Building a Static Site Generator

Today I built a simple static site generator using Python, Jinja2, and Markdown.

Why?

Because existing solutions were too complicated. I wanted something simple that:

• Converts Markdown to HTML
• Uses Jinja2 templates
• Supports YAML frontmatter
• Generates a static website

The Tech Stack

• Python 3: For the generator logic
• Jinja2: For templating
• Markdown: For content
• PyYAML: For frontmatter parsing

Code Sample

def generate_site(args):
    content_root = Path(args.content).resolve()
    output_root = Path(args.output).resolve()
    # ... generation logic

Achievements (2026-01-24)

Today I made significant improvements to the generator:

• Multi-user support: Auto-detect user folders (~) and generate individual blogs
• Users section: Main page now lists all detected users
• Cleaner architecture: Removed hardcoded user references, fully dynamic content-driven
• Better navigation: Header links go back appropriately (blog posts → blog index, pages → home)
• Static assets: Proper handling of favicon.ico and logo.png
• Content rendering: Homepage content from markdown, not hardcoded templates
• Date display: Small gray date shown on pages with date metadata
• Simplified config: Removed sections mapping, now generated dynamically from content

The generator is now more flexible and maintainable!

Achievements (2026-01-25) - Open Source Release!

Today I extracted the generator into a standalone open-source project and integrated it back into crap.solutions:

• Created pagegen.py: A no-JS static site generator using Markdown + Jinja2
• v1.0.0 release: Clean release with example content, templates, and documentation
• Bug fixes: Fixed home_link path generation, css_filename configuration loading
• v1.0.1: Added --static argument to override static files directory
• v1.0.2: Added --templates argument and fixed config loading order
• Git submodule integration: crap.solutions now uses pagegen.py as a submodule
• Custom overrides: Site-specific templates (branding, footer) and static files
• Easy updates: Single command to update generator: git submodule update --remote

The generator is now open-source, reusable, and maintainable!