Dark Mode Toggle

Installing blogmaker, Vitalik Buterin's free-to-use, self-made software package

2022 Aug 05 See all posts

Installing blogmaker, Vitalik Buterin's free-to-use, self-made software package

Vitalik Buterin posts some of the most widely-read blogposts on his personal website. I have long been curious, what kind of blogging software is good enough for the co-creator of Ethereum?

Last month, my friend Luke and I were chatting on Twitter about his project Adams Exchange. I asked if anybody knew what Vitalik's website uses. The man himself kindly responded with a link to his GitHub repository!

tl;dr

This is an every-keystroke tutorial for setting up Vitalik Buterin's free blogging software.

328 lines of python code (<10KB) implements the entire CMS. The README reassures: "This is an ultra-simple self-hosted blog publishing solution."

(Optionally) pay for your own domain name. Everything else is zero-cost upfront. The setup scales with your needs, while add-on services may cost extra.

Preliminaries

Click to expand

This tutorial will not cover, but expects you are able to:

install WSL2 ("Ubuntu like" on Windows hardware)
set up GitHub, including SSH keys for git CLI
create a DigitalOcean account
[OPTIONAL] purchase a domain name (remember to setup 2FA, also called Two-Step Verification)
[OPTIONAL] install VS Code for Linux, which can be useful for working with Markdown + GitHub

There are plenty of guides online for each of these steps.

Step 1: install `blogmaker`

Click to expand

commands to enter in Terminal, from your working directory:

git clone https://github.com/vbuterin/blogmaker.git

cd blogmaker

mkdir images

vi posts/hello.md

edit publish.py , changing line 253 from:

os.system('rsync -av site/. {}:{}'.format(global_config['server'], global_config['website_root']))

to:

os.system('rsync -av site/. {}'.format(global_config['website_root']))

Step 2: create local folder for blog files

Click to expand

commands to enter in Terminal, from your working directory:

git clone https://github.com/digitalocean/sample-html.git artlu-blog

cd artlu-blog

rm color.gif index.html

[OPTIONAL] nobody will ever see this, as we will set up a private repo

vi README.md

edit .npmignore to delete the row which mentions color.gif

Step 3: run `blogmaker`

Click to expand

commands to enter in Terminal:

cd ~/blogmaker

./publish.py posts/*

./publish.py --sync

Step 4: create a new repository + push to GitHub

Click to expand

go to your GitHub account and create a New repository
set it to private
do not initialize with README, .gitignore, or license. This repo will only contain blogmaker static HTML outputs

commands to enter in Terminal:

cd ~/artlu-blog

rm -rf .git

git init

git add --all

git commit -m "first commit"

git branch -M main

git remote add origin git@github.com:[GH_ACCOUNT]/artlu-blogmaker.git

git push -u origin main

Step 5: tell DigitalOcean which repo to watch for updates

Click to expand

commands to enter in Terminal:

cd ~/artlu-blog

vi .do/app.yaml

name: artlu-blogmaker
static_sites:
- environment_slug: html
  github:
    branch: main
    deploy_on_push: true
    repo: [GH_ACCOUNT]/artlu-blogmaker
  name: artlu-blogmaker

vi .do/deploy.template.yaml

spec:
  name: artlu-blogmaker
  static_sites:
  - environment_slug: html
    git:
      branch: main
      repo_clone_url: https://github.com/[GH_ACCOUNT]/artlu-blogmaker.git
    name: artlu-blogmaker

git commit -a -m "tell DO how to find GH repo"

git push

Step 6: create DigitalOcean App

Click to expand

Navigate to cloud.digitalocean.com/projects -> Create -> Apps

select GitHub, and Edit Your GitHub Permissions
select the Repository we just created (Autodeploy should be checked)

enter App Info - Name can only contain lowercase alphanumeric characters and dashes
[CHECK] Billing should be zero under the Starter Plan
click Create Resources (should take ~30 seconds)
load Live App

[OPTIONAL] Step 7: add your own domain name

Click to expand

under your App, look for App Settings and Domains
click Add Domain, follow DigitalOcean instructions to update name servers
it should take ~15 mins to deploy
if you get an error like "This site can't provide a secure connection", this is usually due to a recently created CNAME. It should clear up in 30-90 minutes.
If you don't add your own domain name, go back and update [domain] in config.md. Rebuild the feeds.

Your blog is now ready!

Comments welcome on Twitter and Lens Protocol.

Next steps:

write, teach, post
run a local server to preview before sharing with the entire internet
upgrade to a static site generator with more features (e.g., Hugo or Gatsby)

Art Lu made this tutorial.

Installing blogmaker, Vitalik Buterin's free-to-use, self-made software package

tl;dr

Preliminaries

Step 1: install blogmaker

Step 2: create local folder for blog files

Step 3: run blogmaker

Step 4: create a new repository + push to GitHub

Step 5: tell DigitalOcean which repo to watch for updates

Step 6: create DigitalOcean App

[OPTIONAL] Step 7: add your own domain name

Your blog is now ready!

Next steps:

Step 1: install `blogmaker`

Step 3: run `blogmaker`