Complete guide to creating and managing your Astrolock site

Astrolock User Guide

Welcome to Astrolock! This guide will help you create, customize, and manage your media-rich static website.

What is Astrolock?

Astrolock is a media blog static site generator designed for creators who want to share audio, images, videos, and text content with a beautiful, fast, and SEO-friendly website.

Perfect for:

🎧 DJs and music producers
📷 Photographers and visual artists
🎥 Video creators and filmmakers
📝 Writers and bloggers
🎙️ Podcasters

Key Features:

Media Collections: Organize audio, images, video, and text
Plugin System: Import from Rekordbox, Apple Photos, Lightroom, and more
Static Site: Fast, secure, and deployable anywhere
CLI-Driven: Simple command-line interface for content management
Customizable: YAML configuration, custom themes, flexible layouts

Quick Start Guide

Tip

New to Astrolock? Follow these three steps in order for the best experience.

Step-by-Step Tutorial

Step 1: Getting Started - Install Astrolock and create your first local site (15 min)
Step 2: Advanced Features - Collections, formatting, and customization (20 min)
Step 3: Deployment - Deploy your site to AWS, Netlify, or Vercel (15 min)

Total time: About 1 hour from zero to deployed site

Additional Resources

Import Tools - Bulk import from Rekordbox, Apple Photos, Lightroom
CLI Reference - Complete command documentation
Troubleshooting - Common issues and solutions

How Astrolock Works

1. Install → astrolock init
2. Configure → Edit .astrolock/astrolock.yaml
3. Create Content → astrolock content [collection] "Title"
4. Preview → astrolock write (localhost:4321)
5. Build → astrolock build
6. Deploy → astrolock deploy [target]

Documentation Structure

Core Tutorial (Start Here)

Follow these guides in order:

Step 1: Getting Started - Install and run locally (no external dependencies needed)
Step 2: Advanced Features - Collections, indexStyle, stock images, CTAText
Step 3: Deployment - Deploy to AWS, Netlify, or Vercel

Supporting Guides

Collections Deep Dive - Complete collections reference
Content Management - Content workflows
Rekordbox Plugin - Automated DJ mix imports

Reference Documentation

CLI Commands - Complete command reference
Collections Config - All collection options
Frontmatter - Available frontmatter fields

Import Tools

Apple Photos - Import from Apple Photos albums
Lightroom - Import Lightroom exports
Rekordbox - Import DJ mixes with cue points
Stock Images - Development placeholders

Common Tasks

Content Creation

# Create blog post
astrolock content blog "My Post Title"

# Create in a collection
astrolock content mixes "Friday Night Mix"
astrolock content galleries "Vacation Photos"
astrolock content podcasts "Episode 1"

Site Management

# Start development server
astrolock write

# Build for production
astrolock build

# Preview production build
astrolock preview

# Deploy to hosting
astrolock deploy production

Content Organization

# List content
astrolock list mixes

# Publish content
astrolock publish mixes/my-mix

# Unpublish (hide) content
astrolock unpublish mixes/my-mix

Example Sites

Astrolock can power many types of sites:

DJ/Music Producer

Collections: mixes, tracks, live-sets
Features: Rekordbox import, genre tagging, tracklists
Example: Weekly podcast series with automatic tracklisting

Photographer

Collections: portraits, landscapes, events
Features: Portfolio grid view, image optimization, galleries
Example: Photography portfolio with categorized work

Video Creator

Collections: tutorials, vlogs, shorts
Features: Video embedding, chapters, series organization
Example: Tutorial library with organized categories

Multi-Media Creator

Collections: blog, mixes, photos, videos
Features: All of the above combined
Example: Personal brand site with diverse content types

Getting Help

Documentation

User Guide (you are here) - Complete user documentation
Developer Guide - Technical documentation for Astrolock development
Command Reference - Run astrolock --help

Common Questions

“Where are my files?”

Content: content/[collection]/
Media: public/audio|images|video/content/[collection]/
Config: .astrolock/astrolock.yaml

“How do I deploy my site?”

See Step 3: Deployment
For advanced setup: Astrolock Documentation

“Can I customize the theme?”

Yes! Theme customization guide coming soon
Edit the astrolock.yaml values to change defaults

“How do I import from [platform]?”

Rekordbox: Rekordbox Plugin Guide
Apple Photos: Run astrolock import apple-photos
Lightroom: Run astrolock import lightroom
Other platforms: Import plugins coming soon

Next Steps

New to Astrolock?

Start with the step-by-step tutorial:

Already familiar?

Create content: astrolock content blog "Hello World"
Start dev server: astrolock write
Visit: http://localhost:4321

Need help?

Quick reference: astrolock --help
Troubleshooting: Common issues and solutions
Full docs: CLI Reference

Happy creating! 🚀