# Going static, 2026 edition


A little over a year ago I wrote about [going static](/going-static/), moving this site from a Cloudways server to Cloudflare Pages using WordPress + the Simply Static plugin. At the end of that post I said "I'm excited to work on simplifying it and maybe base it around Markdown... we'll see." Well, here we are.

The old setup worked, but it was annoying. I had to run a full WordPress install locally via [Laravel Herd](https://herd.laravel.com/), write a post, export the entire site with Simply Static, and then manually deploy. It felt like driving a truck to get groceries.

**So ~~I~~ Claude Code rebuilt the whole thing with [Hugo](https://gohugo.io/).**

The source of truth is now a folder of Markdown files in a git repo. No database, no PHP, no plugins. Just text files that I can edit with whatever I want. Hugo builds the site in milliseconds and the output goes to Cloudflare Pages as static assets.

**What I cared about:**

- **Keep every old URL working**: Hugo generates the same `/:slug/` permalink structure WordPress used. No redirects needed, no broken links. This was non-negotiable.
- **Markdown as the source of truth**: writing and versioning in the same place. `git log` is my changelog now.
- **Fast hosting**: Cloudflare Pages for static assets is extremely fast and free.
- **llms.txt support**: I added [llmstxt.org](https://llmstxt.org/) compliant output so AI tools can read my content properly. Every post gets a `/index.md` alongside the HTML, plus there's a site-wide `/llms.txt` and `/llms-full.txt`.

The entire migration that included export script, custom Hugo theme, llms.txt templates and deployment config was done in a couple of Claude Code sessions.

The theme is called `vivre`. It's plain CSS, no build tools, no JavaScript frameworks. Just [Petrona](https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Petrona) for body text and [Work Sans](https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Work+Sans) for headings. I wanted something that felt warm and emphasized the content.

I'm very happy with this setup. Writing a new post is now: create a `.md` file, write, `hugo server -D` to preview, push, deploy. That's it. The simplicity I was looking for all along.

PD: If you're curious about the llms.txt stuff, try hitting [/llms.txt](/llms.txt) or [/llms-full.txt](/llms-full.txt) on this site. Pretty cool, right?

I no longer have comments enabled here, but you can reach me on [X](https://x.com/fgili0).