Medium Export is an Eleventy-powered JAMstack starter that turns any Medium RSS feed into a static site, deployable to Netlify in one click.
What is Medium Export?
Medium Export is a demo project by Phil Hawksworth that shows how easy it is to generate a site from an RSS feed, specifically a Medium RSS feed. It takes a Medium RSS feed URL as input and, at build time, generates a static website from that feed. The template runs on Netlify with continuous deployment and uses Eleventy (11ty) as the static site generator. The repository is named philhawksworth/medium-export and is available on GitHub.
Key Features
- One-click Netlify deployment — The Deploy to Netlify button clones the repository into your GitHub account, asks for a feed URL, then creates a new Netlify site linked to that repo.
- Build-time feed ingestion — You provide a Medium RSS feed URL during setup, and the site pulls that feed every time the site builds, not at page load.
- Eleventy static site generation — The site is built with Eleventy (11ty), which keeps prerequisites minimal: Node and npm or Yarn.
- Continuous deployment — Once linked, Netlify automatically rebuilds and redeploys the site whenever you push changes to the GitHub repository.
- Local development commands — The repo includes a standard workflow: yarn installs dependencies, yarn start generates and serves the site with live reload, and yarn run build produces a production build.
- Example Medium feeds — The README lists several ready-to-use feeds, including https://medium.com/feed/netlify, https://medium.com/feed/@philhawksworth, and https://m.signalvnoise.com/feed.
Who is it for?
- JAMstack developers — A working reference for building a site that consumes an RSS feed at build time with Eleventy and deploys through Netlify.
- Medium writers and publishers — An automated way to turn a Medium publication or profile feed into a standalone static site without copying posts manually.
- Netlify users — A quick-start template that demonstrates the Deploy to Netlify button and the continuous deployment workflow.
What can you do with Medium Export?
- Create a personal blog from your Medium feed — Point the template at your own Medium RSS feed (for example, https://medium.com/feed/@yourusername) and get a static site of your posts.
- Showcase a publication's articles — Use a publication feed like https://medium.com/feed/netlify or https://m.signalvnoise.com/feed to build a site for an entire Medium publication.
- Prototype an RSS-driven JAMstack site — Use the template as a starting point for any project that imports content from an RSS feed at build time.
How does Medium Export work?
Clicking the Deploy to Netlify button clones the repository into your GitHub account, prompts you to supply a Medium RSS feed URL, then builds and deploys the site within about a minute. For local development, you clone the repo, run yarn to install dependencies, and run yarn start to generate and serve the site while watching for changes. The feed is ingested during the build step.
FAQ
Is Medium Export free?
The template is open source and free to use. You'll need a Netlify account to deploy; Netlify offers a free tier, but the template page doesn't specify any limits.
What do I need to run it locally?
Only Node and npm or Yarn are required. After cloning, run yarn to install dependencies, then yarn start to serve a live-reloading local version of the site.
Can I use any Medium RSS feed?
Yes, any Medium RSS feed URL works as long as it's publicly accessible. Examples include profile feeds like https://medium.com/feed/@philhawksworth and publication feeds like https://medium.com/feed/netlify.
What happens when I click the Deploy to Netlify button?
Netlify clones the repository into your GitHub account, asks you for the feed URL, creates a new site linked to that repo, then builds and deploys it. The whole process takes under a minute.
