Eleventy Documentation

Starter Projects

2026-09-08T19:41:17Z

Starter Projects

Official Starters

eleventy-base-blog
- Source code for eleventy-base-blog
🎈 Official Starter · How to build a blog web site with Eleventy.

Community Starters

Add your own starter project. Community contributions are shown in random order.

eleventy-excellent
- Source code for eleventy-excellent
Featured · Opinionated Eleventy starter based on the workflow suggested by Andy Bell's buildexcellentwebsit.es.
eleventy-libdoc
- Source code for eleventy-libdoc
Featured · An Eleventy starter project to craft slick and responsive documentation
Grease
- Source code for Grease
Featured · Grease is a website starter that makes building performant, accessible, aesthetic websites fast & frictionless. It uses 11ty, Lightning CSS, and Esbuild, and includes a lightweight, declarative CSS architecture that sets you up for success.
Once
- Source code for Once
Personal theme made with Eleventy and Bulma
microsite
- Source code for microsite
Opinionated micro front-end that sets common 11ty defaults. Great for creating landing pages.
11r
- Source code for 11r
A blog template and theme using 11ty, TailwindCSS, Rollup, Prism syntax highlighting, etc.
beginnersBase11ty
- Source code for beginnersBase11ty
belt and braces starter for a blog. Includes 11ty's image, rss & navigation plugins + tailwind & fan art!
11tyby
- Source code for 11tyby
11tyby tries to emulate the great DX of Gatsby, but with 11ty! It's setup with TypeScript, SASS, CSS Modules, Webpack, Preact and more. All optimised for performance.
1st Blog Template on 11ty with All-In Blogging Features
- Source code for 1st Blog Template on 11ty with All-In Blogging Features
Full featured BLOGGING template - supporting: hierarchical categories, images in post folder, searching inside blogs, deployment, etc...all built up incrementally from the ground!
eleventy-shortcomps
- Source code for eleventy-shortcomps
Starter project for static site by Adam Duncan, using Eleventy and shortcode components pattern.
Eleventy-Zones
A newcomer-oriented starter project for making Zonelets-style blogs with Eleventy.
11ty-notes
- Source code for 11ty-notes
11ty-notes is an Eleventy starter to manage your notes so you don't forget stuff
11ty landing page starter
- Source code for 11ty landing page starter
A simple landing page built with 11ty and Tailwind CSS.
11ty-midnight
- Source code for 11ty-midnight
Minimalist dark mode starter template for 11ty with support for jsfiddle embeds and prismjs syntax highlighting.
eleventy-bookmarklet
- Source code for eleventy-bookmarklet
11ty starter for a bookmarklet
Cuteblog11ty
- Source code for Cuteblog11ty
Cute blog for blogger with auto SEO.
Eleventy Card
- Source code for Eleventy Card
Eleventy starter project with card layout from DaisyUI
Eleventy Chirpy Blog Template
- Source code for Eleventy Chirpy Blog Template
11ty version of the popular Chirpy Jekyll blog template.
11ty-SASS
- Source code for 11ty-SASS
11ty blog starter template with SASS and Dark Mode
11ty Journal
- Source code for 11ty Journal
A blog template and theme using 11ty and bootstrap.
11ty-Contentful-Photo-Gallery
- Source code for 11ty-Contentful-Photo-Gallery
A Photo Gallery made using Contentful and 11ty, deployed via GitHub Actions and hosted on GitHub Pages.
huwindty 🌬️
- Source code for huwindty 🌬️
Windty template with a few upgrades. CMS, Markdown, responsive images among them. All documented.
roxo-eleventy
- Source code for roxo-eleventy
Roxo is an 11ty starter project for creative agencies, freelancers, graphic designers, photographers
zuix-web-starter
- Source code for zuix-web-starter
Mobile first and component based web starter template (PWA).
eleventy-i18n
- Source code for eleventy-i18n
Minimal starter for localized content, using Eleventy's own Internationalization (I18n) plugin
Fruits Express
- Source code for Fruits Express
Simple sample with Eleventy & TailwindCSS
YATAS
- Source code for YATAS
Yet Another Tailwind Apline Starter. Tailwind v2 compiled in JIT mode and Alpine v3.
Eleventy Solo Starter (.njk version)
- Source code for Eleventy Solo Starter (.njk version)
Eleventy starter with PostCSS, Tailwind CSS, Lazyload (“vanilla lazyload”), and build-time creation and processing of responsive images; Nunjucks templating, with alternate JavaScript-based (.11ty.js) version.
YAES
- Source code for YAES
Starter kit for your next eleventy(11ty) project using postcss, es6, snowpack, webpack.
Eleventy Markdown Prime
- Source code for Eleventy Markdown Prime
A minimalistic text-focused Eleventy theme
eleventy-wcag-reporter
- Source code for eleventy-wcag-reporter
A starter pack for creating WCAG conformance reports with Eleventy
11TA
- Source code for 11TA
11TA is a deeply customizable, full-featured, ready-to-publish blog/marketing template system built with 11ty, TailwindCSS, & Alpine.js
Brutalism
- Source code for Brutalism
blog with Tiny Brutalism CSS
11ty Feedback
- Source code for 11ty Feedback
An 11ty starter project for carrying out better feedback exchanges with coworkers, clients, and so on.
nonplain-11ty-starter
- Source code for nonplain-11ty-starter
Create an 11ty website out of nonplain files
11tyAI
- Source code for 11tyAI
A simple 11ty starter site. Includes navigation, SASS, Webpack, and more.
Text11ty
- Source code for Text11ty
Just a simple text to focus on creating blog article content or you can create a documentation page.
Simple Journal
- Source code for Simple Journal
A simple journal/photo log website built on top of 11ty.
11ty-hbs-webpack
- Source code for 11ty-hbs-webpack
Eleventy with Handlebars(support asynchronous helper) and Webpack boilerplate.
Neo-Brutalist
- Source code for Neo-Brutalist
blog with neobrutalism CSS
11ty-innovative-intro
- Source code for 11ty-innovative-intro
11ty Resume/CV powered by TailwindCSS with Light/Dark theme
eleventy-webpack
- Source code for eleventy-webpack
A barebone Eleventy and Webpack boilerplate 🎈
Snappy Lemon
- Source code for Snappy Lemon
Modern 11ty v3 starter with TailwindCSS v4, Alpine.js, CloudCannon CMS integration, Bookshop visual editing, Pagefind search, and accessibility-first design
Nulite
- Source code for Nulite
Nulite is a simple, elegant, minimalistic stater project for Eleventy to help you create a simple blog
journa11ty
- Source code for journa11ty
Simple blog or journal site built with Eleventy and Pico CSS
eleventy-agile-blog
- Source code for eleventy-agile-blog
A minimal blog template using Eleventy, this one implements a simple agile development workflow so you can get stuff done
11st-Starter-Kit
11ty, powered by Vite with Tailwind CSS and Alpine.js.
Eleventy Kickstart Blog
- Source code for Eleventy Kickstart Blog
Kickstart your website with this production-ready template using 11ty, the new vite, tailwindcss and daisyui.
Eleventy Skeleton
- Source code for Eleventy Skeleton
Barebones Eleventy. No dependencies or preprocessors.
Eleventy Tailwind Template
- Source code for Eleventy Tailwind Template
Starter template for building Eleventy static sites with Tailwind CSS automatically generating the corresponding styles and writing them to a static CSS file.
Supermaya
- Source code for Supermaya
Supermaya is an Eleventy starter kit designed to help you add rich features to a blog or website without the need for a complicated build process.
jet 🛩
- Source code for jet 🛩
It’s (j)ust (e)leventy and (t)ailwind … OK, and a few other things; it’s still really small though.
Ted2xmen
- Source code for Ted2xmen
A starting point with Bootstrap, 11ty, and Sanity.
Eleventy-AgilityCMS-Starter-Blog
- Source code for Eleventy-AgilityCMS-Starter-Blog
A starter blog using Eleventy and powered by Agility CMS with full page and module management. Uses TailwindCSS and Alpine.js.
Brook
Handcrafted, clean and minimalisitc 11ty Blog Theme
Purple: Eleventy + Stylus Starter Blog
- Source code for Purple: Eleventy + Stylus Starter Blog
