SSG Tutorial with Gatsby and WordPress

Contents

SSG Tutorial with Gatsby and WordPress

Static Site Generators (SSGs) have revolutionized the way we build fast, secure, and scalable websites. In this tutorial, we will explore how to leverage Gatsby—a React-based SSG—and WordPress—used as a headless Content Management System (CMS)—to create a production-ready static site. This guide is aimed at developers who want a detailed, step-by-step approach combined with best practices, advanced tips, and deployment strategies.

Introduction to SSGs and Headless WordPress
Why Gatsby WordPress
Prerequisites and Environment Setup
Configuring WordPress as Headless CMS
Bootstrapping a Gatsby Project
Connecting Gatsby to WordPress via GraphQL
Querying and Creating Pages
Image Optimization and Styling
SEO and Metadata
Preview and Incremental Builds
Deployment Strategies
Common Pitfalls and Troubleshooting
Further Resources

1. Introduction to SSGs and Headless WordPress

Static Site Generators transform content and templates into a collection of pre-built pages. Unlike traditional dynamic sites, static pages are served directly from a CDN or web server, resulting in:

Performance: Blazing-fast page loads.
Security: Reduced attack surface—no server-side code execution on each request.
Scalability: Effortless distribution via CDN.

Headless WordPress decouples the content layer (WordPress) from the presentation layer (Gatsby). You continue using WordPress’s familiar admin UI while exposing data through a GraphQL API.

2. Why Gatsby WordPress

React Ecosystem: Build UI components with modern JavaScript.
GraphQL Data Layer: Declarative data fetching, caching, and optimized queries.
Plugin Ecosystem: Rich set of plugins for SEO, images, performance.
Familiar CMS: WordPress powers over 40% of the web no need to retrain content editors.

Learn more at the official Gatsby website: gatsbyjs.com.

3. Prerequisites and Environment Setup

Node.js (v14 recommended)
Gatsby CLI: npm install -g gatsby-cli
WordPress installation (self-hosted or WP Engine, etc.)
Basic knowledge of React, GraphQL, and WordPress admin

4. Configuring WordPress as Headless CMS

To expose WordPress data via GraphQL, install and activate the WPGraphQL plugin.

Login to WordPress Admin rarr Plugins rarr Add New rarr Search “WPGraphQL”.
Install and Activate.
Enable Permalinks: Settings rarr Permalinks rarr Post name.
Configure CORS (if necessary) in wp-config.php or via server headers.

5. Bootstrapping a Gatsby Project

Run the following command to create a new site:

gatsby new my-gatsby-wp https://github.com/gatsbyjs/gatsby-starter-default

Navigate into the folder:

cd my-gatsby-wp

6. Connecting Gatsby to WordPress via GraphQL

Install the source plugin:

npm install gatsby-source-wordpress@latest

Edit gatsby-config.js:

module.exports = {
  plugins: [
    {
      resolve: gatsby-source-wordpress,
      options: {
        url: https://your-wordpress-site.com/graphql,
        schema: { requestConcurrency: 5, timeout: 300000 },
      },
    },
  ],
}

Configuration Options

Option	Description
`url`	GraphQL endpoint of WPGraphQL.
`requestConcurrency`	Number of concurrent requests.
`timeout`	Request timeout in ms.

7. Querying and Creating Pages

Gatsby automatically infers a GraphQL schema. Test queries via the GraphiQL IDE at http://localhost:8000/___graphql.

Sample query to fetch posts:

{
  allWpPost {
    nodes {
      id
      title
      slug
      excerpt
      date(formatString: MMMM DD, YYYY)
    }
  }
}

Create pages dynamically in gatsby-node.js:

exports.createPages = async ({ graphql, actions }) => {
  const { createPage } = actions
  const result = await graphql(
    {
      allWpPost {
        nodes {
          slug
        }
      }
    }
  )
  result.data.allWpPost.nodes.forEach(post => {
    createPage({
      path: /blog/{post.slug}/,
      component: require.resolve(./src/templates/post.js),
      context: { slug: post.slug },
    })
  })
}

8. Image Optimization and Styling

Install gatsby-plugin-image, gatsby-plugin-sharp, gatsby-transformer-sharp.
Query images with GatsbyImage component.

Sample image query:

{
  wpMediaItem {
    localFile {
      childImageSharp {
        gatsbyImageData(width: 800)
      }
    }
  }
}

9. SEO and Metadata

Use gatsby-plugin-react-helmet for managing document head. Install:

npm install gatsby-plugin-react-helmet react-helmet

Configure in gatsby-config.js and add metadata in each page or template:

import { Helmet } from react-helmet

export default function PostTemplate({ data }) {
  const post = data.wpPost
  return (
    <>
      
        {post.seo.title}
        
      
      ...
    
  )
}

10. Preview and Incremental Builds

For real-time previews, consider Gatsby Preview or Gatsby Cloud. They support Incremental Builds—rebuilding only changed content for lightning-fast updates.

11. Deployment Strategies

Netlify: Continuous deployment via Git integration.
Vercel: Easy rollbacks and preview URLs.
GitHub Pages: Suitable for small personal blogs.

In most cases, connect your Git repo, set build command gatsby build, and publish the public directory.

12. Common Pitfalls and Troubleshooting

CORS Errors: Ensure your WPGraphQL endpoint allows requests from your Gatsby domain.
Timeouts: Increase timeout or reduce requestConcurrency in gatsby-config.js.
GraphQL Errors: Validate queries in the GraphiQL IDE before coding.
Image Sourcing: Verify media items are publicly accessible or use authentication.

13. Further Resources

Conclusion

By combining the rich editing experience of WordPress with Gatsby’s powerful static generation, you achieve a high-performance, secure, and scalable site. This extensive tutorial covered everything from setup and configuration to advanced optimizations and deployment. Start building today and reap the benefits of modern web development.

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SSG Tutorial with Gatsby and WordPress