announcement open-source launch

Introducing Ink: The Markdown-Native CMS

Meet Ink, an open-source CMS built on Eleventy v3 that puts Markdown first.

2 min read Ink Team

We're excited to introduce Ink, an open-source, Markdown-native CMS built on Eleventy v3. Ink is designed for developers, freelancers, and agencies who want to build fast, modern websites without wrestling with bloated platforms or proprietary lock-in.

Why We Built Ink

We love building websites. What we don't love is the overhead that comes with most CMS platforms: complex admin panels, sluggish page loads, database management, plugin conflicts, and upgrade nightmares. We wanted something simpler. Something that respects the way developers actually work -- with text files, version control, and the command line.

Markdown has been the preferred writing format for developers for years. It's clean, portable, and readable. So we asked ourselves: what if we built an entire CMS around it?

What Ink Gives You

Ink ships as a CLI tool that scaffolds a complete, production-ready website in seconds. Here's what's included out of the box:

  • 8 content types -- Blog posts, pages, projects, team members, FAQs, testimonials, services, and employees. Each with its own frontmatter schema and archive page.
  • 12 components -- Hero sections, feature grids, CTAs, testimonial carousels, pricing tables, and more. All built with semantic HTML and scoped CSS.
  • Design tokens -- A single CSS file with custom properties for colors, typography, spacing, and layout. Change your entire theme by editing a handful of variables.
  • CLI scaffolding -- Run npx ink init and answer a few prompts. Your site is ready to edit and deploy in under a minute.
  • SEO and feeds -- Every page gets proper meta tags, Open Graph data, and structured markup. RSS and sitemap are generated automatically.
  • Responsive design -- Mobile-first layouts that work across devices without any extra configuration.

Who It's For

Ink is built for people who want to ship sites, not manage infrastructure:

  • Solo developers building personal sites, portfolios, or side projects.
  • Freelancers delivering client sites that are easy to maintain and cheap to host.
  • Agencies looking for a lightweight starting point they can customize per client.

If you're comfortable with a terminal and a text editor, you'll feel right at home.

What's Next

This is just the beginning. We're working on a desktop app with a visual editor, live preview, one-click Git publishing, and media management. But the core of Ink will always be Markdown files and static output.

Try It Today

Getting started takes one command:

npx ink init my-site

Check out the documentation to learn more, browse the features to see what's included, or jump straight into the getting started guide.

Ink is MIT licensed and open source. We'd love for you to try it, break it, and help us make it better.