Hexo Theme Iris is a minimalist Hexo theme built for Chinese-language blogs, delivering a clean static-site layout through EJS templates and SCSS styling.
What is Hexo Theme Iris?
Hexo Theme Iris is an open-source theme for the Hexo static site generator, created by giuem. It takes your Hexo site's Markdown content and configuration and generates a complete static blog website with a minimalist layout aimed at Chinese readers. The theme requires the hexo-renderer-ejs plugin to compile its EJS templates, and it is styled with SCSS as indicated in the project's source tags.
The setup process is straightforward: you clone the repository into the themes/iris directory of your Hexo project, copy _config.example.yml to _config.yml for local configuration, and set the theme property to iris in the root configuration file. The theme integrates with standard Hexo content generators, and its author recommends several companion plugins to handle archiving, categorizing, tagging, and performance optimization.
Key Features
- Minimalist design — A clean, content-focused layout specifically intended for Chinese-language blogs, with no extraneous UI decoration.
- EJS templating — Built on Embedded JavaScript (EJS) templates; the required hexo-renderer-ejs plugin must be installed for pages to render.
- SCSS styling — Themes are written in SCSS, so maintainers can adjust variables and partials to customize the look before compilation.
- Simple configuration — Ships with a _config.example.yml file that you copy to _config.yml and edit to set blog-specific options.
- Standard Hexo plugin support — Works with the official generators for index, archive, category, and tag pages, which are listed as strongly recommended.
- Performance extras — The author recommends hexo-critical-css for inlining critical CSS and hexo-html-minifier for minifying HTML output to speed up page loads.
- Cross-origin attribute handling — The optional hexo-filter-crossorigin plugin appends crossorigin attributes to HTML elements where needed.
Who is it for?
- Chinese-language bloggers — Writers on Hexo who want an uncluttered, minimalist theme that suits Chinese typography and reading habits.
- Hexo developers — Users who prefer EJS-based themes and want to customize templates and SCSS styles directly inside a WordPress-free, static-site workflow.
- Performance-focused site owners — Site maintainers who combine the theme with its recommended critical-CSS and HTML-minifier plugins to reduce render-blocking resources.
What can you do with Hexo Theme Iris?
- Personal blog setup: Install the theme and use Hexo's standard
hexo new postworkflow to publish Chinese-language articles in Markdown, which are rendered into static HTML. - Custom branding: Edit the SCSS variables and EJS partials to change colors, fonts, and layout blocks to match a personal or project brand.
- Performance tuning: Add hexo-critical-css and hexo-html-minifier to inline above-the-fold styles and minify generated HTML, shrinking page size and improving Lighthouse-style metrics.
How does Hexo Theme Iris work?
The installation procedure is a three-step process: first, git clone the theme into the themes/iris folder inside your Hexo project. Second, copy the provided _config.example.yml to _config.yml and open it to configure the theme. Finally, set the theme property to iris in your Hexo root configuration file; posts written in Markdown are then compiled by Hexo into a static site using the theme's EJS and SCSS assets.
FAQ
Is Hexo Theme Iris free to use?
The theme is distributed publicly through a GitHub repository that can be cloned with git, and the README lists no pricing or commercial terms. It is therefore free to download and use, although the repository does not explicitly state a license in the provided content.
What plugins must I install for Hexo Theme Iris?
The only necessary plugin is hexo-renderer-ejs, which compiles the theme's EJS templates. The README also recommends installing hexo-generator-index, hexo-generator-archive, hexo-generator-category, and hexo-generator-tag for full index, archive, category, and tag pages.
Does Hexo Theme Iris support Chinese content?
Yes, the theme's stated purpose is to serve Chinese blogs, and its minimalist layout is designed with that audience in mind. The README does not document specific language-tooling features, but the theme is explicitly styled for Chinese-language reading.
How do I configure Hexo Theme Iris?
After cloning the theme to the themes/iris directory, copy _config.example.yml to _config.yml. Then edit that file to set your preferred options and ensure the theme property in the Hexo root _config.yml is set to iris.
Can I improve the theme's loading speed?
The author recommends two helper plugins: hexo-critical-css to inline critical CSS and hexo-html-minifier to minify HTML output. Adding these along with hexo-filter-crossorigin will reduce file sizes and add proper cross-origin attributes.
