Gatsby Contentful MD Starter is a Gatsby boilerplate that pairs Contentful as a headless CMS with Tailwind CSS, specifically built to render markdown content stored in Contentful and style it with Tailwind Typography.
What is the Gatsby Contentful MD Starter?
This starter is a starting point for a Gatsby website that uses Contentful for content management and Tailwind CSS for styling. It takes a Contentful space containing markdown-formatted entries and generates a static site via Gatsby's build process. The project is published on GitHub under the kgajera account and can be scaffolded with the Gatsby CLI. An npm script imports the starter's content types into your Contentful space, and three environment variables (CONTENTFUL_SPACE_ID, CONTENTFUL_ACCESS_TOKEN, CONTENTFUL_MANAGEMENT_TOKEN) connect the site to your space.
Key Features
- Contentful integration — connects to a Contentful space using three environment variables to fetch markdown content.
- Markdown rendering — renders markdown content from Contentful as styled HTML.
- Tailwind Typography — uses the Tailwind Typography plugin to style the rendered markdown, so prose elements get sensible typography without custom CSS.
- Content type import — includes an npm run contentful-import command that creates the required content types in your Contentful space.
- Gatsby development workflow — npm run develop starts the site at localhost:8000 with hot reloading.
- One-click deploy — a deploy button on the README links to Gatsby Cloud to build and host the starter directly from the GitHub repository.
Who is it for?
- Developers building content-driven sites — anyone who wants a Gatsby front-end backed by Contentful and styled with Tailwind can use this starter to skip the initial setup.
- Bloggers or publication teams — the markdown rendering and typography styling make it a fit for blogs that manage posts in Contentful.
- Gatsby users exploring Tailwind — the preconfigured Tailwind and Tailwind Typography setup demonstrates how to combine these tools.
What can you do with it?
- Create a blog — import the content types, write markdown posts in Contentful, and the starter renders them as a styled site.
- Prototype a marketing site — use Contentful to edit page content and the starter to present it with Tailwind-driven layout.
- Learn a headless CMS stack — follow the setup steps to see how Gatsby, Contentful, and Tailwind connect in practice.
How does it work?
The workflow follows a few steps: create a new site with the Gatsby CLI using the starter's GitHub URL, install dependencies, create a .env.development file with your Contentful credentials, run npm run contentful-import to set up content types, and then run npm run develop to view the site locally.
FAQ
What is the Gatsby Contentful MD Starter?
It is a Gatsby starter that uses Contentful as a CMS and Tailwind CSS for styling. It renders markdown content stored in Contentful and applies Tailwind Typography for the prose style.
How do I set up the environment variables?
Create a .env.development file in the project root and add CONTENTFUL_SPACE_ID and CONTENTFUL_ACCESS_TOKEN for the Contentful API, plus CONTENTFUL_MANAGEMENT_TOKEN for the content import script.
What does npm run contentful-import do?
It imports the starter's content types into your configured Contentful space, creating the models needed to store the markdown content that the site expects to fetch.
Can I deploy this starter somewhere?
Yes, the README includes a one-click deploy option for Gatsby Cloud, which builds the site directly from the GitHub repository after you connect your Contentful credentials.
Do I need a Contentful account?
Yes, the starter relies on Contentful as its content source, so you need a Contentful space and the associated API tokens to fetch content.
