Install eleventy with Homebrew

Project links

• Homepage
• Repository

Commands and aliases

• eleventy

Project history

The Eleventy repository was created in November 2017. It emerged during a period when static site generators were splitting between Ruby-era tools such as Jekyll, JavaScript build pipelines, and newer content-first approaches.

Eleventy differentiated itself by keeping the build tool close to content: many template languages, no required client-side JavaScript, and a configuration file only when needed. Official releases reached v1.0.0 in January 2022, v2.0.0 in February 2023, and v3.0.0 in October 2024.

By 2026 the GitHub repository had been renamed under the Build Awesome branding, while the public docs and package ecosystem continued to preserve the Eleventy identity and backwards-compatible install path.

Adoption history

Eleventy became popular with web developers who wanted a fast, framework-light static generator that could still fit into npm, Markdown, and modern template workflows. Its official site emphasizes documentation, community channels, plugins, examples, and an npm-distributed package.

The project's adoption is also reflected in its release cadence and compatibility promises: the docs expose stable v3 documentation, older v0-v2 documentation, and v4 prereleases, while the README notes backwards-compatible installation using the historical `@11ty/eleventy` package name.

How it is used

Developers use Eleventy to build blogs, documentation sites, marketing sites, and other mostly-static web projects from source templates. A project can start with content and templates, then add configuration files such as `eleventy.config.js` when it needs collections, passthrough copy, filters, plugins, or custom template behavior.

Package-manager users encounter Eleventy as both a CLI and an npm development dependency. The Homebrew formula exposes the `eleventy` executable, while most JavaScript projects install it locally through npm-compatible package managers.

Why package nerds care

Eleventy is significant because it is a package-manager-native static site generator that stayed deliberately boring in a JavaScript ecosystem often defined by heavy client frameworks. It is also a useful cataloging case: the brand, package name, CLI name, docs site, and renamed GitHub repository do not all use the same string.

Timeline

• 2017: GitHub repository created.
• 2022: Eleventy v1.0.0 released.
• 2023: Eleventy v2.0.0 released.
• 2024: Eleventy v3.0.0 released.
• 2026: v3.1.6 stable and v4.0.0 alpha releases visible in official release metadata.

Related projects

• Eleventy is commonly compared with Jekyll, Hugo, Astro, Next.js static export workflows, and other static site generators. It also sits near Markdown processors, Liquid and Nunjucks templating, npm build tooling, and plugin ecosystems.

Sources

• https://github.com/11ty/buildawesome
• https://github.com/11ty/eleventy
• https://raw.githubusercontent.com/11ty/eleventy/main/README.md
• https://www.11ty.dev/docs/
• https://www.11ty.dev/blog/eleventy-v1/
• https://www.11ty.dev/blog/eleventy-v2/
• https://www.11ty.dev/blog/eleventy-v3/
• https://api.github.com/repos/11ty/eleventy
• https://api.github.com/repos/11ty/eleventy/releases