A nice looking, simple blog theme built with Eleventy SSG and Stylus Preprocessor
Eleventy Webring
- Source code for Eleventy Webring
Eleventy-based webring creator for the 90s kids.
11ty-Collected-Notes
- Source code for 11ty-Collected-Notes
11ty + Collected Notes API
Elf
- Source code for Elf
Elf is a simple, magical starter kit using webpack, Babel and Sass.
Tai11s
- Source code for Tai11s
An Eleventy starter with Tailwind CSS and PurgeCSS
umbrella
- Source code for umbrella
11ty starter project with indieauth, micropub, and webmentions built in
Smix
- Source code for Smix
A standards-respecting starter kit for Eleventy. Go Indie. Uses PostCSS and esbuild.
Eleventree
- Source code for Eleventree
Link gallery for developers
Jam11ty
- Source code for Jam11ty
11ty Started Theme for Headless Ecommerce
11ty Research Guide
- Source code for 11ty Research Guide
A library guide (libguide) style template
1y
- Source code for 1y
A template project to build a short URL manager with Eleventy
Epic CSS
- Source code for Epic CSS
Built in utility-first, Sass UI library 11ty theme and Epic CSS. Starter blog loop, categories and subcategories, breadcrumbs and all-in-one SEO file.
Eleventy Filter Coffee Starter
- Source code for Eleventy Filter Coffee Starter
A simple Eleventy starter kit with css compiled with Gulp, image optimization with imagemin and asset hashing.
Long Reads
- Source code for Long Reads
A customizeable long reads instapaper style theme
Eleventy Plus Vite
- Source code for Eleventy Plus Vite
A clean and fast Eleventy Starter Project with Vite.
Clean Blog
- Source code for Clean Blog
Clean Blog by Start Boostrap
eleventastic
- Source code for eleventastic
A simple Eleventy Starter Kit, the Max Böck base for all new 11ty projects.
Spacebook
- Source code for Spacebook
Create fast and simple documentation to explain almost anything. Using Eleventy, Tailwind 2.0, Alpine.js, and Netlify CMS (optional).
Elevento
- Source code for Elevento
Elevento is a static links page deployed to github pages.
11ty-Serene
- Source code for 11ty-Serene
A minimal theme for a landing page and integrated blog. Built with 11ty and Sass.
11ty-starter
- Source code for 11ty-starter
Demonstration static site and blog using Eleventy as a build tool for all content, CSS, JavaScript, and images.
Electric Lime
- Source code for Electric Lime
Vibrant 11ty v3 starter with TailwindCSS v4, Alpine.js, Pagefind search, Shiki syntax highlighting, image optimization, and WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility
Monochrome11ty
- Source code for Monochrome11ty
Starter template for photo art and photographer portfolio built with eleventy 11ty
eleventy-blog-mnml
- Source code for eleventy-blog-mnml
A minimal blog template using eleventy
deventy
- Source code for deventy
A minimal 11ty starting point for building static websites with modern tools.
11ty-gallery
- Source code for 11ty-gallery
A simple little photogallery project. Crops, resizes and generates json from your images. Requires Graphicsmagic, ffmpeg and jq.
WP 11ty
- Source code for WP 11ty
A minimal example showing how to use the WordPress API to drive a static Eleventy frontend.
Blogs11ty Tina CMS
- Source code for Blogs11ty Tina CMS
Simple Blog Starter eleventy 11ty with Tina CMS for your blog project.
Fundamenty
- Source code for Fundamenty
Multi-language support, SEO-friendly, GitHub/GitLab Pages-ready. TailwindCSS+Webpack.
Eleventy Liquid Live Preview
- Source code for Eleventy Liquid Live Preview
A starter project for the simple Eleventy site that pulls the data from Contentful, but also allows the live preview on Contentful.
11tyshop
- Source code for 11tyshop
Built modern 11ty Online Shop e-commerce integration with ecwid headless online shop
eleventy-google-docs-starter
- Source code for eleventy-google-docs-starter
A starter template for Eleventy that uses Google Docs as a CMS.
11ty-blog-starter
- Source code for 11ty-blog-starter
Minimal blog template. Supports browsing in the internet without Javascript.
Berry Blast
- Source code for Berry Blast
Modern 11ty v3 starter with TailwindCSS v4, Alpine.js, Pagefind search, Phosphor Icons, Shiki syntax highlighting, and WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility
eleventonia
- Source code for eleventonia
A mildly opinionated Eleventy starter.
agency11ty
- Source code for agency11ty
Startup and SEO agency website template eleventy 11ty
All-in-One Examples
- Source code for All-in-One Examples
Example starters showcasing Build Awesome One kit for: [1] Multisite Starter [2] Blades / Pico CSS [3] Bootstrap [4] Web Awesome [5] Sveltia CMS [6] Liquid Templates [7] Tailwind Starter [8] OG Images Starter.
Tufte
- Source code for Tufte
A minimalist blog template using Tufte CSS.
11straps
A Eleventy + Bootstrap 5 starterkit
Halide
- Source code for Halide
A fast, responsive image portfolio website starter, built with Eleventy and Tina CMS.
Mobile11ty
- Source code for Mobile11ty
Build modern mobile website and android app with mobile11ty eleventy feat ionic
My Online Cookbook
- Source code for My Online Cookbook
An easily customisable starter kit to create your own cookbook of online recipes, using Netlify CMS.
11ty Eddy
- Source code for 11ty Eddy
An 11ty port of #minicomp Jekyll Ed
windty 🌬️
- Source code for windty 🌬️
Windty is a basic template using 11ty and Tailwind, and deploys to github pages.
Eleventy Not So Minimal Blog Starter
- Source code for Eleventy Not So Minimal Blog Starter
A blog starter including some key features such as RSS, a sitemap, meta tags for Twitter & OG, image-optimization(eleventy-image), SVG-icon-sprites, Sass and more...
landingpage11ty
- Source code for landingpage11ty
Starter landing page 11ty with auto SEO injection
11ty-sensible
- Source code for 11ty-sensible
11ty with sensible defaults. SCSS, excerpts, minification and more!
pack11ty
- Source code for pack11ty
An opinionated template for Eleventy projects, with automated collections from folders hierarchy, assets bundling (with Rollup and Sass), responsive images, Service Worker, etc.
Captain's Log
- Source code for Captain's Log
An old timey blog theme with blog posts that looks like old letters.
airleventy
- Source code for airleventy
Build static websites with 11ty, Sass for CSS, and modern JavaScript.
Potfolio Dev BKR
- Source code for Potfolio Dev BKR
Porfolio Web Developer Themes + Decap CMS
Eleventy Duo
- Source code for Eleventy Duo
Eleventy Duo is a production-ready and SEO-friendly starter for building a blog or personal website. Comes with a customizable duotone theme, minimal and clean design.
🍦.11ty.js
- Source code for 🍦.11ty.js
How to build an extensible blog with JavaScript templates (*.11ty.js files).
Tisot
- Source code for Tisot
A blog template and starter project, based on Eleventy and TailwindCSS/daisyUI. RTL friendly.
Hella Simple 11ty + Tailwind CSS Starter
- Source code for Hella Simple 11ty + Tailwind CSS Starter
Just 2 dependencies, 2 npm scripts, and 1 Tailwind UI freebie to get you started.
Agencykit-11ty-starter
- Source code for Agencykit-11ty-starter
Automatically generate large sites from Notion data with a single command. Powered by NotionCMS.
Eleventy Starter Ghost
- Source code for Eleventy Starter Ghost
A starter template to build websites with Ghost & Eleventy.
Car11ty
- Source code for Car11ty
Clean Design + Auto SEO , starter project for car services website template themes
Complite
- Source code for Complite
A complete, SEO/GEO/AI-ready Eleventy 3 blog starter. CSS-first dark mode, JSON-LD structured data, Open Graph, RSS, XML sitemap, llms.txt for AI agents, SQLite full-text search, PHP contact form with bot protection, Prism syntax highlighting, and content negotiation for markdown — zero client JS required.
11ty-TailScript
- Source code for 11ty-TailScript
Minimalist, ready to use Eleventy starter project that embarks Tailwind, PostCSS (nesting, imports, media queries, minify), Fontawesome, Webpack, TypeScript and Vite
11ty-twind
- Source code for 11ty-twind
