Smol 11ty Starter

Smol 11ty Starter is a minimal Eleventy boilerplate that gives you a nearly opinionless starting point for building a straightforward multi-page static site.

What is Smol 11ty Starter?

Smol 11ty Starter is an extremely minimal Eleventy starter project created by 5t3ph (Stephanie Eckles). It takes a blank Eleventy scaffold and provides a tiny src directory structure with a global data file, so you can immediately add Markdown or any other templating files to create pages. The output is a static HTML site ready to deploy anywhere. The project is distributed as a GitHub template, which means you can generate your own repository with one click.

Key Features

• Minimal footprint — The starter contains only a few files: src/_data/meta.js for site metadata, index.md for the home page, and src/pages for additional content. There are no build tools beyond Eleventy itself.
• Nearly opinionless structure — You are free to use Markdown, Nunjucks, Liquid, or any other templating language supported by Eleventy inside src/pages, so the starter does not lock you into a specific syntax.
• Hot-reload development server — Running npm start launches Eleventy in serve mode with BrowserSync, giving you live reload on localhost while you edit.
• Simple production build — npm run build creates a minified, production-ready static site in the default generated output directory.
• Easy GitHub template workflow — The "Generate a repo from this template" link instantly copies the project into your own new GitHub repository once you are signed in.
• Extensible for Sass — The author shows how to swap plain CSS for a Sass pipeline, including minification and autoprefixing, by copying configuration and scripts from the related 11ty-sass-skeleton.
• Integrated learning resources — The README links to the 11ty Rocks site, a video overview, written and video tutorials, and an optional plugin for automatically generated social media images.

Who is it for?

• Developers new to Eleventy — If you want to learn Eleventy without configuration overhead, this starter gives you a minimal, working base you can inspect and modify line by line.
• Developers building a simple multi-page site — For a small marketing page, documentation site, or landing page, the starter provides a clean folder structure and global data file for quickly publishing static pages.
• Developers who want full control — Because the starter is so bare, you can add your own CSS framework, templating language, or build tools without having to delete or override pre-existing opinions.

What can you do with it?

• Marketers or freelancers: Publish a lightweight multi-page company or product site with a few Markdown files, then deploy the generated static files anywhere.
• Eleventy learners: Follow the linked 14-minute video overview or the written "first site" tutorial to build your first page, then inspect the minimal config to understand how Eleventy works.
• Feature testers: Quickly prototype a new layout or idea in src/pages using any template language, with instant feedback via the hot-reloading server.

How does it work?

1. Click "Generate a repo from this template" (or clone the repo manually) to copy the project into your own GitHub repository.
2. Run npm install to install Eleventy, then npm start to serve the site locally with hot-reload.
3. Edit src/_data/meta.js to set your site metadata, modify index.md for the home page, and add content files inside src/pages to build out your site.
4. Run npm run build to produce a production build of the static site.

FAQ

Does this starter require any frameworks or CSS tools?

No. Smol 11ty Starter works with just Eleventy and plain HTML/CSS/JS. You can freely add Tailwind, Sass, or any other tool yourself, but none are pre-installed.

What template languages can I use for pages?

Eleventy supports Markdown, HTML, Nunjucks, Liquid, and many others. Since this starter ships with index.md, Markdown is the default, but within src/pages you can use whichever Eleventy-supported template language you prefer.

Is the starter free to use?

Yes, it is an open-source project on GitHub under the 5t3ph account. You can generate, clone, and modify it freely for personal or commercial projects.

How do I deploy the built site?

After running npm run build, Eleventy outputs a static site directory. You can upload that directory to any static hosting provider, including Netlify, Vercel, or GitHub Pages.