Contentful Gatsby Starter Blog is a blog template that pairs the Gatsby static site generator with the Contentful headless CMS, giving content editors an API-based interface for publishing to a static blog. It is maintained by Contentful and distributed as an open-source GitHub repository that you clone or scaffold with the Gatsby CLI.
What is the Contentful Gatsby Starter Blog?
The Contentful Gatsby Starter Blog is an open-source starter project that creates a Gatsby-powered blog whose content lives in a Contentful space. It takes a Contentful space ID plus Management and Delivery API access tokens as input and produces a static Gatsby site in the ./public directory, ready to deploy to any static host. It runs on the Gatsby framework in a Node.js environment, and it is maintained by Contentful, the company behind the Contentful CMS.
Key Features
The starter's features concentrate on connecting Gatsby to Contentful cleanly, from a minimal data model to ready-made image handling and a one-command setup.
- Simple content model — A minimal blog content structure that you can extend in the Contentful web app without touching code, keeps the template easy to adjust to your needs.
- Delivery API synchronization — Uses the Contentful Delivery API's sync feature so builds fetch only changed entries, keeping rebuilds efficient.
- Responsive/adaptive images — Integrates
gatsby-plugin-imagewith the Contentful Images API to generate optimized, responsive images for blog posts. - Automated setup command —
npm run setupprompts for your space ID and API tokens, imports the needed content model, and writes the.contentful.jsonconfiguration file. - Local development server —
npm run devruns the project locally with live reload in development mode. - Production build —
npm run buildoutputs a static site into./public;npm run servespins up a production-ready server to preview the built blog.
Who is it for?
This starter suits anyone who wants the performance of a static Gatsby blog without forcing writers to touch code or git.
- Content editors and marketers who want a fast static blog but prefer writing in Contentful's web interface instead of editing files and rebuilding the project manually.
- Gatsby developers starting a new blog who want a working reference implementation of Contentful's Delivery API, synchronization, and image optimization patterns.
- Agencies and freelancers building client blogs who need a simple content model they can hand off to non-technical clients for publishing.
What can you do with it?
The template covers a full content-to-deployment workflow, from editing posts in Contentful to shipping a static build to a host.
- Publish a blog with a CMS workflow: authors write and schedule posts in Contentful, and the Gatsby build pulls the published entries into a static site.
- Automate publishing with CI: connect the repository to Travis CI or Netlify so every change in Contentful or in the repo triggers a new static build and deploy.
- Customize the content model: adjust the seeded post model in Contentful to add authors, tags, categories, or landing-page fields, then rebuild to see them on the site.
How does it work?
Clone the repository and run npm install, or scaffold it with gatsby new contentful-starter-blog https://github.com/contentful/starter-gatsby-blog/. Then run npm run setup, which asks for your Contentful space ID, Management API token, and Delivery API token, imports the blog content model, and generates the .contentful.json config file. After setup, npm run dev starts a local preview with live reload, and npm run build creates a production-ready static site in ./public.
FAQ
Is the Contentful Gatsby Starter Blog free?
The starter is open source — you clone the repository or scaffold it with the Gatsby CLI and run it with npm commands. The only external cost is Contentful itself, which offers its own free tier for hosting your content space.
Do I need a Contentful account to use it?
Yes. The blog pulls all of its posts from a Contentful space, so you need a space ID and access tokens for the Contentful Management and Delivery APIs. The npm run setup command walks through generating the configuration.
How do I add my own posts?
You add posts through the Contentful web interface using the imported content model. When a build runs, the Delivery API fetches the published entries and Gatsby generates the corresponding blog pages and images.
What does the build output look like?
npm run build produces a static site in a ./public directory containing the generated HTML, JavaScript, and optimized images. That folder can be uploaded to any static hosting service, with the README specifically mentioning Travis CI and Netlify for automated deployments.
