๐ง (Alpha stage software) fastn ๐๏ธ - better way to build websites ๐ง
fastn - Full-stack Web Development Made Easy
fastn is a programming language and a web-framework for building user interfaces and content-centric websites. fastn is easy to learn, especially for non-programmers, but does not compromise on what you can build with it.
Install from https://fastn.com/install/ or download directly from GitHub Releases.
Features
Minimal Syntax
A Hello World program in fastn:
;; comments begin with ;;
;; save this file as index.ftd
-- ftd.text: Hello World! ๐You'll also need a FASTN.ftd file that stores information about your fastn package:
-- import: fastn
;; your package name -- fastn.package: my-first-fastn-package
Save these two files and run fastn serve from the project dir. Visit the printed URL and you'll see "Hello World! ๐" printed in your browser.
In addition to ftd.text, other kernel components exist that helps you create UIs. You can learn about them at https://fastn.com/kernel/.
You can create custom components on top of these kernel components:
;; Component Definition
-- component card:
;; these are the arguments along with their types. caption is just string
;; with a special position
caption title:
;; ftd.image-src is a record type that allows you to specify two image urls,
;; for dark and light mode.
ftd.image-src background:
;; body is a string type but gets a special position to help you write
;; multi-line texts.
body description:
;; component body begins after a newline -- ftd.column:
-- ftd.image: src: $card.background
-- ftd.text: $card.title role: h2
-- ftd.text: $card.description
-- end: ftd.column
-- end: card
;; This is how you call the card component -- card: Hello world! markdown is supported! ;; $fastn-assets is a special import. See: https://fastn.com/assets/ background: $fastn-assets.files.images.fastn.svg
A body is just a string type but gets a special position to help you write multi-line texts. And markdown is supported so I can ask for donation! ;)
If you had used string instead of caption and body, then you'd have to do:
-- card:
title: Hello world! markdown is supported!
background: $fastn-assets.files.images.fastn.svg
-- card.body:
A body is just a string type but gets a special position to help you write multi-line texts. And markdown is supported so I can ask for donation! ;)
-- end: card
You can learn more about built in data types at https://fastn.com/built-in-types/.
A short language tour is available at https://fastn.com/geeks/.
Routing
fastn support file-system based routing. For the following fs hierarchy:
โโโ ednet
โย ย โโโ intro.ftd
โย ย โโโ xray.ftd
โโโ fastn
โย ย โโโ index.ftd
โโโ FASTN.ftd
โโโ index.ftd
โโโ new.png/ednet/{intro, xray}, /fastn/, / and /new.png URLs will be served by fastn serve webserver automatically.
fastn also supports dynamic-urls, sitemap and, url-mappings.
Processors
processors are executed on the server side, and can be used to fetch data from APIs, databases, or any other source. They are used to collect data before rendering it on the client side.
-- import: fastn/processors
-- record user: string email: string name:
-- user my-user: $processor$: processors.http url: https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/users/1
-- ftd.text: $my-user.email
See https://fastn.com/http/ to learn more about the http and other processors.
fastn for Static Sites
fastn websites can be compiled into static html, css and, js and can be deployed on any static hosting providers like Github Pages and Vercel.
More Features
- Support for custom backends using WASM and
ft-sdk. - Support for custom css and js. See https://fastn.com/use-js-css/.
- First class support for for web-components. See https://fastn.com/web-component/.
- Easy to migrate from a static site generator like 11ty, Hugo, etc.
- Built-in package management system, opinionated design
fastn 0.5
We're currently working on fastn 0.5. It will add support for making offline-first p2p apps based on iroh and automerge along with some breaking changes to the language.
To learn more, see:
FifthTry Hosting
We, FifthTry also offer our own hosting solution for your static and dynamic sites. Using FifthTry hosting frees you from devops needs, and you get a fully integrated, managed hosting solution, that a non-programmers can use with ease.
Contributors
License
This project is licensed under the terms of the UPL-1.0.
