Setting up a personal website used to mean writing HTML and CSS from scratch, configuring a server, and spending days on design decisions. That has changed. With modern static site generators like Astro and AI-assisted coding tools, a functional blog can go from idea to deployed in an afternoon.
Start with a template
The fastest way to get a site online is to start from a well-built template. Templates handle the hard parts — responsive layouts, SEO metadata, RSS feeds, dark mode — so you can focus on content. AstroPaper is one such template: it ships with search, tags, OG image generation, and a clean design that works out of the box.
Let AI handle the boilerplate
AI coding agents can generate configuration, tweak styles, and scaffold new pages. The key is to use them for the repetitive parts while keeping the creative decisions — tone, structure, what to write about — in human hands. Think first, then let the tools execute.
Deploy and iterate
Once the site looks right locally, deploying to a platform like Vercel or Netlify takes minutes. From there, the workflow is simple: write posts in Markdown, push to git, and let the CI pipeline handle the rest. A personal site becomes a living project that grows over time.