Getting Started

· 3 min read

This guide will take you from zero to a running Sidey site, without prior Astro knowledge required.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, make sure you have the following installed:

  • Node.js v22.12.0 or higher
  • Text editor
  • Terminal
  • GitHub Account (Optional)

Installation

Sidey is a GitHub template. Head over to the astro-sidey repository and click Use this template to create a new repository from it.

Then clone your new repository and install dependencies:

Terminal window
git clone https://github.com/your-username/your-repo.git
cd your-repo
npm install

If you don’t have a GitHub account, you can download the repository directly instead. Go to the astro-sidey repository, click Code and select Download ZIP. Extract the folder, open it in your terminal, and run:

Terminal window
npm install

Configure your site

Open sidey.config.ts at the root of the project. This is the only file you need to touch to make Sidey yours.

sidey.config.ts
export const sideyConfig = {
  site: {
    title: "Your site title",
    description: "Your site description.",
    url: "https://yoursite.com",
    author: "Your Name",
    locale: "en",
  },
7 collapsed lines
  navigation: [
    { label: "Home", href: "/" },
    { label: "Writings", href: "/writings" },
    { label: "About", href: "/about" },
    { label: "RSS", href: "/rss.xml" },
  ],
}

Fill in your details and save. That is the whole setup.

Run the dev server

Terminal window
npm run dev

Open http://localhost:4321 in your browser and you should see your site running.

Your first page

All content lives in src/content. The folder structure is the URL structure (more about this in Content Structure). Create a new writing page with this command:

Terminal window
npm run new

You will be prompted to enter a title, description, and tags for your new writing page. After that, you can start writing your content in the src/content/writings/your-first-post-title.mdx file.

your-first-post-title.mdx
---
title: "Your First Post Title"
description: "Hello, world."
date: 2026-01-15
tags: ["first-tag", "second-tag"]
draft: false
---


The rest of your content goes here.

Save the file and visit your live page, listed at /writings

Drafts

Set draft: true in any frontmatter to hide a page from the build. It will not appear in listing pages or the RSS feed. Remove it or set it to false when you are ready to publish.

Default pages

Sidey comes with two default pages ready to edit.

src/pages/index.mdx is your index page at /. Open it and replace the content with your own introduction. src/pages/about.mdx is your about page at /about. Tell your readers who you are and what this site is about.

Both files use the SinglePage layout, which renders them with the default page layout.

RSS Feed and Sitemap

Sidey includes a built-in RSS feed at /rss.xml and a sitemap at /sitemap-index.xml. Both are generated automatically from your content. No extra configuration needed.

Deployment

Sidey is a static site. Run the build command to generate the output:

Terminal window
npm run build

The output is in the dist/ folder. Deploy it anywhere that supports static hosting. Cloudflare Pages support deploying directly from a GitHub repository with no extra configuration.

#sidey #astro
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