Jamstack
Design Processes
Building websites as pre-rendered files served from a CDN, with dynamic parts handled by APIs.
In practice
Jamstack — JavaScript, APIs, Markup — is an architecture where pages are generated ahead of time, pushed to a global edge network, and enhanced in the browser with API calls for anything live. The result is fast, cheap to host and hard to take down, which is why most modern portfolio and marketing sites are built this way, often without using the name.
Questions
What is Jamstack?
Jamstack is a web architecture based on pre-built static markup delivered from a CDN, with JavaScript and third-party APIs supplying dynamic behaviour.
Why do you use Jamstack?
Speed and resilience without servers to manage. A pre-rendered page cannot be slow to generate or fall over under load.
How do you use/apply Jamstack?
Generate pages at build time from your content source, deploy to an edge host, and reach for client-side calls or serverless functions only where something must be live.
When do you use Jamstack?
For content-led sites, portfolios, documentation and marketing. Less naturally for highly personalised or real-time applications.
Who uses Jamstack?
Web designers and front-end developers who want fast sites without infrastructure.
