Astro Starter Kit

The Astro Starter Kit is a boilerplate for building a blog with Astro, the static site generator that outputs HTML by default. It takes Markdown or Astro files placed in src/pages and produces a static site in the dist folder after running the build command. The template is distributed as a GitHub repository and includes pre-built components for blog previews and podcast episodes.

What is the Astro Starter Kit?

The Astro Starter Kit is a boilerplate for building a blog with Astro, the static site generator that outputs HTML by default. It takes Markdown or Astro files placed in src/pages and produces a static site in the dist folder after running the build command. The template is distributed as a GitHub repository and includes pre-built components for blog previews and podcast episodes.

Key Features

• Project structure — Pre-configured folders for public, src/components, src/pages, src/layouts, and src/data, so routes and content are organized from the start.
• BlogPreview.astro — A sample component that displays a blog post preview, ready to wire up to your content.
• Podcast.astro — A sample component for embedding podcast episodes, suggesting the starter supports audio-focused blogs.
• Markdown routing — Astro converts .astro and .md files in src/pages into routes based on file names.
• Component framework support — The src/components folder can host Astro, React, Vue, Svelte, or Preact components.
• npm scripts — npm install, npm run start for a dev server at localhost:3000, and npm run build to generate a production site in ./dist/.

Who is it for?

• Developers starting with Astro — Use the starter to see how pages, layouts, and components fit together before customizing.
• Bloggers — Publish Markdown posts and build a static site with minimal configuration.
• Podcasters — Leverage the included Podcast.astro component to add episode players to a blog.

What can you do with it?

• Personal bloggers: Write posts in Markdown, drop them in src/pages, and run the build to get a static blog.
• Developers: Swap in React, Vue, Svelte, or Preact components alongside Astro components.
• Creative portfolio owners: Reuse the layout and data folders to structure portfolio entries with JSON data.

How does it work?

After running npm install, start a local dev server with npm run start at localhost:3000. Write content as .astro or .md files in src/pages; each file becomes a route. To ship, run npm run build, and Astro outputs the static site to ./dist/.

FAQ

What commands does this starter kit include?

The package.json defines three scripts: npm install to set up dependencies, npm run start for a local development server at localhost:3000, and npm run build to build the production site into the dist directory.

What file types can I use for pages?

Astro treats both .astro and .md files in the src/pages directory as pages. Each file is exposed as a route based on its file name, so you can write content in Markdown or as Astro components.

Can I use other frontend frameworks?

Yes. The src/components folder is not tied to Astro alone; it is the expected location for Astro, React, Vue, Svelte, or Preact components. The starter supports this flexibility without extra configuration.