gatsby-starter-morning-dew is a Gatsby starter and theme for building lightning-fast blogs and websites, created by front-end engineer Maxence Poutord. It runs on Gatsby 3 and React 16, takes content written in Markdown or MDX as input, and outputs a static site optimized for SEO with dark mode, PWA support, and i18n.
What is gatsby-starter-morning-dew?
gatsby-starter-morning-dew is a full-featured Gatsby starter that can also be installed as a Gatsby theme. It provides a pre-configured blog structure with pages for the blog home, a sample about page, and installation instructions, all styled with styled-components v5. The project is maintained by Maxence Poutord and is the foundation for his personal blog at maxpou.fr.
Key Features
- Gatsby 3 + React 16 — Built on Gatsby 3 and React 16, generating static sites with high performance and a perfect Lighthouse score as shown in the project's screenshot.
- Markdown and MDX content — Write posts and pages in Markdown or MDX, with built-in code syntax highlighting.
- i18n support — Multilang support for blog posts; use the defaultLang config to show flag icons for non-default languages.
- Dark mode — Toggle between light and dark themes, implemented with styled-components v5.
- PWA ready — Offline support and web app manifest integration for installable websites.
- Fully configurable — All site settings live in data/siteConfig.js, including siteTitle, author, social links, postsPerPage, theme colors, and header/footer navigation.
- Disqus integration — Add comments to blog posts by setting the disqusShortname in siteConfig.
- Social preview images — Generate post preview images for Twitter, Facebook, and other platforms with the npm run generatePostPreviewImages command.
- Developer tools — Includes ESLint and Prettier configuration, plus Travis CI support for continuous integration.
Who is it for?
- Bloggers and developers — Start a personal blog or company blog quickly without configuring a Gatsby site from scratch, using Markdown or MDX for content.
- Front-end developers — Use it as a Gatsby theme to mount a blog inside an existing Gatsby project, customizing the theme options via gatsby-config.js.
- Open-source enthusiasts — Deploy to GitHub Pages or Netlify using the included Travis CI configuration and the one-click Deploy to Netlify button.
What can you do with it?
- Write a multilingual blog — Set defaultLang and write posts in multiple languages; flag icons automatically appear for non-default languages.
- Generate a PWA blog — With offline support and manifest configuration, visitors can install your blog as a desktop or mobile app.
- Customize the look and feel — Edit data/siteConfig.js to change colors, site title, header links, footer links, and posts per page without touching components.
- Add comments — Plug in Disqus by setting your shortname; comments appear on each post.
How does it work?
Install it with Gatsby CLI using gatsby new gatsby-blog https://github.com/maxpou/gatsby-starter-morning-dew, then run npm run dev to develop locally. Alternatively, add it as a theme by installing the npm package and adding it to the plugins array in gatsby-config.js. The theme requires a placeholder image at content/images/baymax.png due to a theme limitation; it is not displayed on the site.
FAQ
Is gatsby-starter-morning-dew free?
Yes, it is an open-source project on GitHub, free to use and modify.
What content formats are supported?
Posts and pages can be written in Markdown or MDX. MDX allows you to embed React components directly in your content.
Does it support multiple languages?
Yes, it has built-in i18n support for blog posts. Set the defaultLang in siteConfig and write posts in any language; flag icons indicate non-default languages.
Can I use it as a theme?
Yes, it can be installed as a Gatsby theme. After installing, add it to the plugins array in your gatsby-config.js and configure it through the options object.
How do I generate social preview images?
Run npm run generatePostPreviewImages (after starting the dev server) to create post preview images for Twitter, Facebook, and other platforms.
