Easy Hexo is an open-source Chinese-language documentation project that provides a one-stop tutorial for building, theming, and customizing a Hexo static blog.
What is Easy Hexo?
Easy Hexo is a community-driven documentation repository (EasyHexo/Easy-Hexo on GitHub) that compiles the knowledge needed to build a website with Hexo into a single guide. It takes Markdown-written tutorials and configuration walkthroughs as its input and produces a browsable static documentation website via Yarn build scripts (yarn docs:dev for a local preview, yarn docs:build for output files). The project is authored by Easy Hexo and maintained primarily by ChungZH, with contributions from the community. It covers three explicit skill levels: setting up a Hexo blog, modifying existing Hexo themes, and creating a custom Hexo theme from scratch.
Key Features
- One-stop tutorials — The documentation chains together the full workflow: installing Hexo, getting a blog online, changing an existing theme, and writing your own theme.
- Free and open source — The content is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) license.
- Yarn-based local development — After cloning the repository, you run
yarn install, then yarn docs:dev to start a live local server or yarn docs:build to generate a static site.
- Community contribution path — The project explicitly invites contributions from people familiar with a Hexo theme, plugin, or advanced trick, requiring contributors to read CONTRIBUTING.md before participating.
- Active coordination channels — Development is tracked on a public GitHub projects board, and contributors coordinate through a QQ group (935778924).
- Sponsor and supporter network — The project receives funding via Open Collective backers and sponsors, and lists JetBrains as a supporter and CloudPool as the donor of the easyhexo.com domain.
- Multilingual presentation — The README is written in Chinese with English section headings, and the project title is presented in both languages.
Who is Easy Hexo for?
- Programmers who want to launch a Hexo blog and typically need theme configuration or customization guidance that the official Hexo docs do not cover.
- Students interested in coding or creative work who are looking for a step-by-step path to publish a personal blog and learn static site generation.
- Competitive programmers (OIers/ACMer) who want a reliable way to organize and publish their notes and solutions regularly.
- Contributors who already know a Hexo theme or plugin and want to share that knowledge with the community through the project's GitHub and QQ channel.
Use cases
- New bloggers: Follow the tutorials to install Hexo, choose a theme, and put a website online without paying for hosting.
- Theme tinkerers: Use the theme-modification chapters to adjust an existing Hexo theme's layout and styling to fit personal preferences.
- Theme developers: Reference the custom-theme guide to scaffold a brand-new Hexo theme and publish it.
- Documentation maintainers: Clone the repository to run the docs site locally and submit contributions back via pull requests.
How does Easy Hexo work?
The project is a self-contained docs source. You clone the repository from GitHub, install dependencies with yarn install, and then either run yarn docs:dev for a live preview or yarn docs:build to produce the final static files. Contribution follows the same path: read CONTRIBUTING.md, join the QQ group, and submit changes to the repository.
Pros and cons
- Pros: Completely free; legally reusable with attribution under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0; community-maintained; covers topics from basics to custom themes; has a clear contribution process.
- Cons: The documentation body is written in Chinese, which can be a barrier for non-Chinese readers; the strict CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license forbids commercial reuse and derivative works.
Pricing
The documentation and the Easy Hexo project itself are free to use. The README points out that running a blog may still have associated costs, such as purchasing a domain name.
Alternatives
- Hexo's official documentation, which covers the core framework but, as the project's preface notes, does not cover theme configuration or customization.
FAQ
Is Easy Hexo free?
Yes. The project is open source and the documentation is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0, which permits free reading and sharing with attribution. However, the license also means you cannot use the content commercially or create derivative works.
What does Easy Hexo teach?
Easy Hexo is a tutorial set that teaches you to build a blog with Hexo, modify an existing Hexo theme, and create your own Hexo theme. It also covers plugins and 'advanced tricks' contributed by the community.
Is Easy Hexo available in English?
The README and project interface include English section headings and a bilingual title, but the main documentation content is written in Chinese.
How can I contribute to Easy Hexo?
You can contribute by reading CONTRIBUTING.md first, then joining the QQ group 935778924 to coordinate. Contributions of theme guides, plugin walkthroughs, and other techniques are welcome.
How do I run the Easy Hexo docs locally?
Clone the repository from GitHub, run yarn install, then use yarn docs:dev to start a local preview server or yarn docs:build to generate a static site.
