^{How to Build Awesome} Minimal yet long-living starters _{that support continuous updates and evolve with your project
based on Eleventy Blades plugin}

^{Table of Contents}

The problem of "maintenance trap" #

Why traditional starters might fail? Once a user clones a repo, they are "orphaned" from the original source. If a security patch or a new 11ty version comes out, the user has to manually port those changes into their "off-road", customized codebase.

The solution #

For a starter to evolve, it must be "pluggable" — allowing users to toggle/override features without touching the core reusable code.

First of all, let's separate all 11ty-specific yet generic enough components into separate 11ty plugin, so it can be highly reused across many different sites and even starters:

This way your generic 11ty config, filters, shortcodes, transforms, and even npm scripts live in a separate npm package.

So that the user’s project directory stays clean. Updating the "starter" is as simple as running npm update.

Same for generic "utility" templates, which can be potentially shared even outside of 11ty ecosystem:

Living examples #

🥷 Build Awesome Starter #

Modern, lightweight Eleventy v4 starter with Tailwind/Pico, Blades, CMS and multisiting 🥷

Killer features #

1. Eleventy v4 by default
   ^{both v4 (Build Awesome) & v3 supported}
2. "Thin client" architecture
   ^{thanks Blades[-plugin] for reusability}
3. Tailwind v4 included
   ^{with Typography plugin & Blades[-kit]}
4. Sveltia CMS included
   ^{modern Decap/Netlify CMS successor}
5. Multisite support
   ^{thanks to symlink-based setup}
6. One-click start
   

How it works? #

Build Awesome Starter is an advanced version of 🥷 Bladeswitch starter:

• BUT focusing exclusively on Eleventy v4 and adding Tailwind v4 support.
• It reuses same Blades[-plugin] to symlink eleventy.config.js by default (so you don't have to maintain it anymore!)
• It also reuses Nunjucks version of the same universal Blades[-kit]:
  • universal means you can switch .njk to .liquid any time
  • universal also means you can switch from Tailwind to Pico.css or even bare-metal Blades[.css]

Local development #

As simple as:

npm install    # dependencies
npm start      # development
npm run stage  # serve production version locally
               # ready to deploy! 🚀

CMS will be available locally at http://localhost:8080/admin/ (or similar port).

Showcase #

any.digital    🥷 blades.ninja    minform.hostfurl.com   

More info #

Repository: /anyblades/build-awesome-starter

Found it useful? Give a

Featured by:

• /starters and blog
• /docs/starter
• /en/docs/start for 11ty
• /11ty/#min-starters
• bladeswitch.com starter
• /johnheenan/minform starter
• /hostfurl/minformhf starter
• 🕶️ awesome-eleventy

Support:

• /orgs/anyblades/discussions for questions and ideas
• /anyblades/build-awesome-starter/issues for change requests or bug reports
• /blog/discord for 11ty community support
• /en/support for Sveltia CMS community support

License: MIT

🥷 Bladeswitch #

Ultra-lightweight Blades starter compatible with BOTH Jekyll˂˂and˃˃11ty (Build Awesome) at the same time.

Killer features #

Easy to start, easy to switch:

It allows you to develop locally without Ruby friction (thanks to 11ty), and deploy natively to GitHub Pages using built-in Jekyll engine — no GitHub Actions required!

Also includes Sveltia CMS. All of this — with only 3 direct dependencies:

Minimal dependencies #

1. pages-gem-jekyll
via Gemfile

1. eleventy-blades
via package.json

2. blades.css⁺
as remote_theme via _config.yml or via package.json for 11ty

3. pico.css optional
from CDN via _data/site.yml

Quick start #

All you need #

_includes/
└── default.liquid    # YOUR layout template
_data/site.yml        # YOUR site-wide metadata
*.md                  # YOUR content (editable via CMS!)

Under the hood:

_config.yml           # Jekyll config
Gemfile               # Jekyll gems
package.json          # 11ty packages
admin/                # Sveltia CMS configs

More info #

/anyblades/bladeswitch

Featured by:

• /starters
• /docs/starter
• jekyll-themes.com
• /en/docs/start for 11ty & Jekyll
• build.blades.ninja starter
• /tricks/build-awesome-11ty/#min-starters
• /anydigital/awesome-11ty-build-awesome

Minform starter #

A very minimalist approach to adding in forms templating to a website starter template that supports markdown.

/johnheenan/minform

^{Comparison of} Best minimal starters _{as of April 2026} #

Eleventy ecosystem offers a wide variety of starters.

Not sure where to begin? Start with a minimal template:

Repo	Stats	npm Dependencies	Custom CSS	Custom JS	Custom Templates	What's Included?
/anyblades/build-awesome-starter		~10	~30 lines ♻️ uses tailwind & blades[.css]	0 ♻️ uses eleventy-blades	~10 lines ♻️ uses blades[.njk]	Sveltia CMS
/11ty/eleventy-base-blog		~10	~300 lines	~200 lines	~200 lines uses .njk
/MWDelaney/zeropoint		~15	~200 lines	~300 lines	~250 lines uses .njk
/anyblades/bladeswitch		3 ♻️	0 ♻️ uses pico.css & blades[.css]	0 ♻️ uses eleventy-blades	~15 lines ♻️ uses blades[.liquid|.njk]	Sveltia CMS
Not up-to-date:
/danurbanowicz/eleventy-sveltia-cms-starter		~10	~150 lines	~130 lines	~250 lines uses .njk	Sveltia CMS
Not so minimal:
/scottsweb/elva		~25 ⚠️	~1000 lines ⚠️	~30 files ⚠️	~20 files	Front Matter CMS local use only
/madrilene/eleventy-excellent		~40 ⚠️	~40 files ⚠️	~40 files ⚠️	~40 files ⚠️
/adamstddrd/grease		~5 ♻️	~25 files ⚠️	~15 files	~15 files
/nhoizey/pack11ty		~15	~30 files ⚠️	~10 files	~10 files