FAQs

I already have a Next.js Markdown blog, how do I start using Outstatic?

Follow the Add to Next.js documentation. Once finished, log in to your Outstatic dashboard, create collections that match your content and then copy the .md files into the collection directories inside /outstatic/content, for example: /outstatic/content/blog/my-blog-post.md.

Don't forget to recreate the Metadata Database with your new posts by going to Settings > Rebuild Metadata:

This will create a metadata.json file inside of outstatic/content in your GitHub repository. You should pull the changes to your local install to be able to use the Metadata DB.

Where is the data stored?

All your Outstatic documents and collections are saved as Markdown files in your GitHub repository. In other words, all saved content creates a commit. The commit message specifies the collection and document that is created, for example, if your document is in the recipes collection the commit message would be: feat(recipes): apple-pie-recipeo

For convenience we also store metadata in a metadata.json file to be used with our Advanced Data Fetching methods.

Can I host my Outstatic website on a provider other than Vercel?

Yes. We have seen examples of websites being launched on Netlify and other providers.

We specified Vercel on the documentation as it is the only platform we've tried Outstatic on. I don't see why it wouldn't work on other or your own preferred setup.

If you try a different hosting/deploy approach, please let us know

Troubleshooting Login and Repository Access Issues.

Many users encounter login issues due to either missing the correct environment variables or lacking the necessary permissions for a repository.

If you're using Outstatic with a GitHub repository you don't own, ensure you've set the OST_REPO_OWNER environment variable to the repository's owner.

For repositories you own, ensure the OST_REPO_SLUG environment variable reflects the correct repository name. Remember, the repository name shouldn't include the username. For instance, use outstatic instead of avitorio/outstatic for the OST_REPO_SLUG.

Lastly, if you're attempting to access a repository you don't own, ensure the repository owner has granted you collaborator access. Without this, you won't have full dashboard access.

Important: Don't forget to redeploy your website or restart your server after making changes to your environment variables.