11ty, powered by Twind (JSS for Tailwind with tons of amazing features)
TEA Stack
- Source code for TEA Stack
A starting point with TailwindCSS, 11ty, and AlpineJS ready to roll.
11ty Covers
- Source code for 11ty Covers
A visual vCard template
11ty-plain-bootstrap5
- Source code for 11ty-plain-bootstrap5
Simple plain starter with 11ty and Bootstrap5 (via npm)
Link-in-Bio 11ty
- Source code for Link-in-Bio 11ty
A single page containing a list of links generated from data defined in JS
Cool11ty
- Source code for Cool11ty
New eleventy cool 11ty modern blog themes.
11ty Beer
- Source code for 11ty Beer
An 11ty blog template with Material Design, PWA and minified files that simply works.
Wisp
- Source code for Wisp
A minimalist blog template using Pico CSS.
Minimalism Starter
- Source code for Minimalism Starter
A blog template and theme using 11ty, TailwindCSS, PWA etc...
Docs11ty
- Source code for Docs11ty
Simple Clean Minimalist for Documentation site - complete with blog, and static pages.
eleventy-netlify-boilerplate
- Source code for eleventy-netlify-boilerplate
A template for building a simple blog web site with Eleventy and deploying it to Netlify. Includes Netlify CMS and Netlify Forms.
Eleventy Garden
- Source code for Eleventy Garden
A starter site for building a digital garden, or personal wiki, in Eleventy.
Eleventy Starter Boilerplate
- Source code for Eleventy Starter Boilerplate
🚀 Eleventy Starter Boilerplate is production-ready with SEO-friendly for quickly starting a blog. ⚡️ Built with Eleventy, ESLint, Prettier, Webpack, PostCSS, Tailwind CSS.
Eleventy React
- Source code for Eleventy React
Use React, styled components and storybook in Eleventy
11ty-no-style-please
- Source code for 11ty-no-style-please
A minimalist blog template for eleventy with Netlify CMS built in
elva
- Source code for elva
A multilingual, clean, green, 11ty starter theme. elva provides solid foundations for your next web project and a built in CMS (Front Matter CMS) for managing content.
Eleventy High Performance Blog
- Source code for Eleventy High Performance Blog
A high performance blog template for the 11ty static site generator.
Basic Project
- Source code for Basic Project
A single page template using 11ty and vanilla CSS.
Pugsum
- Source code for Pugsum
11ty starter kit using TailwindCSS, Pug, and Webpack
11ty-blog-njk-starter
- Source code for 11ty-blog-njk-starter
Forked from Rong Ying's starter, now with njk and a few tiny fixes
11ty-academic-blog
- Source code for 11ty-academic-blog
Academic blog template, supporting citations, math, optimized printing and more.
Twenty Ninety
- Source code for Twenty Ninety
A production-ready starter kit, optimized for performance.
11ty Strawberry
- Source code for 11ty Strawberry
A boostrap blog template
vredeburg
- Source code for vredeburg
A simple starter project to create a blog using Eleventy and Tailwind CSS.
Eleventy NEAT Starter
- Source code for Eleventy NEAT Starter
Eleventy Starter Template with NEAT Stack - Netlify CMS, Eleventy, Alphine JS & Tailwind CSS
11ty-encore
- Source code for 11ty-encore
11ty using webpack encore
Bootstrap11ty
- Source code for Bootstrap11ty
Eleventy for blogger with bootstrap and auto SEO full.
11ty-nostrils
- Source code for 11ty-nostrils
A starter config for Eleventy with pipelines for TypeScript and PostCSS.
Elevenpack
- Source code for Elevenpack
An Eleventy starter pack with webpack, PostCSS and cache busting for production deployments.
eleventy-site
- Source code for eleventy-site
A simple Eleventy site
11ty-vanilla-blog
- Source code for 11ty-vanilla-blog
A very vanilla 11ty starter for a static blog site with paginated posts and integration with Netlify CMS
imbricate μ
- Source code for imbricate μ
This website uses the μ css framework.
11ty-get-going
- Source code for 11ty-get-going
Get Going is an 11ty starter project for simple blogs, small sites and prototypes. Includes 11ty pagination, navigation, image and RSS examples
eleventy-starter-typescript
- Source code for eleventy-starter-typescript
Unopinionated, minimal starter with TypeScript templates.
Dockar
- Source code for Dockar
The solution for your documentation website projects built with the 11ty eleventy For speed performance and SEO
Berry Blast
- Source code for Berry Blast
A cyberpunk-themed developer portfolio starter with 11ty, Tailwind CSS, and vanilla JavaScript.
TEAtime Starter
- Source code for TEAtime Starter
A simple stylish Eleventy starter project using Tailwind CSS and Alpine.js that deploys to Netlify
Polyglot Tech Blog
- Source code for Polyglot Tech Blog
An 11ty starter project for multilingual personal pages and blogs.
Minimal Developer
- Source code for Minimal Developer
A very minimal developer blog theme built with Eleventy
ZeroPoint
A modern, opinionated, bare-bones Jamstack starter using Eleventy to get 'up to zero' on a project quickly and easily.
One Starter
- Source code for One Starter
Best content-first micro-starter powered by Build Awesome One kit and Blades CSS — perfect for blogs, docs, landing pages, or anything content-driven.
Eleventy Portway Starter
- Source code for Eleventy Portway Starter
A starter template for building a blog with Eleventy and Portway
frontenso-11ty-starter
- Source code for frontenso-11ty-starter
A production-ready starter that features Nunjucks, SASS, TailwindCSS, Webpack and ESNext. 11ty is responsible for building HTML only, the rest is built with Gulp.
Twelvety
- Source code for Twelvety
Twelvety is an Eleventy starter project built to be fast, with component architecture, CSS & JS pipelines, a responsive picture shortcode with WebP support and more
Chobble Template
A large, opinionated template with minimalist CSS, for business sites, built with Nix
Eleventy Web Starter
- Source code for Eleventy Web Starter
A lightweight Eleventy boilerplate utilising, esbuild Tailwind CSS and Post CSS.
cloudcannon11ty
- Source code for cloudcannon11ty
Simple Starter Blog 11ty integration with cloudcannon headless cms
Blue Rose
A lightweight, responsive, and highly performant gallery for photos and videos.
11ty-bulma-starter
- Source code for 11ty-bulma-starter
11ty-bulma starter with sass enabled.
Eleventy Fylgja Starter
- Source code for Eleventy Fylgja Starter
11ty starter template build using Fylgja CSS.
Thisis
- Source code for Thisis
Thisis just classic blog seo template.
11ty Netlify Jumpstart
Includes a minimal Sass framework, and generated sitemap, RSS feed, and social share preview images.
Retro Garden
- Source code for Retro Garden
An open source Eleventy theme that blends IndieWeb publishing habits with playful early-web personality.
11ty-sass-images-seo
- Source code for 11ty-sass-images-seo
An 11ty starter with project scaffolding, Sass, image optimization, and SEO enhancements.
11ty-Contentful-Starter
- Source code for 11ty-Contentful-Starter
An Eleventy powered multipage starter project that uses Contentful to create, and manage pages. The front end utilizes the HTML5UP Solid State theme for layout and styling.
Skeleventy
- Source code for Skeleventy
A skeleton boilerplate built with Eleventy and Tailwind CSS.
Eleventy Classic Blog Starter (ECBS)
- Source code for Eleventy Classic Blog Starter (ECBS)
A starter template to build a classic `Hyde` blog with Eleventy.
11ty-portfolio-template
- Source code for 11ty-portfolio-template
11ty portfolio powered by bootstrap and nunjucks
eleventy-sanity-blog-boilerplate
- Source code for eleventy-sanity-blog-boilerplate
An eleventy + headless CMS blog boilerplate. Includes Sanity Studio, quick start, config and instructions for deploying on Netlify and `now`.
eleventyone
- Source code for eleventyone
is an Eleventy scaffold project created by the legendary Phil Hawksworth. Makes use of Eleventy and PostCSS.
kailoon.com
- Source code for kailoon.com
My simple portfolio blog built using 11th and tailwindcss.
11ty-resume-template
- Source code for 11ty-resume-template
11ty Resume/CV powered by TailwindCSS without JavaScript.

