Skip to content

bahdotsh/blogr

BranchesTags

Repository files navigation

Blogr

Rust License: MIT GitHub Pages

A fast, lightweight static site generator built in Rust for creating and managing blogs. Write in Markdown, preview with a built-in terminal editor, and deploy to GitHub Pages with a single command.

Blogr Demo

Quick Start

Get up and running in 5 minutes:

# 1. Install Blogr
cargo install blogr-cli

# 2. Create your blog
blogr init my-blog
cd my-blog

# 3. Create your first post
blogr new "Hello World"

# 4. Preview your blog
blogr serve
# Opens http://localhost:3000

# 5. Deploy to GitHub Pages
export GITHUB_TOKEN=your_github_token
blogr deploy

For a personal website instead of a blog:

blogr init --personal my-portfolio

Installation

Requirements:

  • Rust 1.70+ (Install Rust)
  • Git (for deployment)
  • GitHub account (for GitHub Pages deployment)

Install from crates.io (recommended):

cargo install blogr-cli

Install from source:

git clone https://github.com/bahdotsh/blogr.git
cd blogr
cargo install --path blogr-cli

Features

Two Site Types

  • Blog Mode: Traditional blog with posts, archives, tags, and RSS feeds
  • Personal Mode: Portfolio/personal website without blog functionality
  • Single command initialization for either type
  • Theme-specific optimizations for each mode

Content Creation

  • Write posts in Markdown with YAML frontmatter
  • Built-in terminal editor with live preview
  • Draft and published post management
  • Tag-based organization
  • Automatic slug generation

Site Generation

  • Fast static site builds
  • Multiple themes: 7 built-in themes for blogs and personal sites
  • Full-text search with MiniSearch integration
  • Syntax highlighting for code blocks
  • RSS/Atom feeds (blog mode)
  • SEO-friendly output

Development

  • Live reload development server
  • Interactive configuration editor
  • Project validation and cleanup tools
  • Comprehensive CLI commands

Deployment

  • One-command GitHub Pages deployment
  • Custom domain support with CNAME generation
  • Automatic git branch management
  • Deployment status checking

Newsletter System (optional)

  • Email subscription collection via IMAP
  • Interactive subscriber approval interface
  • Newsletter creation from blog posts or custom content
  • SMTP integration for reliable email delivery
  • Import/export from popular services (Mailchimp, ConvertKit, etc.)
  • REST API for external integrations
  • Extensible plugin system

Documentation

For detailed information about specific features, see the following documentation:

Basic Commands

Project Management

blogr init my-blog                    # Create new blog
blogr init --personal my-portfolio   # Create personal website
blogr project info                    # Show project details

Content Management

blogr new "My Post Title"             # Create new post
blogr list                            # List all posts
blogr edit my-post-slug               # Edit existing post

Development & Deployment

blogr serve                           # Start dev server
blogr build                           # Build static site
blogr deploy                          # Deploy to GitHub Pages

Configuration

blogr config edit                     # Interactive config editor
blogr theme set minimal-retro         # Switch theme

Project Structure

When you create a new blog, Blogr generates this structure:

my-blog/
├── blogr.toml              # Configuration file
├── posts/                  # Markdown posts
│   ├── welcome.md          # Sample post
│   └── about.md            # About page
├── static/                 # Static files (images, CSS, JS)
│   ├── images/
│   ├── css/
│   └── js/
└── .github/workflows/      # GitHub Actions (auto-generated)
    └── deploy.yml

Key files:

  • blogr.toml - Your site configuration
  • posts/ - All your blog posts in Markdown
  • static/ - Images, custom CSS, and JavaScript files
  • .github/workflows/ - Automatic deployment setup

Configuration

Edit blogr.toml to configure your site. Use blogr config edit for an interactive editor.

Basic Configuration:

[blog]
title = "My Blog"
author = "Your Name"
description = "My thoughts and ideas"
base_url = "https://yourusername.github.io/blog"

[theme]
name = "minimal-retro"  # or "dark-minimal" for personal sites

[github]
username = "yourusername"
repository = "blog"

[site]
site_type = "blog"  # or "personal" for portfolio sites

For detailed configuration options, see the Configuration Guide.

Post Format

Posts use Markdown with YAML frontmatter:

---
title: "My Blog Post"
date: "2024-01-15"
author: "Your Name"
description: "Brief description"
tags: ["rust", "programming"]
status: "published"
slug: "my-blog-post"
---

# My Blog Post

Your content goes here in **Markdown**.

