Alembic

Alembic is a Jekyll boilerplate theme that serves as a pre-built starting point for any Jekyll website, bundling offline support, live search, and multiple contact-form options into a single configurable theme.

What is Alembic?

Alembic is a Jekyll boilerplate theme created by David Darnes, available as a Ruby gem (alembic-jekyll-theme) and as a GitHub Pages remote theme. It takes a standard Jekyll site configuration and builds a static website with a built-in Service Worker, live search, and a set of configurable navigation and social-sharing options. The theme is distributed under an open-source license and has documentation in its repository.

What makes Alembic stand out?

• Offline-first Service Worker — Alembic includes a Service Worker that works on a network-first strategy, so sites keep functioning on slow or absent connections unless disabled in the config.
• Configurable design tokens — Colors and typography are set with Sass variables in a single _settings.scss file; custom fonts are served from Google Fonts via the custom_fonts key.
• Extensive shortcode includes — Liquid includes such as button.html, figure.html, icon.html, video.html, map.html, and site-form.html let you add UI elements with one line.
• Two contact-form backends — The site-form.html include works with Formspree by default and can be switched to Netlify Forms with netlify_form=true.
• Built-in live search — The site-search.html include adds a JavaScript-powered search field without any extra plugins.
• Multiple navigation areas — Header, footer, social links, and sharing buttons are all configured from _config.yml, with fallback to page lists when empty.
• Post category index — A categories layout groups all posts by category with a sidebar index.
• Browser support — Tested in all major browsers, including Internet Explorer and Edge.

Who should use Alembic?

• Jekyll developers who want a faster setup than configuring a theme from scratch and need a solid baseline with Liquid includes and Sass structure.
• Designers who want to change colors, fonts, and spacing through documented settings rather than editing partials.
• Small business and personal site owners who need offline caching, a contact form, social sharing, and easy deployment to GitHub Pages or Netlify.

What can you do with Alembic?

• Launch a blog quickly — Configure navigation, categories, and Disqus comments, then write posts in Markdown; the theme generates a category index and social sharing buttons automatically.
• Build a portfolio or corporate site — Use feature images, feature text, and full-width sections to create homepage content, with an optional sidebar on any page via aside: true.
• Add a contact form without backend code — Use the built-in form include with Formspree or Netlify Forms; submissions go to the email set in _config.yml.
• Deploy to static hosting — The repository offers starter kits for Netlify, Forestry, Netlify CMS, and Stackbit, plus a GitHub Pages remote theme kit.

How does Alembic work?

Alembic is installed as a Jekyll theme by adding gem "alembic-jekyll-theme" to the Gemfile and setting theme: alembic-jekyll-theme in _config.yml. Alternatively, for GitHub Pages, you add jekyll-remote-theme to your plugins and set remote_theme: daviddarnes/alembic@main. Then run bundle exec jekyll serve to build the site locally, or push to GitHub Pages or Netlify for deployment.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Free and open-source, with a gem and remote-theme distribution.
• Includes offline support and live search out of the box.
• Well-documented configuration for navigation, forms, and fonts.
• Multiple deployment starter kits available.

Cons:

• The boilerplate/fork installation method is deprecated, so the recommended paths are gem, remote theme, or starter kits.
• The Service Worker is network-first, so it always tries to fetch live content, which may not fit every use case.

Pricing

Alembic is free and open-source; the theme gem and all starter kits are available at no cost.

Alternatives

• Minimal Mistakes

FAQ

Is Alembic free?

Yes, Alembic is free and open-source. It is distributed as a Ruby gem and as a GitHub Pages remote theme, and all starter kits are available at no charge.

Does Alembic work with GitHub Pages?

Yes. The repository provides a GitHub Pages remote theme kit. You add jekyll-remote-theme to your plugins and set remote_theme: daviddarnes/alembic@main in _config.yml.

Can I use a contact form with Alembic?

Yes. Alembic includes a site-form.html include that works with Formspree by default and can be switched to Netlify Forms by setting netlify_form=true. The email address for submissions is set in _config.yml.

How do I change the colors and fonts?

Colors and typography are configured in the Sass variables within _settings.scss. You can override them by copying assets/styles.scss to your project and setting the variables before the @import "alembic"; line. Custom fonts can be added via the custom_fonts configuration key.

Does Alembic include offline support?

Yes, Alembic has a built-in Service Worker enabled by default. It works on a network-first strategy, so it always tries to load live content and falls back to cached content when offline. You can disable it by setting service_worker: false in _config.yml.