Lists

Jamstack Themes A list of starter themes filterable by supported static site generator and CMS.

Source Code Samples

Be sure to check out a full list of every Built With Eleventy site that has provided a link to their source code.

Watch and Serve

2026-08-27T17:37:59Z

Watch Files and use Development Servers

On this page

Running Eleventy with --serve starts a hot reloading local development server for you.

A development server is optional! Using --watch will run Eleventy (and re-run when you save your files) without a server.

Eleventy Dev Server Added in v2.0.0

Eleventy bundles its own dedicated Development Server. In versions prior to v2, we used Browsersync, which you can still use with Eleventy if you’d like.

For most use cases, the default behavior of this server should handle most things automatically. Changing files in your local environment will re-run an Eleventy build and refresh any active web browser sessions on the local site.

Add Your Own Watch Targets

The addWatchTarget config method allows you to manually add a file or directory for Eleventy to watch. When the file or the files in this directory change Eleventy will trigger a build. This is useful if Eleventy is not aware of your project-specific external dependencies.

eleventy.config.js

ESM CommonJS

export default function(eleventyConfig) {
	eleventyConfig.addWatchTarget("./src/scss/");
};

module.exports = function(eleventyConfig) {
	eleventyConfig.addWatchTarget("./src/scss/");
};

Advanced usage note: This works with chokidar under the hood and chokidar uses picomatch for globbing:

Both **/*.(png|jpeg) and **/*.{png,jpeg} are valid globs to matches any png or jpeg file in your project.

Reset configuration Added in v3.0.0

We do automatically look for dependencies in your configuration file based on JavaScript require or import—watch targets not included in that dependency graph will not reset or re-run your configuration automatically.

To reset your configuration for a specific watch target, use the resetConfig option.

eleventy.config.js

ESM CommonJS

export default function(eleventyConfig) {
	// You probably don’t need this
	eleventyConfig.addWatchTarget("./_config/**", {
		resetConfig: true
	});
};

module.exports = function(eleventyConfig) {
	// You probably don’t need this
	eleventyConfig.addWatchTarget("./_config/**", {
		resetConfig: true
	});
};

Reload without running a build

Use the watch option configurable with Eleventy Dev Server to refresh your local browser when local files change without triggering an Eleventy build. This is useful to decouple build processes outside of Eleventy.

Ignore Watching Files

`.gitignore`

Eleventy will ignore changes to files or folders listed in your .gitignore file by default, unless setUseGitIgnore is turned off.

Configuration API Added in v2.0.0

Previously, the configuration API ignores for template processing were also used as ignores for watching (e.g. eleventyConfig.ignores.add("README.md")).

New in v2.0.0, watch target ignores now have their own dedicated API:

eleventy.config.js

ESM CommonJS

export default function(eleventyConfig) {
	// Do not rebuild when README.md changes (You can use a glob here too)
	eleventyConfig.watchIgnores.add("README.md");

	// Or delete entries too
	eleventyConfig.watchIgnores.delete("README.md");
};

module.exports = function(eleventyConfig) {
	// Do not rebuild when README.md changes (You can use a glob here too)
	eleventyConfig.watchIgnores.add("README.md");

	// Or delete entries too
	eleventyConfig.watchIgnores.delete("README.md");
};

The watchIgnores Set starts with a default **/node_modules/** entry.

Watch JavaScript Dependencies

When in --watch mode, Eleventy will spider the dependencies of your JavaScript Templates (.11ty.js), JavaScript Data Files (.11tydata.js or _data/**/*.js), or Configuration File (usually eleventy.config.js) to watch those files too. Files in node_modules directories are ignored. This feature is enabled by default.

eleventy.config.js

ESM CommonJS

export default function(eleventyConfig) {
	// Enabled by default
	eleventyConfig.setWatchJavaScriptDependencies(false);
};

module.exports = function(eleventyConfig) {
	// Enabled by default
	eleventyConfig.setWatchJavaScriptDependencies(false);
};

Add delay before re-running

A hardcoded amount of time Eleventy will wait before triggering a new build when files have changes during --watch or --serve modes. You probably won’t need this, but is useful in some edge cases with other task runners (Gulp, Grunt, etc).

eleventy.config.js

ESM CommonJS

export default function(eleventyConfig) {
	// default is 0
	eleventyConfig.setWatchThrottleWaitTime(100); // in milliseconds
};

module.exports = function(eleventyConfig) {
	// default is 0
	eleventyConfig.setWatchThrottleWaitTime(100); // in milliseconds
};

Advanced `chokidar` Configuration

Advanced chokidar options can be defined using the setChokidarConfig configuration API method:

eleventy.config.js

ESM CommonJS

export default function(eleventyConfig) {
	eleventyConfig.setChokidarConfig({
		usePolling: true,
		interval: 500,
	});
};

module.exports = function(eleventyConfig) {
	eleventyConfig.setChokidarConfig({
		usePolling: true,
		interval: 500,
	});
};

WARNING

If you’re using Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) and your project exists outside of your home directory (~), you will likely want to use the usePolling feature to ensure watching works correctly. This is a WSL limitation.

Virtual Templates

2026-08-27T17:37:59Z

Virtual Templates Added in v3.0.0

In addition to template files in your input directory, Eleventy can also process virtual templates defined in your configuration file (or plugins). Related GitHub #1612.

The RSS plugin offers a virtual template to add feeds to your project.

API

eleventyConfig.addTemplate(virtualPath, content, data = {});

virtualPath: used to determine the template language and data cascade for this template. This path is relative to your project’s input directory.
content: usually a string, but maybe JavaScript (if using an 11ty.js template). Can include front matter if the template language supports it.
data: a data object tied to the template. A little more ergonomic than front matter but functionally the same.

Example

Markdown, HTML (via Liquid) Layout

eleventy.config.js

ESM CommonJS

export default function(eleventyConfig) {
	// Create content templates Files
	eleventyConfig.addTemplate("virtual.md", `# Hello`, {
        	layout: "virtual.html"
	});

	// Works great with Layouts too
	eleventyConfig.addTemplate("_includes/virtual.html", `<!-- Layout -->{{ content }}`);
};

module.exports = function(eleventyConfig) {
	// Create content templates Files
	eleventyConfig.addTemplate("virtual.md", `# Hello`, {
        	layout: "virtual.html"
	});

	// Works great with Layouts too
	eleventyConfig.addTemplate("_includes/virtual.html", `<!-- Layout -->{{ content }}`);
};

JavaScript

Any of the JavaScript shapes on 11ty.js templates are also supported here.

eleventy.config.js

ESM CommonJS

export default function(eleventyConfig) {
	// Create content templates Files
	eleventyConfig.addTemplate("virtual.11ty.js", function(data) {
		return `<h1>Hello</h1>`;
	});
};

module.exports = function(eleventyConfig) {
	// Create content templates Files
	eleventyConfig.addTemplate("virtual.11ty.js", function(data) {
		return `<h1>Hello</h1>`;
	});
};

Release History

2026-08-27T17:37:59Z

Release History

You can also browse the latest releases on:

Major Branches

build.awesome.me for v4 (Currently in alpha)
www.11ty.dev for v3 (Latest Stable)
v2.11ty.dev
v1.11ty.dev
v0.11ty.dev

