Gatsby Starter Fresh is a GatsbyJS starter template for building a fast, mobile-friendly blog, based on the Fresh theme originally created by Artem Sheludko. It bundles blog infrastructure — Markdown posts, syntax highlighting, Disqus comments, a Formspree contact form, Google Analytics, and PWA support — into a single starting point that you customize by editing one configuration file.
What is Gatsby Starter Fresh?
Gatsby Starter Fresh is a starter blog skeleton built with GatsbyJS, a React-based static site generator. It takes site metadata from gatsby-config.js and Markdown posts from src/posts, then produces a static blog with an optional contact form, commenting, analytics, and progressive web app capabilities. The project was created by Mishal Shah from his own personal website and is inspired by the Fresh Jekyll theme.
Key Features
- Blazing fast loading — The site is compiled to static HTML with Gatsby, which pre-fetches resources for quick navigation.
- Markdown posts — Write new posts in
src/posts; each file becomes a page with code syntax highlighting built in. - Disqus comments — Add a
shortnameto thegatsby-plugin-disqusplugin and readers can comment on posts. - Formspree contact form — An in-built form wired to Formspree; just set your Formspree endpoint in the config.
- SEO tools — Supports custom meta descriptions, automatic sitemap generation, and Twitter card tags.
- Google Analytics — Drop in your
trackingIDand visits are tracked automatically. - PWA support — The starter includes a web app manifest and offline support, so it meets Progressive Web App criteria.
- Custom 404 page — A dressed-up error page is included instead of a browser default.
Who is it for?
- Independent bloggers — They can publish with Markdown and get a mobile-friendly site with comments and social icons without building infrastructure.
- Web developers — Developers can use the component-separated, fully commented code as a base for experimenting with Gatsby or for client projects that need a blog.
- Portfolio builders — Because the theme is inspired by a personal website, users can adapt the pages to show work samples plus a contact form.
What can you do with Gatsby Starter Fresh?
- Launch a personal blog — Configure your name, description, and social links in
gatsby-config.js, add Markdown files tosrc/posts, and you have a live blog with SEO metadata. - Add comments and contact forms — Enable Disqus for post discussions and connect a Formspree endpoint so visitors can email you without a backend.
- Track readership — Insert your Google Analytics tracking ID to get visitor reports on the static site.
How does Gatsby Starter Fresh work?
After scaffolding with Gatsby CLI, you start the development server with gatsby develop. Edit gatsby-config.js to set your site name, description, keywords, social usernames, Disqus shortname, and Google Analytics tracking ID. Drop Markdown files into src/posts, and they render as blog posts in real time. When ready, run a production build to generate the static site.
