Finished Starter is a free, open-source Jekyll website starter kit that produces a launch-ready site with blog, events, e-commerce, search, and documentation on day one.
What is Finished Starter?
Finished Starter is a Jekyll-based boilerplate published on GitHub by lowerbarriers under the MIT license. It takes a fork of the repository and your content edits, and outputs a static website ready to host on GitHub Pages, Netlify, Vercel, or Cloudflare Pages. The kit includes pre-built collections for pages, posts, events, products, forms, people, and docs, plus Liquid components that generate real HTML for fast first load and SEO.
Key Features
- Instant site structure — Home, About, Privacy Policy, Terms, a blog with pagination/categories/tags/bylines, event listings for current and past events, and an e-commerce product catalog with cart via Snipcart.
- Search that works — a baked-in single-page search application with title boosts, highlighted excerpts, and History API integration, all without third-party services.
- Content management — Forestry.io static-site CMS configuration is included, so editors can manage Markdown content without touching code.
- Performance and PWA — a service worker makes the site offline-capable and installable; images support lazy-loading, async scripts, and WebP/AVIF generation via scripts; the original codebase reports four 100s in Lighthouse.
- Design tokens and utility CSS — JSON design tokens compatible with style-dictionary populate CSS custom properties, with utility classes like
.font-style--italicand.background-color--main-darkthat require no Sass preprocessor. - Accessibility and privacy — skip links, reduced-motion and dark-mode styles, no-JavaScript fallbacks, DNT-aware embeds, and a cookie-consent footer for GDPR/CCPA compliance.
- Docs and style guide — the site ships with a full documentation section covering design, components, UX, and a style guide, plus generic legal pages and humans.txt.
- Deployment flexibility — one-click buttons for Netlify and Vercel, and step-by-step instructions for Cloudflare Pages using the
gh-pagesbranch and Jekyll build commands.
Who is it for?
- Independent developers and freelancers who need to spin up a client site quickly without reinventing blog, event, forms, and e-commerce plumbing.
- Small businesses and nonprofits that want a free, low-maintenance website with an online store, search, and a manageable CMS through Forestry.
- Teams that need a project documentation site with a built-in design system, style guide, and test coverage definitions.
What can you do with Finished Starter?
- Launch a blog and event calendar: use the included post and event collections to publish dated content, with feeds (RSS and JSONFeed), sitemaps, and social meta tags already configured.
- Sell products with Snipcart: add products as a Jekyll collection, and the kit provides cart integration, a fetcher JSON file, and performance/privacy optimizations.
- Build a searchable corporate site: combine pages, forms (formsubmit.co and Mailchimp examples), and the SPA search to create a content-rich site without JavaScript frameworks.
How does Finished Starter work?
Installation begins by forking the repository and renaming it, typically to a GitHub Pages URL. For local development, run bundle install and npm install, then serve with bundle exec jekyll serve --config _config.yml,_config.localdev.yml. Customization starts with editing _config.yml, replacing placeholder images in assets/images/required/, and updating design tokens in _data/design-tokens/; optional .scripts/images.sh and .scripts/pre-commit.sh handle image optimization and CSS/JS minification.
Pros and cons
- Pros: completely free and open source; ships with substantial default content and docs; zero front-end dependencies; one-click deploys to Netlify and Vercel.
- Cons: no Internet Explorer support by design; the service worker cache can require manual clearing during development via the Application tab in devtools.
Pricing
Finished Starter is free and open source under the MIT license, with no paid tiers. You pay only for third-party services you choose to use, such as Snipcart or Forestry.
FAQ
Is Finished Starter really free?
Yes. The entire codebase is MIT-licensed and dependency-free, and it includes generic content, docs, and configuration for services that each have their own free tiers (GitHub Pages, Netlify, Forestry, and Snipcart).
Does Finished Starter include an online store?
It includes Snipcart integration, which adds a cart and checkout to your products. Snipcart is a third-party service with its own pricing; the kit includes a fetcher JSON file and performance optimizations for it.
What CMS does Finished Starter use?
It comes configured for Forestry.io, a Git-based CMS for static sites. You can manage content in Markdown files through Forestry's interface, and the repository includes the necessary configuration files.
Does Finished Starter support Cloudflare Pages?
Yes, there is a demo at finished-starter.pages.dev. The README gives explicit steps: fork the repo, connect to Cloudflare Pages, set the production branch to gh-pages, and build with jekyll build --config _config.yml,_config.localdev.yml.
