The Plain Gatsby

The Plain Gatsby is a minimalist Gatsby starter that builds a personal blog from markdown posts and a simple about page.

What is The Plain Gatsby?

The Plain Gatsby is a Gatsby starter created by wangonya, designed to produce a clean, minimalist personal blog. It takes markdown files with title and date frontmatter as blog post inputs and generates a static site as output. Built on Gatsby, the React-based static site generator, it includes a pre-configured about page and a live demo hosted on Netlify.

Key Features

• Markdown blog posts — Add posts as markdown files in src/pages/blog/, each requiring title and date in frontmatter; example posts are included.
• Editable about page — The about.md file in src/pages/ can be edited directly, and changes appear in the browser in real time during development.
• Gatsby CLI scaffolding — Start a new site by running gatsby new my-blog https://github.com/wangonya/the-plain-gatsby.
• Local development server — Run gatsby develop to serve the site at http://localhost:8000 with live reload.
• GraphiQL data explorer — Query site data via the included GraphQL playground at http://localhost:8000/___graphql.
• Netlify demo — The starter includes a live demo at https://the-plain-gatsby.netlify.com/.

Who is it for?

• Bloggers — Publish a no-frills, content-focused blog without configuring a complex theme.
• Writers who prefer markdown — Draft posts as markdown files and have them rendered automatically with frontmatter for titles and dates.
• Developers learning Gatsby — Use the starter as a minimal base to understand how Gatsby structures pages, markdown sourcing, and GraphQL queries.

What can you do with it?

• Publish a blog — Drop markdown files into src/pages/blog/ and they immediately appear as blog posts.
• Customize site metadata — Edit gatsby.config.js to update the site title and other configuration.
• Theme the design — Because it's a minimalist starter, you have a small codebase to restyle entirely as your own.
• Deploy to hosting — Use the Netlify demo as a reference for a static deployment.

How does it work?

1. Create a new Gatsby site using the CLI command with the starter's GitHub URL.
2. Run gatsby develop to start a local server at http://localhost:8000.
3. Edit src/pages/about.md or add markdown posts to src/pages/blog/; the browser updates in real time.

FAQ

How do I add a new blog post?

Create a new markdown file in src/pages/blog/ with title and date in the frontmatter, then write your content below it. The starter includes example posts to copy the structure.

How do I update the site metadata?

Open gatsby.config.js and edit the site metadata fields, such as the site title. Save the file and the development server will reflect the changes.

Does The Plain Gatsby include a live demo?

Yes, a demo is deployed on Netlify at https://the-plain-gatsby.netlify.com/.

What is the GraphiQL interface for?

At http://localhost:8000/___graphql you can experiment with GraphQL queries against your site's data, which helps understand how Gatsby sources and exposes content.

Is this starter inspired by another project?

It is inspired by Heiswayi Nrird's the-plain starter for Hugo, but rebuilt specifically for Gatsby.