SEP 26 2026

Getting Started: Installation and Deployment

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Part of the Docs series
  1. Introduction: Why Choose the Bellwether?
  2. Getting Started: Installation and Deployment
  3. Project Structure: Finding Your Way Around
  4. The Bells and Whistles
  5. Make Your Site Your Own
  6. More Resources

Install and Run Locally

Install Node.js

You will need Node.js, version 18 or higher, to install 11ty. You can check if you have Node installed, and what version, by running the command node -v in a terminal.

A response of Command 'node' not found means Node is not installed on your system, and you need to install in the link above. A response of v22.17.0 or something similar means you are good to go, but if the first number directly after the v is less than 18, you will need to install the latest version in the link above.

Node.js is a JavasScript runtime that allows users to run javascript outside of the browser. The part we need to worry about is that it comes with the node package manager, or npm.

Install The Bellwether

First, download the Github repository to your local system. You can do this in a couple of different ways:

In your terminal, navigate to The Bellwether's top-level directory, then run npm i or npm install. This will read the package.json file and install all the dependencies that make The Bellwether work, including 11ty. Once it runs, you will notice a node_modules/ folder that will include all the external dependencies needed to run your site.

Building the Site and Viewing on a Local Server

The documents in the directory now are your pre-processing -- or source -- files that will be used to build the site. In your terminal, run npm run dev.

When you do this, two things will happen:

In a web browser, navigate to https://localhost:8080 to view The Bellwether on your local server. Right now, it should be identical to this website. Any changes you make to the pre-processing files that change your site's build will update the site live as long as the server is open.

Close the server by pressing Ctrl+c.

You should never make changes to any files in the _site folder directly. Any time you make changes to your source files, you can run npm run dev to build your site and see the changes. If you only want to build the site without opening a server, you can run npm run build.

Deploying Your Site

There are a range of options when it comes to hosting your site. I'll go over the two main categories of hosting providers, and give a list of each with links to learn more.

Static (Traditional) Hosting Providers

On a traditional hosting platform, all you need to do is upload the contents of your _site folder to your hosted server. If you choose this method, all updates can be completed locally -- there is no need to upload your source files to an online directory.

Jamstack Providers

A jamstack provider builds your site by running the 11ty command automatically whenever you commit or push changes into the online repository where you keep your source files (so not the _site directory).

Providers where you can keep your source repository:

Jamstack hosting providers: