Eleventy

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Eleventy (abbreviated 11ty) is an open source JavaScript based static site generator that allows the user to select their own preferred template engine and theme, which in practice can and does enable use of microformats2.

Eleventy is not a JavaScript framework and does not come with a preinstalled theme or configuration although there are many examples of starter projects.

Like other static site generators the learning curve for Eleventy assumes prior experience of writing HTML.

• 11ty has a robust ecosystem documented on the Eleventy Bundle which has an active Discord
• github.com/11ty/eleventy

11tyCMS is an offline app for publishing to an Eleventy site that is currently in beta. 2025-04-14 Introducing: 11tyCMS

11tyCMS is a local Electron application that acts as a CMS to manage your 11ty website. There are NO servers, no accounts, no subscriptions or payments to worry about. Just you, your site and your inspiration.

Getting Started

There are many starter projects to help you quickly get an 11ty site going.

• https://www.11ty.dev/docs/starter/ A list of quick starter projects
• https://11ndieweb.netlify.app/ "An 11ty starter site for the IndieWeb" for use with Netlify (Source on GitHub)
• https://hylia.website/ as announced Jun 30, 2019
• calendity: Starter for an event bulletin board with iCal support

Building Blocks

see also other static site generators for basic principles

• Max Böck has published articles about 11ty:
  • Static Indieweb pt1: Syndicating Content about POSSE to Twitter
  • Static Indieweb pt2: Using Webmentions about integrating it with webmention.io
• Sia Karamalegos published An In-Depth Tutorial of Webmentions + Eleventy
• Luke Bonaccorsi has released a plugin integration for Webmention.io: 11ty Plugin Webmentions
• Lewis Dale has written a post on how they used Eleventy and Netlify to use their personal website as a Mastodon account: Be Friends with my Blog
  • Lewis has also released an Eleventy plugin that turns any Eleventy site into a discoverable ActivityPub user: 11ty ActivityPub
• 11ty Activity Feed - a plugin that creates a centralised RSS feed of social content (YouTube, Mastodon, Twitter, etc.) that can be followed in a reader

IndieWeb Examples

IndieWeb community members using Eleventy on their own primary sites:

• Zach Leatherman - creator of Eleventy, uses it to power his personal site at https://www.zachleat.com (selfdogfood), which he uses in part to own his social media content.

Other independents that are using it on their primary self-identifying site:

• Paul Robert Lloyd — supports microformats2 on articles, notes, photos, bookmarks with h-entry etc. New posts are published to GitHub using IndieKit (or via a manual commit), which triggers a build on Netlify.
• Phil Hawksworth
• Max Böck
• Cassie Evans
• Ru Singh ( Ru Singh)
• Chris Burnell ( Chris Burnell)
• ttntm ( ttntm)
• David Mead ( David Mead)
• ciccarello.me ( Anthony Ciccarello)
• boehs.org ( Evan Boehs)
• Hans Gerwitz
• benji.dog ( benji)
• Parts of KVibber.com ( Kelson Vibber)
• Dr. Matt Lee is working on a tool to get WordPress to feed 11ty as a CMS for static sites
• Add yourself here… (see this for more details)

Rebrand

In March 2026, Font Awesome announced a Kickstarter for Build Awesome, an 11ty rebrand. After a few days, despite hitting the funding goal, the kickstarter was paused.

Commentary:

• 2026-03-17 John Lampard: Font Awesome cans renaming plans for Eleventy static site generator
• 2026-03-11 Nathan Upchurch: Eleventy Becomes, Sigh, Build Awesome
• 2026-03-06 Brennan Kenneth Brown: Build Awesome's Kickstarter is Cancelled
• 2026-030-4 Juha-Matti Santala: Au revoir, Eleventy
• 2026-03-04 Evan Sheehan: Eleventy is Now Build Awesome?
• 2026-03-04 Brennan Kenneth Brown: The End of Eleventy

See Also

• static site generator
• Jekyll
• https://11ty.rocks/ Site with lots of great 11ty resources by Stephanie Eckles (@5t3ph)
• 11ty has an active Discord which provides resources and help from other users.
• Make Eleventy the next thing you learn: Useful article on getting started with 11ty with a long further reading list
• Learn Eleventy From Scratch by Andy Bell (now freely available; originally a paid course)
  • "In this Eleventy course, we go from a completely empty directory to a full-blown marketing site for a design agency, and along the way, we dive really deep into Eleventy and front-end development best practices."
  • "It’s not just a course about Eleventy, either. We’re learning how to build a fast, lightweight website that’s progressively enhanced with the user at the forefront. You’re going to learn some solid HTML, CSS and accessibility best practices just by completing this course."
• Your blog doesn’t need a JavaScript framework "Why I choose Eleventy over Gatsby for my new website"
• The tech behind EG: Example Eleventy blog and post about the setup: 2021-06-01
• Building a feed reader in Eleventy: https://www.twitch.tv/collections/G7YXMEt6hhYCyw
• Letting Eleventy Schedule its Own Builds uses Netlify functions to build scheduled posts
• 11ty IndieWeb Avatar Service
• Flexibility is a big reason to consider using it: https://ryanccn.dev/posts/why-eleventy/
• The Next Phase of Eleventy: Return of the Side Project
• Search, Webmentions and microformats