Open Source · Built in Public

A Personal Tool for Building Websites Fast.

Ink is an open-source site scaffolding tool I'm building in public. It turns Markdown files into fast, production-ready websites with one command. No database. No lock-in. Powered by Eleventy v3.

Get Started GitHub

$ npx inksite init my-site # Scaffolding project into ./my-site # ✓ Created content directories # ✓ Installed design tokens # ✓ Site ready $ cd my-site && npx inksite add contact-form # ✓ Component installed $ npm run dev # ✓ Server running at http://localhost:8080

v1.0

Desktop App

A desktop app with a visual editor, live preview, media management, and one-click GitHub Pages publishing.

Download for Windows

v1.0.0

The installer is not code-signed yet, so Windows SmartScreen may show a warning — click "More info" then "Run anyway" to proceed. Requires Node.js 18+.

What It Does

Markdown-Native

Content lives in plain .md files with YAML frontmatter. Edit with any text editor, version with Git, sync with Obsidian.

Lightning Builds

Eleventy v3 compiles your entire site to static HTML in milliseconds. No client-side JavaScript required.

12 Components

Install pre-built components with one command — contact forms, pricing tables, image galleries, and more.

Design Tokens

One CSS file controls your entire brand. Change colors, typography, and spacing from a single source of truth.

8 Content Types

Blog, docs, team, services, portfolio, FAQ, features, and service areas — all built in and ready to use.

Deploy Anywhere

Static HTML output means any CDN works. Cloudflare Pages, Netlify, Vercel, GitHub Pages — take your pick.

See All Features

How It Works

Scaffold

Run npx inksite init to generate a complete project with content types, design tokens, layouts, and a dev server. You get a working site in under a minute.

Write

Add content in Markdown. Each file is a page. Frontmatter handles metadata. Open the content folder in Obsidian for a rich editing experience.

Deploy

Run npm run build to generate static HTML, then push to any hosting provider. No servers, no databases, no vendor lock-in.

See How Simple It Is

---
title: "Redesigning Our Dashboard"
slug: "redesigning-dashboard"
date: 2026-02-24
author: "Jane Chen"
excerpt: "How we rebuilt the UI from scratch."
featured_image: "/assets/img/dashboard.jpg"
published: true
---

## The Problem

Our old dashboard loaded in **4.2 seconds**.
Users were leaving before it rendered.

## The Solution

We moved to a component-based architecture
with lazy loading and edge caching.

- Reduced bundle size by 60%
- Time to interactive under 800ms
- User retention up 35%

/* tokens.css — your entire brand in one file */

:root {
  /* Colors */
  --color-primary: #2563eb;
  --color-secondary: #7c3aed;
  --color-accent: #06b6d4;

  /* Typography */
  --font-body: 'Inter', system-ui, sans-serif;
  --font-heading: 'Cal Sans', var(--font-body);
  --step-0: clamp(1rem, 0.5vw + 0.9rem, 1.125rem);

  /* Spacing */
  --space-sm: clamp(0.75rem, 1vw, 1rem);
  --space-md: clamp(1.5rem, 3vw, 2rem);
  --space-lg: clamp(2rem, 5vw, 4rem);

  /* Shadows */
  --shadow-sm: 0 1px 2px rgba(0,0,0,.05);
  --shadow-md: 0 4px 12px rgba(0,0,0,.1);
}

# Scaffold a new project
$ npx inksite init my-site

# Add a content type
$ npx inksite generate blog

# Install a component
$ npx inksite add pricing-table

# List available components
$ npx inksite list components

# Start the dev server
$ npx inksite serve

# Build for production
$ npx inksite build

0 Database Dependencies

0 Built-in Content Types

0 Installable Components

0% Static Output

Frequently Asked Questions

A personal tool I'm building in the open. It scaffolds complete websites from Markdown files using Eleventy v3 — content types, design tokens, CLI tools, all included.

I use it for my own projects, and the output is solid static HTML. That said, it's early and actively evolving. Check the GitHub releases for the current state.

No database, no admin panel, no server runtime, no JavaScript framework. Content lives in Markdown files, sites compile to static HTML, and you can host them anywhere for free.

Yes. The content directory is a valid Obsidian vault. Open it in Obsidian for live preview, backlinks, and graph view.

Yes, heavily. I use Claude by Anthropic for code generation, architecture decisions, debugging, and documentation. Every commit includes a Co-Authored-By tag. Read more on the About page.

Fully open source under the MIT License. Free to use, modify, and distribute.