Full Release History

×226 releases total since November 26, 2017

Version	Docs	Date	More…
`v4.0.0-alpha.10` Prerelease		2026 Jul 01	GitHub Release
`v4.0.0-alpha.9` Prerelease		2026 Jul 01	GitHub Release
`v4.0.0-alpha.8` Prerelease		2026 Jun 18	GitHub Release
`v4.0.0-alpha.7` Prerelease		2026 Mar 20	GitHub Release
`v4.0.0-alpha.6` Prerelease		2025 Dec 11	GitHub Release
`v4.0.0-alpha.5` Prerelease		2025 Dec 05	GitHub Release
`v4.0.0-alpha.4` Prerelease		2025 Aug 01	GitHub Release
`v4.0.0-alpha.3` Prerelease		2025 Jul 30	GitHub Release
`v4.0.0-alpha.2` Prerelease		2025 Jul 30	GitHub Release
`v4.0.0-alpha.1` Prerelease		2025 Jul 30	GitHub Release
`v3.1.6`	Docs	2026 Jun 02	GitHub Release
`v3.1.5`	Docs	2026 Mar 18	GitHub Release
`v3.1.4`	Docs	2026 Mar 18	GitHub Release
`v3.1.3`	Docs	2026 Mar 18	GitHub Release
`v3.1.2`	Docs	2025 Jun 24	GitHub Release
`v3.1.2-beta.4` Prerelease		2025 Jun 23	GitHub Release
`v3.1.2-beta.3` Prerelease		2025 Jun 20	GitHub Release
`v3.1.2-beta.2` Prerelease		2025 Jun 18	GitHub Release
`v3.1.2-beta.1` Prerelease		2025 Jun 16	GitHub Release
`v3.1.1`	Docs	2025 Jun 03	GitHub Release
`v3.1.1-beta.3` Prerelease		2025 May 31	GitHub Release
`v3.1.1-beta.2` Prerelease		2025 May 31	GitHub Release
`v3.1.1-beta.1` Prerelease		2025 May 30	GitHub Release
`v3.1.0`	Docs	2025 May 13	GitHub Release
`v3.1.0-beta.1` Prerelease		2025 Apr 18	GitHub Release
`v3.1.0-alpha.1` Prerelease		2025 Apr 14	GitHub Release
`v3.0.1-alpha.5` Prerelease		2025 Mar 14	GitHub Release
`v3.0.1-alpha.4` Prerelease		2025 Jan 29	GitHub Release
`v3.0.1-alpha.3` Prerelease		2025 Jan 14	GitHub Release
`v3.0.1-alpha.2` Prerelease		2025 Jan 14	GitHub Release
`v3.0.1-alpha.1` Prerelease		2024 Dec 20	GitHub Release
`v3.0.0`	Docs	2024 Oct 01	GitHub Release
`v3.0.0-beta.2` Prerelease		2024 Sep 30	GitHub Release
`v3.0.0-beta.1` Prerelease		2024 Jul 31	GitHub Release
`v3.0.0-alpha.20` Prerelease		2024 Sep 11	GitHub Release
`v3.0.0-alpha.19` Prerelease		2024 Sep 04	GitHub Release
`v3.0.0-alpha.18` Prerelease		2024 Jul 30	GitHub Release
`v3.0.0-alpha.17` Prerelease		2024 Jul 16	GitHub Release
`v3.0.0-alpha.16` Prerelease		2024 Jul 09	GitHub Release
`v3.0.0-alpha.15` Prerelease		2024 Jul 09	GitHub Release
`v3.0.0-alpha.14` Prerelease		2024 Jun 27	GitHub Release
`v3.0.0-alpha.13` Prerelease		2024 Jun 12	GitHub Release
`v3.0.0-alpha.12` Prerelease		2024 Jun 11	GitHub Release
`v3.0.0-alpha.11` Prerelease		2024 Jun 10	GitHub Release
`v3.0.0-alpha.10` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v3.0.0-alpha.9` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v3.0.0-alpha.7` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v3.0.0-alpha.5` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v3.0.0-alpha.4` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v3.0.0-alpha.3` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v3.0.0-alpha.2` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v3.0.0-alpha.1` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v2.0.2-alpha.2` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v2.0.2-alpha.1` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v2.0.1`	Docs	2023 Mar 28	GitHub Release
`v2.0.1-beta.2` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v2.0.1-beta.1` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v2.0.1-alpha.3` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v2.0.1-alpha.2` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v2.0.1-alpha.1` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v2.0.0`	Docs	2023 Feb 08	GitHub Release
`v2.0.0-canary.35` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v2.0.0-canary.34` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v2.0.0-canary.33` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v2.0.0-canary.32` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v2.0.0-canary.31` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v2.0.0-canary.30` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v2.0.0-canary.29` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v2.0.0-canary.28` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v2.0.0-canary.27` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v2.0.0-canary.26` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v2.0.0-canary.25` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v2.0.0-canary.24` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v2.0.0-canary.23` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v2.0.0-canary.22` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v2.0.0-canary.21` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v2.0.0-canary.20` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v2.0.0-canary.19` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v2.0.0-canary.18` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v2.0.0-canary.17` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v2.0.0-canary.15` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v2.0.0-canary.14` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v2.0.0-canary.13` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v2.0.0-canary.12` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v2.0.0-canary.11` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v2.0.0-canary.10` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v2.0.0-canary.9` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v2.0.0-canary.8` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v2.0.0-canary.7` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v2.0.0-canary.6` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v2.0.0-canary.5` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v2.0.0-canary.4` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v2.0.0-canary.3` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v2.0.0-canary.2` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v2.0.0-canary.1` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v2.0.0-beta.3` Prerelease		2023 Jan 30	GitHub Release
`v2.0.0-beta.2` Prerelease		2023 Jan 26	GitHub Release
`v2.0.0-beta.1` Prerelease		2023 Jan 18	GitHub Release
`v1.0.2`	Docs	2022 Aug 16	GitHub Release
`v1.0.1`	Docs	2022 Apr 18	GitHub Release
`v1.0.1-canary.4` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.1-canary.3` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.1-canary.2` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.1-canary.1` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0`	Docs	2022 Jan 08	GitHub Release
`v1.0.0-canary.50` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-canary.49` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-canary.48` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-canary.47` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-canary.46` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-canary.45` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-canary.44` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-canary.43` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-canary.42` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-canary.41` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-canary.40` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-canary.39` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-canary.38` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-canary.37` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-canary.36` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-canary.35` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-canary.34` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-canary.33` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-canary.32` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-canary.31` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-canary.30` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-canary.29` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-canary.28` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-canary.27` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-canary.26` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-canary.25` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-canary.24` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-canary.23` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-canary.22` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-canary.21` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-canary.20` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-canary.19` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-canary.18` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-canary.17` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-canary.16` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-canary.15` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-canary.14` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-canary.13` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-canary.12` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-canary.11` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-canary.10` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-canary.9` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-canary.8` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-canary.7` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-canary.6` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-canary.5` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-canary.4` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-canary.3` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-canary.1` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-beta.10` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-beta.9` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-beta.8` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-beta.7` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-beta.6` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-beta.5` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-beta.4` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-beta.3` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-beta.2` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v1.0.0-beta.1` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v0.12.1`	Docs	2021 Mar 19	GitHub Release
`v0.12.0`	Docs	2021 Mar 19	GitHub Release
`v0.11.1`	Docs	2020 Oct 22	GitHub Release
`v0.11.0`	Docs	2020 May 10	GitHub Release
`v0.11.0-beta.4` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v0.11.0-beta.3` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v0.11.0-beta.2` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v0.11.0-beta.1` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v0.10.0`	Docs	2020 Jan 07	GitHub Release
`v0.10.0-beta.2` Prerelease		2020 Jan 04	GitHub Release
`v0.10.0-beta.1` Prerelease		2019 Dec 09	GitHub Release
`v0.9.0`	Docs	2019 Aug 27	GitHub Release
`v0.9.0-beta.3` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v0.9.0-beta.2` Prerelease		2019 Aug 17	GitHub Release
`v0.9.0-beta.1` Prerelease		2019 Jul 26	GitHub Release
`v0.8.3`	Docs	2019 May 04	GitHub Release
`v0.8.2`	Docs	2019 Apr 09	GitHub Release
`v0.8.1`	Docs	2019 Apr 06	GitHub Release
`v0.8.0`	Docs	2019 Apr 04	GitHub Release
`v0.8.0-beta.1` Prerelease			GitHub Tag
`v0.7.1`	Docs	2019 Jan 12	GitHub Release
`v0.7.0`	Docs	2019 Jan 11	GitHub Release
`v0.6.0`	Docs	2018 Nov 25	GitHub Release
`v0.5.4`	Docs	2018 Sep 28	GitHub Release
`v0.5.3`	Docs	2018 Aug 29	GitHub Release
`v0.5.2`	Docs	2018 Aug 15	GitHub Release
`v0.5.1`	Docs	2018 Aug 15	GitHub Release
`v0.5.0`	Docs	2018 Jul 05	GitHub Release
`v0.4.0`	Docs	2018 Jun 20	GitHub Release
`v0.3.6`	Docs	2018 Jun 07	GitHub Release
`v0.3.5`	Docs	2018 May 22	GitHub Release
`v0.3.4`	Docs	2018 May 11	GitHub Release
`v0.3.3`	Docs	2018 Apr 17	GitHub Release
`v0.3.2`			GitHub Tag
`v0.3.1`	Docs	2018 Apr 05	GitHub Release
`v0.3.0`	Docs	2018 Mar 26	GitHub Release
`v0.2.15`	Docs	2018 Mar 06	GitHub Release
`v0.2.14`	Docs	2018 Feb 16	GitHub Release
`v0.2.13`	Docs
`v0.2.12`	Docs
`v0.2.11`	Docs
`v0.2.10`	Docs	2018 Jan 25	GitHub Release
`v0.2.9`	Docs
`v0.2.8`	Docs
`v0.2.7`	Docs	2018 Jan 17	GitHub Release
`v0.2.6`	Docs	2018 Jan 12	GitHub Release
`v0.2.5`	Docs
`v0.2.4`	Docs
`v0.2.3`	Docs
`v0.2.2`	Docs	2018 Jan 09	GitHub Release
`v0.2.1`	Docs
`v0.2.0`	Docs
`v0.1.9`	Docs
`v0.1.8`	Docs
`v0.1.7`	Docs
`v0.1.6`	Docs
`v0.1.5`	Docs
`v0.1.4`	Docs
`v0.1.3`	Docs
`v0.1.2`	Docs
`v0.1.1`	Docs
`v0.1.0`	Docs

