Rocket is in public alpha. Expect APIs and documentation to keep improving before 1.0.

Rocket

Rocket is a static-site metaframework for content sites and Web Component docs: HTML-first, zero JS by default, AI-friendly, and deployable anywhere.

• Start with AI: Copy the starter prompt, paste it into Claude, Cursor, Codex, or another coding agent, and get a deployable Rocket site made of plain files.
• Content first: Write durable pages in Markdown, then opt into JavaScript only when it helps.
• Explicit routes: Each Page owns its public URL with config.path, independent of file location.
• Component loading: Choose server, client, or hydrate:* per Registered Component.
• Modern Web stack: Build on Lit, Vite, and Modern Web tooling without hiding the underlying configuration.

Rocket is not a SPA framework, React/Vite/Astro replacement, or backend application framework. Use it when the output should mostly be static HTML and the source should stay easy for humans and coding agents to inspect.

Five-minute path

Use Start With AI when you want an agent to create the project shell, pages, layout, metadata, and Netlify config for you:

1. Copy the Rocket prompt.
2. Paste it into Claude, Cursor, Codex, or another coding agent with a short Site Brief.
3. Let the agent create the files, run npm run build, and fix failures.
4. Keep the plain Markdown, JavaScript, CSS, and config files afterward.

Rocket requires Node.js 22 or newer.

For a manual project, install the package from npm:

npm install @rocket/js
npx rocket init

rocket init creates a compact Atlas docs starter, including rocket-config.js, docs/pages/sharedData.js, starter Markdown Pages, a static JSON Page for a Request Demo, and a removable project-local Rocket Agent Skill. It also adds npm scripts when the names are available:

{
  "type": "module",
  "scripts": {
    "start": "rocket start",
    "build": "rocket build"
  },
  "dependencies": {
    "@rocket/js": "^0.1.0"
  }
}

The generated rocket-config.js discovers general documentation Pages under docs/pages and colocated component reference Pages under src:

/** @type {import('@rocket/js/types.js').RocketConfig} */
export default {
  includeGlobs: ['docs/pages/**/*.rocket.{md,js}', 'src/**/*.rocket.{md,js}'],
};

The generated docs/pages/index.rocket.md gives you an Atlas hero home Page:

```js server
export const config = {
  path: '/',
  metadata: {
    title: 'Rocket Site',
    description: 'Documentation built with Rocket.',
  },
  menu: {
    iconName: 'house',
    order: 0,
  },
};

import { atlasHeroLayout, atlasHeroComponents } from '@rocket/js/layouts/atlasHero.js';
import { heroData } from './sharedData.js';

export const components = atlasHeroComponents;
export const layout = pageData => atlasHeroLayout(pageData, heroData);
```

# Rocket Site

This starter is rendered with Rocket's Atlas hero layout.

Then run:

npm start
npm run build

The build writes static output to dist/:

dist/
|-- index.html
`-- assets/

Follow the Manual Quick Start when you want to create the smallest working project by hand.

When to use Rocket

Use Rocket for:

• content-first static sites
• documentation sites
• Web Component and design-system docs
• AI-generated sites you want to own afterward
• pages that should ship as HTML before JavaScript

Do not use Rocket for:

• SPA products with complex client-side routing
• backend applications
• projects that need a large plugin ecosystem today
• teams that specifically want React, Astro, Eleventy, or VitePress conventions

Package and dependency philosophy

Rocket optimizes the generated site output, not the npm dependency count. A Rocket project installs @rocket/js and gets the build pipeline, Markdown processing, dev server, Lit-based server rendering, and docs-layout affordances in one package. Visitor pages stay static by default, and browser JavaScript is only emitted for loading strategies you choose.

Status and docs

Rocket is currently in public alpha at 0.1.x. APIs can change before 1.0.0; breaking changes are documented through changesets and release notes.

• Start With AI
• Manual Quick Start
• Build a Site
• Examples
• Reference
• Known Limitations
• Roadmap

Rocket is part of the Modern Web Family.

Working on this repo

npm ci
npm start
npm run types
npm test
npm run lint

npm start runs the Rocket docs site. npm test runs the Node test suite.

🤝 Contributing

We are always looking for contributors of all skill levels! If you're looking to ease your way into the project, try out a good first issue.

If you are interested in helping contribute to Modern Web, please take a look at our Contributing Guide. Also, feel free to drop into Discord and say hi. 👋

Financial Contributors

Become a financial contributor and help us sustain our community. [Contribute]

License

Rocket is released under the MIT License.