Gatsby Starter Lightbox

Gatsby Starter Lightbox is a boilerplate Gatsby starter that adds a keyboard-accessible image lightbox powered by gatsby-images to the default Gatsby starter, making it ready for image-heavy sites and one-click Netlify deployment.

What is Gatsby Starter Lightbox?

Gatsby Starter Lightbox is a starter template for the Gatsby static site generator that pre-configures a custom lightbox component for displaying images. It takes a fresh Gatsby project created with the Gatsby CLI and produces a site where visitors can open images in a lightbox with on-screen controls and keyboard shortcuts. The starter is published by GitHub user 416serg and can be installed directly with gatsby new, using the repository URL as the source. It builds on the default Gatsby starter, so the project structure follows standard Gatsby conventions.

Key Features

• Custom lightbox component — Uses gatsby-images to render images responsively inside an overlay lightbox viewer.
• On-screen controls — Provides visible buttons for closing the lightbox and navigating between images, so mouse users have full control.
• Keyboard events — Listens for the ESC key to close and left/right arrow keys to navigate, making the lightbox keyboard-accessible.
• Based on the default Gatsby starter — Inherits the familiar file structure and configuration from Gatsby's official default starter.
• Quick install via CLI — Install with gatsby new gatsby-lightbox-example https://github.com/416serg/gatsby-starter-lightbox, then run gatsby develop to start developing.
• One-click Netlify deployment — A Deploy to Netlify button links the repository directly to Netlify for instant deployment without extra setup.
• Live demo site — A working example is hosted at https://gatsby-lightbox.416serg.me so you can see the lightbox behavior before installing.

Who is it for?

• Photographers and visual artists — Build a portfolio site where clicking a thumbnail opens a full-size image in the lightbox, and viewers can use arrow keys to browse the gallery.
• Gatsby developers — Save time by starting with a photo-lightbox implementation already wired to gatsby-images, then customize the component to match the project.
• Content creators and bloggers — Add an image viewer to a blog or portfolio without writing lightbox JavaScript from scratch, then deploy to Netlify with the provided button.

What can you do with Gatsby Starter Lightbox?

• Portfolio galleries: Display a grid of images that open in the lightbox on click, with on-screen and keyboard controls for navigation.
• Blog image presentations: Embed lightbox-enabled images in posts and let readers inspect them at full size using the ESC and arrow keys.
• Rapid prototyping: Start a new Gatsby site in minutes and use the pre-built lightbox to demonstrate image-heavy interactions to clients or teammates.
• Netlify hosting: Deploy directly to Netlify with the one-click button to get a live site immediately after installation.