Frontmatter Fields:

  • title - Post title (required)
  • date - Publication date (auto-generated if not provided)
  • author - Author name (uses blog author if not provided)
  • description - Post description for SEO
  • tags - Array of tags for categorization
  • status - "published" or "draft"
  • slug - URL slug (auto-generated from title if not provided)

Personal Website Content

For personal mode (--personal), use content.md with frontmatter to define your site. See the Themes Guide for detailed examples.

Search

Blogr includes a powerful client-side full-text search feature powered by MiniSearch. Search is enabled by default and works entirely in the browser without requiring a server.

Features:

  • Full-text search across post titles, tags, and content
  • Real-time results as you type
  • Keyboard navigation (use / to focus search)
  • Smart excerpts with highlighted search terms
  • Lazy loading for better performance

For detailed search configuration and troubleshooting, see the Search Feature Guide.

Themes

Blogr comes with 7 built-in themes designed for different purposes:

Blog Themes:

  • Minimal Retro (default) - Clean, artistic design with retro aesthetics
  • Obsidian - Compatible with Obsidian community themes
  • Terminal Candy - Quirky terminal-inspired theme with pastel colors

Personal Website Themes:

  • Dark Minimal (default) - Dark minimalist-maximalist with cyberpunk aesthetics
  • Musashi - Dynamic modern theme with smooth animations
  • Slate Portfolio - Glassmorphic professional portfolio theme
  • Typewriter - Vintage typewriter aesthetics with nostalgic charm

For detailed theme information, customization options, and setup instructions, see the Themes Guide.

Newsletter System

Blogr includes a comprehensive email newsletter system that allows you to collect subscribers, manage them through an approval interface, and send newsletters based on your blog posts or custom content.

Features:

  • Email subscription collection via IMAP
  • Interactive approval interface for subscriber requests
  • Automatic newsletters from latest blog posts
  • Custom newsletter creation with Markdown content
  • SMTP integration for reliable email delivery
  • Import/export from popular services (Mailchimp, ConvertKit, etc.)
  • REST API for external integrations
  • Extensible plugin system

For detailed newsletter setup, configuration, and usage, see the Newsletter System Guide.

Deployment

GitHub Pages (recommended)

  1. Set up GitHub token:

    export GITHUB_TOKEN=your_token

    Get a token at https://github.com/settings/tokens (needs repo and workflow scopes)

  2. Deploy:

    blogr deploy

Your blog will be available at https://yourusername.github.io/repository

Custom Domains

  1. Configure domain: blogr config domain set yourdomain.com
  2. Set up DNS records (A records for apex domains, CNAME for subdomains)
  3. Deploy and configure in GitHub repository Settings → Pages → Custom domain

Manual Deployment

blogr build
# Copy contents of `dist/` folder to your web server

Development

Build from source:

git clone https://github.com/bahdotsh/blogr.git
cd blogr
cargo build --release

Run tests:

cargo test

Code structure:

  • blogr-cli/ - Main CLI application
  • blogr-themes/ - Theme system

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! See CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.

Areas to help:

  • New themes
  • Features and bug fixes
  • Documentation
  • Testing

Changelog

v0.4.0 (Latest)

New Features:

  • Typewriter Theme: Vintage typewriter-inspired theme for personal websites with nostalgic aesthetics
  • Blog Link Support: All personal website themes now support a blog link in social links
  • Content.md Override: Personal mode now uses title and description from content.md instead of blogr.toml
  • Conditional Separators: Typewriter theme displays separator lines only when sections are present

Improvements:

  • Better theme organization with clear separation between blog and personal themes
  • Enhanced personal website customization options
  • Improved documentation for all themes

Themes:

  • Blog themes: Minimal Retro, Obsidian, Terminal Candy
  • Personal themes: Dark Minimal, Musashi, Slate Portfolio, Typewriter

Previous Versions

See blogr-themes/README.md for detailed theme changelog.

License

MIT License - see LICENSE for details.

Links

Built with Rust 🦀

About

Write, edit, and publish your blog without ever leaving your terminal!

github.com/bahdotsh/blogr

Topics

blog rust cli static-site-generator documentation-tool tui blog-engine newsletter hacktoberfest ssg ssg-build ratatui

Resources

Readme

License

MIT license

Contributing

Contributing
Activity

Stars

225 stars

Watchers

3 watching

Forks

15 forks
Report repository

Releases 8

Release v0.4.1 Latest
Oct 4, 2025
+ 7 releases

Packages

No packages published

Contributors 6

Languages