Ck Gatsby Blog is a free, MIT-licensed Gatsby starter that builds a blog with dark mode, Contentful CMS integration, and one-click Netlify deployment.
What is Ck Gatsby Blog?
Ck Gatsby Blog is a starter template for creating blogs on top of Gatsby, the React-based static site generator. It accepts configuration and content inputs — either from the Contentful headless CMS or from Markdown/MDX files after modifying the config — and outputs a static blog with a landing page, article pages, a sidebar, a 404 page, and a built-in dark mode toggle. The project was created by Chetan Kumar and is available under the MIT License.
The README's quick start guides you through creating a new site with the Gatsby CLI, running a development server at localhost:8000, and accessing GraphiQL at localhost:8000/___graphql for data exploration.
Key Features
- Dark mode — A built-in theme switcher lets visitors toggle between light and dark presentation across the site.
- Contentful CMS integration — The README defines a seven-field content model (title, slug, thumbnail, topic, author, published, body) and includes environment variable setup for .env.development and .env.production.
- One-click Netlify deploy — A deploy button builds and hosts your own copy of the repository on Netlify without manual configuration.
- Mobile support — The layout is responsive for smaller screens.
- Code highlighting — Article code blocks get syntax highlighting out of the box.
- Modular component structure — Components for the main page, article page, sidebar, header, footer, subscribe box, and a blog template make customization straightforward.
- Upcoming features — Filtering by topics, article search, and pagination are listed as planned, not yet implemented.
- Developer tooling — The development server exposes Gatsby's GraphiQL explorer at localhost:8000/___graphql for testing data queries.
Who is it for?
- Bloggers who want a ready-made Gatsby blog with a polished layout and dark mode without building their own design system.
- Developers who need a Gatsby starter with a documented Contentful setup and a modular React component structure to extend.
- Content teams using Contentful can publish articles through the CMS dashboard and redeploy the static site to reflect changes.
- Open-source contributors — the repository welcomes pull requests and lists Hacktoberfest among its topics.
What can you do with Ck Gatsby Blog?
- Launch a personal blog: create a new Gatsby site from the starter, run gatsby develop, and have a blog running locally within minutes.
- Spin up a Netlify-hosted blog: click the deploy button to fork, build, and publish the site on Netlify immediately.
- Manage content via Contentful: use the pre-built content model and API tokens to write and publish articles from a web dashboard.
How does Ck Gatsby Blog work?
The workflow starts by running gatsby new <project-name> https://github.com/Ckbhatia/Ck-gatsby-blog, which scaffolds the project. Then gatsby develop launches the site at localhost:8000. If you want Contentful, create a free account, copy the Space ID and Delivery API token, and store them in .env.development and .env.production files. Finally, the README's Netlify deploy button rebuilds and hosts your copy.
FAQ
Is Ck Gatsby Blog free?
Yes. The starter is open source under the MIT License, and the demo is live at https://chetanblog.netlify.com.
Do I have to use Contentful?
No. The README explicitly says you can use another CMS or create MDX files, but you must modify the configuration if you do not use Contentful.
How do I publish a new article?
With Contentful set up, go to the Content section, click Add Blog Post, fill the title, slug, thumbnail, topic, author, published date, and body fields, then publish and redeploy the site.
What is the recommended way to develop locally?
Use the Gatsby CLI to create a site, then run npm run develop or gatsby develop; the site will be at localhost:8000.
Which features are still on the roadmap?
Topic filtering, article search, and pagination are listed as upcoming features in the README.
