms.txt", (c) =>
+      c.text(`[API]: ${host}api.md\n`, 200, {
+        "Content-Type": "text/plain; charset=utf-8",
+      }))
+      .get("/AGENTS.md", (c) =>
+        c.text(`see ${host}api.md\n`, 200, {
+          "Content-Type": "text/markdown; charset=utf-8",
+        }))
+      .get("/feed.xml", (c) =>
+        c.text(`<link>${host}about</link>`, 200, {
+          "Content-Type": "application/rss+xml",
+        }))
+      .get("/data.json", (c) =>
+        c.text(`{"self":"${host}data.json"}`, 200, {
+          "Content-Type": "application/json",
+        }))
+      .get(
+        "/styles.css",
+        (c) =>
+          c.text(`body { background: url(${host}bg.png); }`, 200, {
+            "Content-Type": "text/css",
+          }),
+      )
+      .get(
+        ...sitemap([
+          "/llms.txt",
+          "/AGENTS.md",
+          "/feed.xml",
+          "/data.json",
+          "/styles.css",
+        ]),
+      );
+
+    await staticalize({
+      base: new URL("https://fs.com"),
+      host,
+      dir: "test/dist",
+    });
+
+    await expect(content("test/dist/llms.txt")).resolves.toEqual(
+      "[API]: https://fs.com/api.md\n",
+    );
+    await expect(content("test/dist/AGENTS.md")).resolves.toEqual(
+      "see https://fs.com/api.md\n",
+    );
+    await expect(content("test/dist/feed.xml")).resolves.toEqual(
+      "<link>https://fs.com/about</link>",
+    );
+    await expect(content("test/dist/data.json")).resolves.toEqual(
+      `{"self":"https://fs.com/data.json"}`,
+    );
+    await expect(content("test/dist/styles.css")).resolves.toEqual(
+      "body { background: url(https://fs.com/bg.png); }",
+    );
+  });
+
+  it("carries the path of the base url into text bodies", async () => {
+    app.get("/llms.txt", (c) =>
+      c.text(`[API]: ${host}api.md\n`, 200, {
+        "Content-Type": "text/plain; charset=utf-8",
+      }))
+      .get(...sitemap(["/llms.txt"]));
+
+    await staticalize({
+      base: new URL("https://frontside.com/effection"),
+      host,
+      dir: "test/dist",
+    });
+
+    await expect(content("test/dist/llms.txt")).resolves.toEqual(
+      "[API]: https://frontside.com/effection/api.md\n",
+    );
+  });
+
+  it("streams bodies that are not text byte for byte", async () => {
+    // a png that would be corrupted by a decode/encode round trip
+    let png = new Uint8Array([0x89, 0x50, 0x4e, 0x47, 0x0d, 0x0a, 0x1a, 0x0a]);
+
+    app.get("/logo.png", (c) =>
+      c.body(png.buffer, 200, {
+        "Content-Type": "image/png",
+      }))
+      .get(...sitemap(["/logo.png"]));
+
+    await staticalize({
+      base: new URL("https://fs.com"),
+      host,
+      dir: "test/dist",
+    });
+
+    await expect(Deno.readFile("test/dist/logo.png")).resolves.toEqual(png);
+  });
 });
 
 async function content(path: string): Promise<string> {