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🧱 Describe your site, AI builds it, you own it as Markdown. Snap together Tailwind blocks like Lego — landing pages, blogs, portfolios, docs & more. No AI slop. Free to deploy anywhere 👇
An open-source block-based website framework for Hugo that lets you build free static sites from Markdown files, with AI-assisted content generation and 20+ pre-built content types for academics and portfolios.
HugoBlox is an open-source framework for building websites using Hugo, a static site generator. The idea is that you describe what you want, an AI tool called Hugo Chat generates the page content, and the output is stored as plain Markdown files that you own and can edit. Because the final site is static HTML with no server or database required, it can be hosted for free on platforms like Netlify, Vercel, or GitHub Pages.
The framework is built around a block-based layout system using Tailwind CSS, a popular styling toolkit. You can assemble pages by combining pre-built sections: hero banners, feature lists, pricing tables, testimonial blocks, and more. The README positions this as different from AI site builders like Lovable or v0, which tend to generate React code that is hard to maintain, and from platforms like WordPress or Webflow, which lock your content inside a database. With HugoBlox, the content stays as readable Markdown files you can take anywhere.
The framework includes over 20 structured content types with built-in layouts: blog posts, portfolio pages, academic publication pages with citation support, documentation with sidebar navigation, team profile pages, event and talk pages, resume pages, and Jupyter notebook rendering for data science or research content. Academic users are a notable target audience, and the README mentions use by teams at NVIDIA Research and several universities.
Getting started involves either picking a template from the project website or using a command-line tool to scaffold a new site. There is also a VS Code extension called Ownable CMS that provides a visual drag-and-drop editing experience inside the code editor, with live preview and form-based editing for Markdown front matter.
The project is MIT licensed and has been running since 2016, claiming over 150,000 sites built with it.
Where it fits
- Build a free academic website with publication pages, team profiles, and Jupyter notebook rendering hosted on Netlify or GitHub Pages
- Assemble a landing page from pre-built blocks like hero banners, pricing tables, and feature lists without writing code
- Create a blog or portfolio where all content is stored as plain Markdown files you fully own and can move anywhere
- Set up a documentation site with sidebar navigation using pre-built Hugo layouts, no database required