Command Line Usage

2026-08-27T17:37:59Z

Command Line Usage

Prerequisites

Eleventy runs in a Terminal application. Well, wait—what is a Terminal?
Have you already installed Eleventy?

Here’s the first command you can enter in your Terminal application to run Eleventy:

npm pnpm yarn

# Searches the current directory, outputs to ./_site
npx @11ty/eleventy

# `npx @11ty/eleventy` is the same as:
npx @11ty/eleventy --input=. --output=_site

# Searches the current directory, outputs to ./_site
pnpm exec eleventy

# `pnpm exec eleventy` is the same as:
pnpm exec eleventy --input=. --output=_site

# Searches the current directory, outputs to ./_site
yarn exec eleventy

# `yarn exec eleventy` is the same as:
yarn exec eleventy --input=. --output=_site

Read more about --input and --output. Note that setting the input and output directories via config file is preferred.

A hypothetical template.md in the current directory would be rendered to _site/template/index.html. Read more at Permalinks.

npm pnpm yarn

# Use only a subset of template types
npx @11ty/eleventy --formats=md,html,ejs

# Don’t process any formats
npx @11ty/eleventy --formats=

# Find out the most up-to-date list of commands (there are more)
npx @11ty/eleventy --help

# Use only a subset of template types
pnpm exec eleventy --formats=md,html,ejs

# Don’t process any formats
pnpm exec eleventy --formats=

# Find out the most up-to-date list of commands (there are more)
pnpm exec eleventy --help

# Use only a subset of template types
yarn exec eleventy --formats=md,html,ejs

# Don’t process any formats
yarn exec eleventy --formats=

# Find out the most up-to-date list of commands (there are more)
yarn exec eleventy --help

The default for --formats= changed in v3.0.0 from an alias of * to an empty set.

Re-run Eleventy when you save

npm pnpm yarn

# Add a web server to apply changes and
# refresh automatically. We’ll also --watch for you.
npx @11ty/eleventy --serve

# Change the web server’s port—use localhost:8081
npx @11ty/eleventy --serve --port=8081

# Watch and re-run when files change, without the web server.
npx @11ty/eleventy --watch

# Add a web server to apply changes and
# refresh automatically. We’ll also --watch for you.
pnpm exec eleventy --serve

# Change the web server’s port—use localhost:8081
pnpm exec eleventy --serve --port=8081

# Watch and re-run when files change, without the web server.
pnpm exec eleventy --watch

# Add a web server to apply changes and
# refresh automatically. We’ll also --watch for you.
yarn exec eleventy --serve

# Change the web server’s port—use localhost:8081
yarn exec eleventy --serve --port=8081

# Watch and re-run when files change, without the web server.
yarn exec eleventy --watch

`--quiet` if the Output is Too Noisy

npm pnpm yarn

# Shhhhh—Don’t log so much to the console
npx @11ty/eleventy --quiet

# Shhhhh—Don’t log so much to the console
pnpm exec eleventy --quiet

# Shhhhh—Don’t log so much to the console
yarn exec eleventy --quiet

`--dryrun` to do a Little Testing

Runs without writing to the file system. Useful when debugging.

npm pnpm yarn

# Run Eleventy but don’t write any files
npx @11ty/eleventy --dryrun

# Run Eleventy but don’t write any files
pnpm exec eleventy --dryrun

# Run Eleventy but don’t write any files
yarn exec eleventy --dryrun

`--config` to Change the Config file name

npm pnpm yarn

# Override the default eleventy project config filename (.eleventy.js)
npx @11ty/eleventy --config=myeleventyconfig.js

# Override the default eleventy project config filename (.eleventy.js)
pnpm exec eleventy --config=myeleventyconfig.js

# Override the default eleventy project config filename (.eleventy.js)
yarn exec eleventy --config=myeleventyconfig.js

`--to` can output JSON Added in v1.0.0

npm pnpm yarn

# Output a JSON structure (does not write to the file system)
npx @11ty/eleventy --to=json

# Output a Newline Deliminated JSON structure (does not write to the file system)
npx @11ty/eleventy --to=ndjson

# Default behavior (Output to file system)
npx @11ty/eleventy --to=fs

# Output a JSON structure (does not write to the file system)
pnpm exec eleventy --to=json

# Output a Newline Deliminated JSON structure (does not write to the file system)
pnpm exec eleventy --to=ndjson

# Default behavior (Output to file system)
pnpm exec eleventy --to=fs

# Output a JSON structure (does not write to the file system)
yarn exec eleventy --to=json

# Output a Newline Deliminated JSON structure (does not write to the file system)
yarn exec eleventy --to=ndjson

# Default behavior (Output to file system)
yarn exec eleventy --to=fs

`--incremental` for Partial Incremental Builds

npm pnpm yarn

# *Repeat* builds only operate on files that have changed
npx @11ty/eleventy --watch --incremental
npx @11ty/eleventy --serve --incremental

# Skip the initial full build with `--ignore-initial`
npx @11ty/eleventy --serve --incremental --ignore-initial

# Pass in a template path, watch/serve not required
# Added in v3.0.0
npx @11ty/eleventy --incremental=myfile.md

# *Repeat* builds only operate on files that have changed
pnpm exec eleventy --watch --incremental
pnpm exec eleventy --serve --incremental

# Skip the initial full build with `--ignore-initial`
pnpm exec eleventy --serve --incremental --ignore-initial

# Pass in a template path, watch/serve not required
# Added in v3.0.0
pnpm exec eleventy --incremental=myfile.md

# *Repeat* builds only operate on files that have changed
yarn exec eleventy --watch --incremental
yarn exec eleventy --serve --incremental

# Skip the initial full build with `--ignore-initial`
yarn exec eleventy --serve --incremental --ignore-initial

# Pass in a template path, watch/serve not required
# Added in v3.0.0
yarn exec eleventy --incremental=myfile.md

Read more about incremental builds. Related GitHub #3324

`--ignore-initial` to run Eleventy without an Initial Build Added in v2.0.0

Be wary of any file changes that happened while Eleventy wasn’t running!

npm pnpm yarn

# Don’t build when Eleventy starts, only build on file changes
npx @11ty/eleventy --watch --ignore-initial
npx @11ty/eleventy --serve --ignore-initial

# Works great with Incremental
npx @11ty/eleventy --serve --incremental --ignore-initial

# Don’t build when Eleventy starts, only build on file changes
pnpm exec eleventy --watch --ignore-initial
pnpm exec eleventy --serve --ignore-initial

# Works great with Incremental
pnpm exec eleventy --serve --incremental --ignore-initial

# Don’t build when Eleventy starts, only build on file changes
yarn exec eleventy --watch --ignore-initial
yarn exec eleventy --serve --ignore-initial

# Works great with Incremental
yarn exec eleventy --serve --incremental --ignore-initial

Deeper insight into Eleventy Internals

You can use the DEBUG environment variable to enable the special debug log output, allowing deeper insight into Eleventy’s internals. For simplicity this example is using the cross-env package.

npm pnpm yarn

npx cross-env DEBUG=Eleventy:* npx @11ty/eleventy --dryrun

pnpm exec cross-env DEBUG=Eleventy:* pnpm exec @11ty/eleventy --dryrun

yarn exec cross-env DEBUG=Eleventy:* yarn exec @11ty/eleventy --dryrun

Learn more about Eleventy’s Debug Mode log output.

