Gabby

A beautifully simple static site generator for node.js.

• Instant preview of file changes.
• Use markdown or JSON object for page content.
• Asset packaging and minification.
• Templates with Jade, Plates, and Haml support.
• CoffeeScript, Stylus, LESS, and SASS support.
• HTTP server with preconfigured routes, clean URLs, and caching.
• CLI tool and static web server.

Install

npm install -g gabby

Once installed you can use the CLI. For available commands use the --help option.

Get started

Create project

gabby init website

That will create the following directory structure:

website/
  generated
  content
    index.md
  public
    images
      favicon.png
      gabby.png
  scripts
  styles
    screen.styl
  templates
    layout.html

Start the HTTP server

gabby listen website

Then open http://localhost:3001 in your web browser.

Instant preview

Start the server in --debug mode for changes to be reflected immediately.

Page content and templates

Page content is defined by files in the content directory. The file names and directory structure will determine your URL structure. Content files may either be markdown or JSON.

JSON

JSON content files are parsed into a data object used to render the template. Some properties are reserved for use by Gabby, such as the template property, which specifies the template file to use with this data.

{
  "title": "My first article",
  "date": "2013-01-01 16:20",
  "author": "First Last <[email protected]>",
  "template": "article.jade" // Optional. Overrides layout template.
}

If no template is specified, the default layout template will be used.

Markdown

Markdown files must have metadata at the top of the file:

Title: My first post
Date: 2013-01-01 16:20
Author: First Last <[email protected]>
Template: article.jade

This metadata is added as properties to the data object used to render the template. The rest of the file will be converted to HTML and stored in data.content. If no template is specified, the default layout template will be used.

Directory structure

generated is where all of your HTML and other static files are output.
content defines your URL structure and contains markdown articles or json content.
public is for images and other public files.
scripts is for JavaScript or CoffeeScript.
styles is for CSS, SASS, LESS, or Stylus.
templates is for HTML, Haml, Jade, EJS, or Handlebars templates.

Template variables

content page content.
author page author.
date page date.
title page title.

JavaScript API

Gabby([path])

Create a new Gabby project from given path.

Arguments

path String. Project path.

Returns

Returns gabby instance.

gabby.createProjectSkeleton()

Create project directory skeleton if it doesn't exist.

gabby.build()

Build static files and update generated folder.

Donations

If you like using Gabby, tip me some bits @ 1MUaP1e5DcuWrup7nLwK1rBfLR7YCcjnqS