Gatsby's default starter
Kick off your project with this default boilerplate. This barebones starter ships with the main Gatsby configuration files you might need.
_Have another more specific idea? You may want to check out our vibrant collection of [official and community-created starters](https://next.gatsbyjs.org/docs/gatsby-starters/)._
## ๐ Quick start
1. **Install the Gatsby CLI.**
The Gatsby CLI helps you create new sites using Gatsby starters (like this one!)
```sh
# install the Gatsby CLI globally
npm install -g gatsby-cli
```
2. **Create a Gatsby site.**
Use the Gatsby CLI to create a new site, specifying the default starter.
```sh
# create a new Gatsby site using the default starter
gatsby new my-default-starter
```
3. **Start developing.**
Navigate into your new siteโs directory and start it up.
```sh
cd my-default-starter/
gatsby develop
```
4. **Open the source code and start editing!**
Your site is now running at `http://localhost:8000`!
*Note: You'll also see a second link: `http://localhost:8000___graphql`. This is a tool you can use to experiment with querying your data. Learn more about using this tool in the [Gatsby tutorial](https://next.gatsbyjs.org/tutorial/part-five/#introducing-graphiql).*
Open the the `my-default-starter` directory in your code editor of choice and edit `src/pages/index.js`. Save your changes and the browser will update in real time!
## ๐ง What's inside?
A quick look at the top-level files and directories you'll see in a Gatsby project.
.
โโโ node_modules
โโโ src
โโโ .gitignore
โโโ .prettierrc
โโโ gatsby-browser.js
โโโ gatsby-config.js
โโโ gatsby-node.js
โโโ gatsby-ssr.js
โโโ LICENSE
โโโ package-lock.json
โโโ package.json
โโโ README.md
โโโ yarn.lock
1. **`/node_modules`**: The directory where all of the modules of code that your project depends on (npm packages) are automatically installed.
2. **`/src`**: This directory will contain all of the code related to what you will see on the front-end of your site (what you see in the browser), like your site header, or a page template. โSrcโ is a convention for โsource codeโ.
3. **`.gitignore`**: This file tells git which files it should not track / not maintain a version history for.
4. **`.prettierrc`**: This is a configuration file for a tool called [Prettier](https://prettier.io/), which is a tool to help keep the formatting of your code consistent.
5. **`gatsby-browser.js`**: This file is where Gatsby expects to find any usage of the [Gatsby browser APIs](https://next.gatsbyjs.org/docs/browser-apis/) (if any). These allow customization/extension of default Gatsby settings affecting the browser.
6. **`gatsby-config.js`**: This is the main configuration file for a Gatsby site. This is where you can specify information about your site (metadata) like the site title and description, which Gatsby plugins youโd like to include, etc. (Check out the [config docs](https://next.gatsbyjs.org/docs/gatsby-config/) for more detail).
7. **`gatsby-node.js`**: This file is where Gatsby expects to find any usage of the [Gatsby node APIs](https://next.gatsbyjs.org/docs/node-apis/) (if any). These allow customization/extension of default Gatsby settings affecting pieces of the site build process.
8. **`gatsby-ssr.js`**: This file is where Gatsby expects to find any usage of the [Gatsby server-side rendering APIs](https://next.gatsbyjs.org/docs/ssr-apis/) (if any). These allow customization of default Gatsby settings affecting server-side rendering.
9. **`LICENSE`**: Gatsby is licensed under the MIT license.
10. **`package-lock.json`** (See `package.json` below, first). This is an automatically generated file based on the exact versions of your npm dependencies that were installed for your project. (You wonโt change this file directly).
11. **`package.json`**: A manifest file for Node.js projects, which includes things like metadata (the projectโs name, author, etc). This manifest is how npm knows which packages to install for your project.
12. **`README.md`**: A text file containing useful reference information about your project.
13. **`yarn.lock`**: [Yarn](https://yarnpkg.com/) is a package manager alternative to npm. You can use either yarn or npm, though all of the Gatsby docs reference npm. This file serves essentially the same purpose as `package-lock.json`, just for a different package management system.
## ๐ Learning Gatsby
Looking for more guidance? Full documentation for Gatsby lives [on the website](https://next.gatsbyjs.org/). Here are some places to start:
- **For most developers, we recommend starting with our [in-depth tutorial for creating a site with Gatsby](https://next.gatsbyjs.org/tutorial/).** It starts with zero assumptions about your level of ability and walks through every step of the process.
- **To dive straight into code samples head [to our documentation](https://next.gatsbyjs.org/docs/).** In particular, check out the โGuidesโ, API reference, and โAdvanced Tutorialsโ sections in the sidebar.
## ๐ซ Deploy
[](https://app.netlify.com/start/deploy?repository=https://github.com/gatsbyjs/gatsby-starter-default)