Using the Same Input and Output

Yes, you can use the same input and output directories, like so:

npm pnpm yarn

# Parse and write Markdown to HTML, respecting directory structure.
npx @11ty/eleventy --input=. --output=. --formats=md

# Parse and write Markdown to HTML, respecting directory structure.
pnpm exec eleventy --input=. --output=. --formats=md

# Parse and write Markdown to HTML, respecting directory structure.
yarn exec eleventy --input=. --output=. --formats=md

WARNING

Careful with --formats=html here! If you run Eleventy more than once, we will attempt to process your new output files as input files (which will throw errors). Read more at the HTML template docs.

Incremental

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Incremental Builds

Incremental builds via the command line flag --incremental perform a partial build operating only on files that have changed to improve build times when doing local development.

Let’s check in on the current capabilities and the roadmap:

Templates (Incremental template builds):
- If you create/update a template file, Eleventy will run the build for that file and only that file.
- Layouts Added in v2.0.0: When you change a layout file, any templates using that layout file are rebuilt.
- Template Dependencies Added in v2.0.0Any templates using a dependency mapped via the addDependencies method will be rebuilt when those dependencies change.
  - Added in v1.0.0This feature was previously exposed as part of the API for Custom template extensions via the isIncrementalMatch function.
  - Exceptions for Includes: If the created/updated file is in your Includes or Layouts directories, a full build will run (unless a known Eleventy layout file Added in v2.0.0).
- Collections Added in v2.0.0: When you add or delete a tag from a template, any templates using that collection tag (as declared by pagination.data or eleventyImport.collections) will be rebuilt.
Passthrough Copy (Incremental passthrough copy) :
- Only copy a passthrough copy file when it actively changed. Don’t run a template or full build if only a passthrough copy file has changed.
- When running a template build, skip the passthrough copy step.
- Added in v2.0.0 Passthrough copy can be emulated during --serve to speed up both incremental and non-incremental builds. It was decided not to ship incremental passthrough copy as the default behavior (#1109), instead deferring to this emulated copy feature.
Configuration File
- If you create/update your Eleventy configuration file, a full build will run.
Don’t build on startup: Added in v2.0.0 --ignore-initial was added and works great with --incremental.
Explicit Incremental Added in v3.0.0 Pass in a filename to only build an incremental for one file (and it’s dependencies) with --incremental=filename (more in #3324)
- Pre-release only: v4.0.0-alpha.8Added support for multiple incremental files (also called Batched Incremental) with --incremental=file1 --incremental=file2 or --incremental=file1,file2 (more in #4274)

Additional Template Syntax Specific Features

The previously stated incremental features are implemented in Eleventy core and are available to all template languages. Some template types offer additional --incremental build support:

WebC: deep knowledge of the full component dependency graph allows us to smartly build templates that use a component when that component is changed.

🗓 To Do

Cold Start Incremental: --incremental does a full build to start out to provide a fresh starting point to work from. This feature would save the state of the build to the file system for faster cold starts. #984
Incremental on a Build Server: Cache the output folder between builds on a CI server like Netlify and only process/write templates that have changed since the last build. #2775
Global/directory/template Data file usage mapped to templates #2706
Template types
- 11ty.js: Map JavaScript dependencies
- liquid: Dependency mapping for Liquid templates ({% include %}, etc)
- njk Dependency mapping for Nunjucks templates ({% include %}, etc): more at Issue #3804
Collections dependencies improvements: while we have eleventyImport.collections to declaratively log collections dependencies, we may be able to dive deeper into template syntax APIs to find the symbols in use. #1615 Alternatively we may be able to change the collections API to use Proxies to get smarter about this in an easier way (though previous experiments with this for eleventyComputed failed in some languages).
Render plugin: {% renderFile %} dependencies
Stretch goal: Pagination-level incremental that operates on a subset of data #1087

Transforms

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Transforms

Transforms can modify a template’s output. For example, use a transform to format/prettify an HTML file with proper whitespace.

The provided transform function must return the original or transformed content.

eleventy.config.js

ESM CommonJS

export default function(eleventyConfig) {
	// Can be sync or async
	eleventyConfig.addTransform("transform-name", async function (content) {
		console.log(this.page.inputPath);

		// Caution: this could be `false` (from permalink)
		console.log(this.page.outputPath);

		// No changes made, return as-is
		return content;
	});
};

module.exports = function(eleventyConfig) {
	// Can be sync or async
	eleventyConfig.addTransform("transform-name", async function (content) {
		console.log(this.page.inputPath);

		// Caution: this could be `false` (from permalink)
		console.log(this.page.outputPath);

		// No changes made, return as-is
		return content;
	});
};

Access to Eleventy’s page variable (via this.page) was added in Eleventy v2.0. For previous versions, consult the older versions of the docs.

Running Transforms Manually

Added in v3.0.0 The renderTransforms universal filter allows projects to run transforms manually on blocks of arbitrary HTML content.

Order of Execution

Transforms are executed in order of insertion in your configuration file.

eleventyConfig.addTransform("first", () => {});
eleventyConfig.addTransform("second", () => {});
eleventyConfig.addTransform("third", () => {});

Plugins

Transforms added via plugins are inserted via the second configuration stage for plugins.

eleventyConfig.addPlugin(eleventyConfig => {
	eleventyConfig.addTransform("third", () => {});
});
eleventyConfig.addTransform("first", () => {});
eleventyConfig.addTransform("second", () => {});

Examples

Minify HTML Output

eleventy.config.js

ESM CommonJS

import htmlmin from "html-minifier-terser";

export default function (eleventyConfig) {
	eleventyConfig.addTransform("htmlmin", function (content) {
		// String conversion to handle `permalink: false`
		if ((this.page.outputPath || "").endsWith(".html")) {
			let minified = htmlmin.minify(content, {
				useShortDoctype: true,
				removeComments: true,
				collapseWhitespace: true,
			});

			return minified;
		}

		// If not an HTML output, return content as-is
		return content;
	});
};

const htmlmin = require("html-minifier-terser");

module.exports = function (eleventyConfig) {
	eleventyConfig.addTransform("htmlmin", function (content) {
		// String conversion to handle `permalink: false`
		if ((this.page.outputPath || "").endsWith(".html")) {
			let minified = htmlmin.minify(content, {
				useShortDoctype: true,
				removeComments: true,
				collapseWhitespace: true,
			});

			return minified;
		}

		// If not an HTML output, return content as-is
		return content;
	});
};

Note that html-minifier-terser has a significant number of options, most of which are disabled by default.

