Gatsby Starter Accessibility is a GitHub-hosted boilerplate that extends Gatsby's official default starter with built-in accessibility tools, giving React developers a preconfigured starting point for accessible static websites.
What is Gatsby Starter Accessibility?
Gatsby Starter Accessibility is a Gatsby starter project, originally forked from Gatsby's default starter, that adds accessibility awareness to the standard boilerplate. It runs on Gatsby, a React-based static site generator, and takes a project name and repository URL as input through the Gatsby CLI to output a complete site structure with source code in the src directory. The starter is authored by Benjamin Robertson and published on GitHub under the MIT license.
Key Features
- Default Gatsby configuration files — Includes
gatsby-config.js,gatsby-node.js,gatsby-browser.js, andgatsby-ssr.js, so all standard Gatsby configuration hooks are present. - Accessibility tools included — The starter's stated purpose is to ship with built-in accessibility tooling; the README doesn't enumerate the specific packages, so inspect
package.jsonfor the exact list. - Prettier formatting — Bundles a
.prettierrcfile to keep code style consistent across your project. - One-command scaffolding — Create a new site with
gatsby new my-default-starter https://github.com/benjamingrobertson/gatsby-starter-accessibility. - Live development server —
gatsby developstarts a hot-reloading server athttp://localhost:8000that updates in the browser as you edit files. - GraphiQL playground — The startup includes a second URL,
http://localhost:8000/___graphql, for experimenting with GraphQL queries against your site's data. - Netlify deployment — The README features a one-click deploy button that connects the repository to Netlify for automated publishing.
Who is it for?
- React developers building Gatsby sites — use it to skip the repetitive setup of config files and get a working base with accessibility features already integrated.
- Teams with accessibility requirements — use it as a compliance-friendly starting point where accessibility is part of the initial scaffold rather than an afterthought.
- Gatsby beginners — use it to learn the standard project layout described in the README (node_modules, src, gatsby-* files) while having accessibility considerations in place.
What can you do with it?
- Create an accessible site skeleton — run the CLI command, then edit
src/pages/index.jsto replace the default page with your own content. - Experiment with GraphQL data — open the GraphiQL tool at
localhost:8000/___graphqlto practice queries before wiring them into components. - Deploy to a static host — use the Netlify deploy button to publish the generated site with continuous deployment from the GitHub repository.
How does it work?
The README outlines a three-step workflow: first, run the Gatsby CLI command that clones the starter into a new directory; second, enter that directory and run gatsby develop to start the local server; third, open the project in your editor and modify src/pages/index.js, which the server picks up in real time.
FAQ
Is Gatsby Starter Accessibility free?
Yes, the starter is open source and released under the MIT license, so you can use it for personal and commercial projects without licensing fees.
What accessibility tools are included?
The README describes the starter as having built-in accessibility tools, but it does not list the individual packages. For the precise dependency list, check the package.json file in the GitHub repository.
Do I need Gatsby CLI to use this starter?
Yes, the quick start uses gatsby new, which requires the Gatsby command-line interface. This is the standard way to scaffold a new Gatsby project.
Can I modify the starter?
Yes, it's a standard Gatsby boilerplate. You can edit files in src/pages, change metadata and plugins in gatsby-config.js, and adjust formatting rules in .prettierrc.
