Eleventy Starter Boilerplate is a production-ready, SEO-friendly static site generator starter kit for creating a blog with Eleventy, Tailwind CSS, and an optional Netlify CMS integration.
What is Eleventy Starter Boilerplate?
Eleventy Starter Boilerplate is a starter project from CreativeDesignsGuru that produces a complete blog with a minimalist theme. It runs on Node.js and npm, uses Eleventy as the static site generator, and outputs a static _site folder ready for deployment to any hosting service. The template includes EJS templating, Tailwind CSS styling, Webpack bundling, and an optional Netlify CMS for content editing.
Key Features
- Eleventy static site generator — Uses 11ty to generate a fast static blog with no runtime JavaScript framework.
- Tailwind CSS with PurgeCSS — Styling is written in Tailwind CSS and processed by PostCSS; PurgeCSS removes unused CSS in production builds.
- Image optimization — Lazy loads images with lazysizes and compresses them with Imagemin via Webpack.
- Syntax highlighting — Code blocks in blog posts are highlighted with Prism.js.
- SEO and structured data — Includes SEO metadata, Open Graph tags, JSON-LD structured data, sitemap.xml, and a 404 page.
- Minification and cache busting — HTML is minified with HTMLMinifier, CSS with cssnano, and asset filenames are cache-busted.
- Live reload and module bundling — Webpack bundles assets and provides live reload during development; ESLint and Prettier are configured for code quality.
- Pagination and blog theme — Includes pagination for blog listings and a free minimalist blog theme out of the box.
Who is it for?
- Bloggers and developers who want a lightweight, SEO-optimized static blog without learning a full JavaScript framework.
- Jamstack enthusiasts who want a starter with modern tooling (Webpack, PostCSS, Tailwind) and easy Netlify deployment.
- Agencies building client blogs who need a minimal base to customize (logo, favicon, site config, layouts) and can extend with premium Eleventy themes from CreativeDesignsGuru.
What can you do with it?
- Create a personal blog: clone the repository, edit
src/_data/site.json, and write Markdown posts insrc/poststo publish a static blog. - Deploy to Netlify with CMS: use the Netlify Deploy button to set up the project with Netlify CMS for non-technical content editing.
- Customize the design: replace the logo and favicon, edit layouts in
src/_includes/layouts, and restyle with Tailwind CSS insrc/assets/styles/main.css. - Extend with premium themes: upgrade to one of the premium Eleventy themes (Blue Dark, Blue Eclatant, Blue Modern, Blue Minimalist) from CreativeDesignsGuru.
How does Eleventy Starter Boilerplate work?
Clone the repository with git clone --depth=1, install dependencies with npm install, then run npm run dev for local development with live reload. For production, npm run build generates minified HTML and CSS into the _site folder, and npm run serve previews the production build locally. The project separates static files in public/ and source files in src/, with layouts, data, and pages in dedicated folders.
FAQ
Is Eleventy Starter Boilerplate free?
Yes, the boilerplate is licensed under the MIT License, so it is free to use and modify for personal or commercial projects.
What do I need to run it?
You need Node.js and npm installed on your machine. The project uses no other global dependencies.
Does it include Netlify CMS?
Netlify CMS is included as an optional integration. You can use the Netlify Deploy button to set it up, or remove the Netlify-specific files if you don't need it.
What hosting can I deploy to?
Any static hosting service works, since the build output is a static _site folder. The repository includes a one-click Netlify deploy button for convenience.