Testmonials

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Testimonials

Don’t just take my word for it. 🌈 Listen to what these happy developers are saying about Eleventy:

“I actually used Eleventy for the first time this week. Loved it.” —Paul Lewis

“After a day or so tweaking my existing build, here is a preview of the site running on Eleventy. I'm sold! The main thing to me was the ability to run custom JavaScript logic to sort, filter, and augment data in collections.” —Eduardo Bouças

“[Eleventy is] a platform that legitimately built things in the way that I thought and worked more than anything else out there, and with every new feature it's like my mind gets read.” —Bryan Robinson

“Seriously can't remember enjoying using a Static Site Generator this much. Yes Hugo is rapid, but this is all so logical. It feels like it was designed by someone who has been through lots of pain and success using other SSGs.” —Phil Hawksworth

“Eleventy is almost fascinatingly simple.” —Chris Coyier

“I've been digging into Eleventy, a new static site generator. Really like the way it handles pagination!” —James Williamson

“Eleventy… makes my life so much easier.” —HJ Chen

“I heard Eleventy was good” —Lach Zeatherman

“I think what's great about Eleventy is how it was able to simplify SSGs to just 2 concepts: data sources and templates.” —Matthew Phillips

“Every time I make something with Eleventy it makes me smile. I think that might be to do with its focus on simplicity.” —Phil Hawksworth

“Eleventy + Netlify have become my new workflow for static sites. I think I'm in love.” —Mina Markham

“I like Eleventy. (I hope that was enough to get me on the testimonials page.)” —Steve Gardner

“Eleventy and web components go really, really well together.” —Justin Fagnani

“Eleventy is absolutely wonderful. It’s by far the nicest static site generator I’ve used in what feels like forever.” —Addy Osmani

“I use Eleventy on almost every project at this point and I love it.” —Lea Verou

“2022 winner of the Google Open Source Peer Bonus Award” —Google

“Just gave Eleventy a first run/try and I must say it's pretty dang awesome. Especially for someone like me, who is most familiar with HTML and CSS and some JS. ❤️” —Marco Hengstenberg

“2018 winner of the Google Open Source Peer Bonus Award” —Google

“#1 Product of the Day (May 2022)” —Product Hunt

“I challenged myself to build the site in a day. I started at noon on Saturday and had something launched by 1am Saturday night. Built on [Eleventy] served by GitHub Pages, using [TravisCi] to deploy.” —Snook

“Just got through moving a project to Eleventy. Never used nunjucks or a static site generator before, but it was so easy. This will make my life so much easier.” —Micah Mills

“Eleventy is as close as we’ve gotten to how the web was always meant to be built (ya’ know, once we realized the value of templates and JavaScript).” —Reuben L. Lillie

“The Eleventy + Netlify combo continues to be 🤌” —Dan Mall

“Eleventy is my fave.” —Tatiana Mac

“Don’t tell Zach I said it but Eleventy is seeming fresh as hell so far” —Mat Marquis

“2019 winner of the Google Open Source Peer Bonus Award” —Google

Read the replies to: “Fans of Eleventy.... why do you like it better than other static site generators?”

“I tried Eleventy last night on a personal project and today we implemented it on a (non-public facing) client project. It's really good.” —Cody Peterson

“I really like the flexibility Eleventy offers in comparison to my previous Jekyll build.” —Alex Carpenter

“Easily one of my favorite open source projects ever!” —Tyler Sticka

“Eleventy is a killer static site generator. That’s all.” —Sara Soueidan

“Just the kind of simple / common sense tool I love. The data/folder hierarchy mechanism is super obvious and elegant.” —Heydon Pickering

“Think the reason everyone is loving [Eleventy] so much (myself included) is that it doesn't come with a prescription about data sources or template rendering.” —Brian Leroux

“Jekyll is dead to me” —Andy Bell

“Holy cow! Eleventy is so crazy simple to work with.” —Will Riley

“It's clean, elegant, easy to use, and does just enough to be useful without getting in the way. Excellent work 😊” —Timothy Miller

“I looked into and actively tried using various static site generators for this project. Eleventy was the only one I could find that gave me the fine-grained control I needed at blazingly fast build times.” —Mathias Bynens

Opening a Terminal

2026-08-27T17:37:59Z

Opening a Terminal

On this page

Eleventy runs in a Terminal application. If you’re not familiar with Terminal applications, they’re used to run typed commands (and programs) on your computer. A Terminal application is mostly synonymous with terms like Command Line Interface (CLI) or shell prompt.

Here’s how to open a Terminal in various operating systems:

macOS

macOS includes an application called Terminal which can be used to run Eleventy. Depending on your version of macOS, it likely lives in /Applications/Utilities/Terminal. It may also be called Terminal.app if your operating system is configured to show file extensions.

Open or quit Terminal on Mac on the Apple Terminal User Guide

Windows

Depending on your version of Windows, it may include the Terminal application (aka Windows PowerShell, preferred), or the Command Prompt (also known as cmd.exe, not preferred), or both.

For the best terminal experience, we recommend installing PowerShell Core on your Windows machine, a newer and more future-compatible terminal application (also newly cross-platform!).

Linux

Depending on your flavor of Linux, it may be called Terminal, Shell, Gnome Terminal, Konsole, or XTerm.

Editors

Some code editors bundle a terminal for you!

Nova (macOS)
Visual Studio Code (macOS, Windows, Linux)
- On Windows, Visual Studio Code is bundled with Windows Powershell.
WebStorm (macOS, Windows, Linux)

More resources

Overriding Languages

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Overriding the Template Language

There are a couple of different ways you can tell Eleventy how you want to process a file:

The file extension (importantly, this is also used to find files to process).
Configuration options:
- markdownTemplateEngine: The default global template engine to pre-process markdown files. Use false to avoid pre-processing and only transform markdown.
- htmlTemplateEngine: The default global template engine to pre-process HTML files. Use false to avoid pre-processing and passthrough copy the content (HTML is not transformed, so technically this could be any plaintext).
templateEngineOverride in the template’s front matter. Should be one templating engine (liquid) or markdown paired with another templating engine (liquid,md). See examples below.

`templateEngineOverride` Examples

Replace with a single templating engine

If your file is called example.liquid—instead of liquid, this will be parsed as a njk Nunjucks template:

Filename example.liquid

---
templateEngineOverride: njk
---

Special case: pairing a templating engine with `md` Markdown

Remember that—by default—Markdown files are processed with an additional preprocessor template engine set globally with the markdownTemplateEngine configuration option. So, when using templateEngineOverride on markdown files be sure to list each templating engine you’d like to use.

For example, you may want to process njk Nunjucks first and then md markdown afterwards. Markdown is supported either by itself or with another engine. No other templating engines can be combined in this way—Markdown is the exception here. Any other combination attempt will throw an error.

Markdown and nothing else

---
templateEngineOverride: md
---

Nunjucks and then Markdown

---
templateEngineOverride: njk,md
---

Use nothing (no transformations)

Any falsy value here will just copy the template content without transformation.

---
templateEngineOverride: false
---

Eleventy Documentation

Starter Projects

Starter Projects

Official Starters

Community Starters

Lists

Source Code Samples

Watch and Serve

Watch Files and use Development Servers

Eleventy Dev Server Added in v2.0.0

Add Your Own Watch Targets

Reset configuration Added in v3.0.0

Reload without running a build

Ignore Watching Files

.gitignore

Configuration API Added in v2.0.0

Watch JavaScript Dependencies

Add delay before re-running

Advanced chokidar Configuration

Virtual Templates

Virtual Templates Added in v3.0.0

API

Example

Markdown, HTML (via Liquid) Layout

JavaScript

Release History

Release History

Major Branches

Full Release History

Command Line Usage

Command Line Usage

Re-run Eleventy when you save

--quiet if the Output is Too Noisy

--dryrun to do a Little Testing

--config to Change the Config file name

--to can output JSON Added in v1.0.0

--incremental for Partial Incremental Builds

--ignore-initial to run Eleventy without an Initial Build Added in v2.0.0

Deeper insight into Eleventy Internals

Using the Same Input and Output

Incremental

Incremental Builds

Additional Template Syntax Specific Features

🗓 To Do

Transforms

Transforms

Running Transforms Manually

Order of Execution

Plugins

Examples

Minify HTML Output

Testmonials

Testimonials

Opening a Terminal

Opening a Terminal

macOS

Windows

Linux

Editors

More resources

Overriding Languages

Overriding the Template Language

templateEngineOverride Examples

Replace with a single templating engine

Special case: pairing a templating engine with md Markdown

Markdown and nothing else

Nunjucks and then Markdown

Use nothing (no transformations)

`.gitignore`

Advanced `chokidar` Configuration

`--quiet` if the Output is Too Noisy

`--dryrun` to do a Little Testing

`--config` to Change the Config file name

`--to` can output JSON Added in v1.0.0

`--incremental` for Partial Incremental Builds

`--ignore-initial` to run Eleventy without an Initial Build Added in v2.0.0

`templateEngineOverride` Examples

Special case: pairing a templating engine with `md` Markdown