ishi 石
A static site generator that embraces simplicity
About
Most static site generators begin simple and grow complex. They accumulate features — themes, plugins, shortcodes, asset pipelines — until the tool itself becomes the project. Ishi moves in the opposite direction. It is a static site generator that does less with each release, shedding features until only the essential remains: take Markdown files, produce HTML pages.
The name means “stone” in Japanese, and the metaphor is intentional. A stone does not try to be anything other than what it is. It does not adapt to trends or respond to feature requests. It sits, solid and complete, and you build around it. Ishi gives you semantic HTML and a CSS file. What you make of that is your concern.
I built ishi because I wanted to understand what a static site generator truly needs. The answer, it turns out, is very little. A Markdown parser, a template engine, a file watcher for development. Everything else is decoration — pleasant, perhaps, but not necessary. In stripping away the unnecessary, what remains is a tool that is fast, predictable, and small enough to hold entirely in your head.
Compiles to one executable with zero runtime dependencies. Download it, run it. No package managers, no configuration files required.
No themes, no plugins, no template marketplace. Ishi produces clean semantic HTML with a single stylesheet you are meant to edit.
Only rebuilds pages whose source files have changed. A site with a thousand pages rebuilds in milliseconds, not seconds.
Generates a lightweight search index at build time. No JavaScript framework required — just a small vanilla script and a JSON file.
Core language
Markdown parser
Templating engine
File watcher