I've been quietly working on a new side project that I'm really excited about, it's called Static Draft.
It's a simple application to build static websites using components designed in Webflow, export them through DevLink, and generate a fully static site that can be pushed straight to GitHub and deployed for free on platforms like Netlify.
Over the last year or so, it feels like Webflow has been focusing more and more on larger enterprise customers. That's cool and all, but it also made me a bit disappointed since I've always seen Webflow as the perfect site builder for freelancers, agencies, indie makers and small businesses for a fair price, something that seems to be changing.
I'm not saying that Webflow isn't worth publishing your site with, it's actually great for many types of sites, but being able to edit & host a tiny site with a few pages and a couple CMS collections should be possible without having to pay a premium for features that you'll never use.
That's what I'm trying to solve with Static Draft. It lets you create all content locally using Markdown, you own all of your code, your content lives on your computer, version control happens through GitHub, and deployment is up to you.
Think of it as a visual editor and CMS for people who still love building/designing in Webflow but has a site small enough where the price just doesnt feel fair anymore, or for the ones who wants to completely own their code, content and deployment.
In fact, the website you're reading right now was built with Static Draft. The components were designed in Webflow, exported with DevLink, pushed to Github and deployed on Netlify, all assembled locally on my little Thinkpad.
The UI is still a bit rough (ehhh), and there are quite a few quirks here and there, but the core features seems to be working great. I'm actively working on getting the first version out as soon as possible. The initial release will be completely free, and I'm looking for people interested in testing it on both Windows and macOS.
If this sounds interesting, or if you have questions, ideas, or feature requests, I'd love to hear from you. Just send me an email.