What it’s about
I needed a small and simple portfolio website for my projects and ideas. Outpost is just that.
I also wanted to combine it with learning something new and create a website that’s easy to update without a huge overhead (looking at you, WordPress).
Approach
I went into this project with pretty clear requirements:
- static site builder or framework
- markdown as editing language
- the .md files are the single source of truth
- each project has its own content entry
- full control over content, design and release management
- fast and as simple as possible
Pretty soon, the target tech stack became clear:
- the Astro framework matched these criteria, and the portfolio page was built in a day (idea to first release)
- the project setup and release were done via Claude Code, everything auto-documented
- ChatGPT served as my sparring partner in finding a name and framing the website, even before a single line of code was written or a technical decision was made
- design via Google Stitch, completed via Claude
Learnings
- I was completely new to the Astro framework when I started this
- writing my own project description for this website took even longer than building the website itself