Gatsby Technology Intelligence

What is Gatsby?

Gatsby is a React-based static site generator that helps developers build blazing fast websites and apps. It combines static HTML generation with React hydration, creating sites that load quickly and become fully interactive single-page applications.

Created by Kyle Mathews in 2015 and backed by Gatsby Inc., the framework pioneered the Jamstack approach to web development. Gatsby's data layer uses GraphQL to pull content from any source—CMSs, APIs, databases, or local files—at build time. Despite competition from Next.js and Astro, Gatsby remains popular for content-rich sites and has evolved with Gatsby Cloud for deployment and Gatsby Functions for serverless capabilities.

Key Features

Data Layer

• GraphQL: Unified data querying
• Source Plugins: Connect any data source
• Transformer Plugins: Process and transform data
• Static Queries: Component-level data fetching

Performance

• Prefetching: Predictive page loading
• Image Optimization: Lazy loading, responsive images
• Code Splitting: Automatic route-based splitting
• Asset Pipeline: Optimized CSS, JS, fonts

Build System

• Incremental Builds: Rebuild only changed pages
• Deferred Static Generation: Build pages on demand
• Parallel Processing: Multi-core builds
• Build Caching: Faster subsequent builds

Developer Experience

• Hot reloading
• GraphiQL IDE
• Extensive plugin ecosystem
• TypeScript support

Use Cases

Marketing Websites

Marketing teams build high-performance landing pages with Gatsby. The image optimization and Core Web Vitals focus improves SEO rankings and conversion rates.

Documentation Sites

Technical documentation benefits from Gatsby's Markdown processing. gatsby-remark plugins handle code highlighting, diagrams, and interactive examples.

E-commerce

Online stores integrate Gatsby with Shopify, BigCommerce, or custom backends. Product pages generate at build time with real-time cart functionality.

Blogs

Content creators publish blogs with CMS integration. WordPress, Contentful, and Sanity content flows through GraphQL into optimized static pages.

Portfolio Sites

Designers and developers showcase work with Gatsby's image handling. The gatsby-image component creates responsive, lazy-loaded galleries.

Corporate Websites

Enterprises build multi-language corporate sites. The i18n plugin ecosystem and content sourcing flexibility suit complex content structures.

Code Examples

Page Query

// src/templates/blog-post.js
import React from 'react';
import { graphql } from 'gatsby';

export default function BlogPost({ data }) {
    const post = data.markdownRemark;
    return (
        <article>
            <h1>{post.frontmatter.title}</h1>
            <div dangerouslySetInnerHTML={{ __html: post.html }} />
        </article>
    );
}

export const query = graphql`
    query BlogPostQuery($slug: String!) {
        markdownRemark(fields: { slug: { eq: $slug } }) {
            html
            frontmatter {
                title
                date(formatString: "MMMM DD, YYYY")
            }
        }
    }
`;

Static Query Hook

import { useStaticQuery, graphql } from 'gatsby';

export function useSiteMetadata() {
    const data = useStaticQuery(graphql`
        query {
            site {
                siteMetadata {
                    title
                    description
                    author
                }
            }
        }
    `);
    return data.site.siteMetadata;
}

Gatsby Image

import { GatsbyImage, getImage } from 'gatsby-plugin-image';

export default function HeroImage({ data }) {
    const image = getImage(data.heroImage);
    return (
        <GatsbyImage
            image={image}
            alt="Hero image"
            placeholder="blurred"
        />
    );
}

gatsby-node.js

exports.createPages = async ({ graphql, actions }) => {
    const { createPage } = actions;

    const result = await graphql(`
        query {
            allMarkdownRemark {
                nodes { fields { slug } }
            }
        }
    `);

    result.data.allMarkdownRemark.nodes.forEach(node => {
        createPage({
            path: `/blog${node.fields.slug}`,
            component: require.resolve('./src/templates/blog-post.js'),
            context: { slug: node.fields.slug }
        });
    });
};

Comparison and Ecosystem

Plugin Ecosystem

• Source Plugins: Contentful, WordPress, Shopify
• Transformers: Markdown, images, JSON
• Functionality: SEO, analytics, PWA
• Themes: Pre-configured starters

Gatsby vs Next.js

• Rendering: Gatsby SSG-focused, Next.js flexible
• Data: Gatsby GraphQL, Next.js any method
• Build: Gatsby longer builds, Next.js faster
• Use Case: Gatsby content sites, Next.js apps

Gatsby vs Astro

• JavaScript: Gatsby ships React, Astro minimal
• Performance: Astro faster initial load
• Data: Gatsby GraphQL, Astro any
• Ecosystem: Gatsby more plugins

Advantages

• Rich plugin ecosystem
• Excellent image handling
• GraphQL data unification
• Large community

Considerations

• Slow builds for large sites
• GraphQL learning curve
• Heavy initial JavaScript
• Complexity for simple sites