Build a Static Blog Generator (Python)

Build your own static site generator in Python - parse Markdown posts with frontmatter, render them through templates you wrote yourself, generate an index, tag pages, and an RSS feed, then deploy the finished site for free.

1. What a Generator Actually Is, and Setup Static sites do all their work at build time, once - set up the project folder, a virtual environment, two Markdown posts, and a first script that finds them.
2. Parsing Posts: Frontmatter and Markdown Split frontmatter from the post body, parse the key: value metadata by hand, convert Markdown to HTML with the markdown library, and make bad posts fail loudly.
3. Templates Without a Framework Write a four-line template engine that replaces {{ placeholders }}, build a base layout and a post template, and generate a styled HTML page for every post.
4. The Index, Tags, and an RSS Feed Generate a front page listing every post, a page per tag, and a valid RSS feed with escaped titles and RFC 822 dates - the pages that make it a blog.
5. A Dev Server with Auto-Rebuild Serve the site locally with http.server and add a watcher thread that rebuilds the moment a post, template, or stylesheet changes - save, refresh, done.
6. Deploying, and Where to Take It Put the generated site on the internet for free with Netlify Drop or GitHub Pages - including the subpath gotcha that breaks root-relative links - then the honest list of what to build next.