In this article, I describe the technology stack and development workflow I used for this website.
Hugo as Static Website Generator #
I chose Hugo because it:
- Is blazing fast - pages are generated in milliseconds
- Offers simple Markdown syntax - perfect for blog content
- Uses Markdown files - ideal for agentic development, easily read and edited by AI agents
- Has a theming system - allows easy customizations
- Supports themes as Git submodules - can be cleanly integrated and maintained as separate Git submodules
- Provides multilingual support - ideal for my German/English website
- Requires no database - everything is static files
- Has significantly less maintenance overhead than JavaScript-based websites - no constant updates of JS dependencies needed
Development with Hugo is very efficient. I write content in Markdown, and Hugo generates the complete HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
Blowfish as Hugo Theme #
For the design, I use the Blowfish theme because it:
- Offers a modern, clean design
- Is responsive - works on all devices
- Contains many shortcodes for advanced features
- Supports dark mode
- Has good documentation
- Provides very useful shortcodes such as:
{{< mermaid >}}for rendering Mermaid-diagrams{{< codeimporter >}}for flexible code snippet embedding{{< mdimporter >}}for flexible markdown snippet embedding{{< video >}}for flexible video embedding (local, URL)- …
The theme is excellent… by the clever, agentic developer (Product Manager) Nuno Coração from Portugal.
Zed as IDE for Agentic Development #
For code editing, I use Zed, a modern IDE optimized for agentic workflows:
- Extremely fast - Based on Rust with native performance
- AI integration - Zed AI for intelligent code completion
- Agentic engineering - Support for parallel agents
- Multi-agent collaboration - Parallel working agents
- Markdown support - Out-of-the-box Markdown support for seamless Hugo integration
- CSS support - Native CSS editing for theme customizations
- HTML support - Built-in HTML support for template customizations
- YAML support - Native YAML support for GitHub CI/CD configurations
- TOML support - TOML support via extension for Hugo configurations
- git - In addition to the excellent built-in Git support, Git Firefly provides syntax highlighting
- Github Actions - GitHub Actions Extension and GitHub Actions Snippets Extension make working with GitHub Actions workflows easier
Zed enables me to efficiently collaborate with AI agents and handle complex tasks in parallel. Particularly helpful are the GitHub Actions Extension and GitHub Actions Snippets Extension, which enable working with GitHub Actions workflows directly in the IDE.
Mistral AI Models #
An important part of my development workflow is using Mistral AI, particularly with the extremely cost-effective Mistral Small model:
- Extremely cost-efficient - The entire AI usage for setting up and migrating the old Astro-based website cost less than €5 (without using parallel agents and Spec-Driven Development with OpenSpec)
- Markdown-optimized - Ideal for editing Hugo content
- Agentic development - Enables automated content creation and editing
- Multilingual support - Perfect for my bilingual content
The combination of Hugo’s Markdown basis and Mistral AI enables me to have a highly productive, agentic development method.
Depending on the prompting, models generate commit messages like the following for traceability of generated code.
Agent Prompts #
As always in agentic workflows, the right methodology is crucial: For smaller and larger changes to the website, clever prompts like the following are usually absolutely sufficient:
Agent Skill Libraries? #
As always, prompts can be made reusable with Agent Skills and shared with the community, if desired, as a Skill Library.
Hugo #
Currently, there are no public Skill Libraries on Github for Hugo.
Blowfish Theme #
Unfortunately, there is also (not yet) no skill library for the Blowfish Hugo theme.
Spec-Driven Development? #
I have also experimented with the Spec-Driven Development framework OpenSpec. Research (YouTube, …) shows that OpenSpec compares to other Spec-Driven Development frameworks like BMad Method (absolute overkill, compared to OpenSpec about factor 8 worse “performance” in terms of implementation time and costs) and Spec Kit (somewhat more complex and cumbersome than OpenSpec). Using Spec-Driven Development can be interesting for larger websites. For my previous use cases, I found the overhead too large.
GitHub for Version Control and CI/CD #
I use GitHub for both code versioning and Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment.
Code Versioning #
The entire source code of this website is versioned on GitHub:
- Free - €0 per month for code versioning
- Complete history of all changes
- Branches for experimental features
Continuous Integration and Deployment #
For automated building and deployment, I use GitHub Actions:
Workflow #
- Code is pushed → GitHub Actions is triggered
- Hugo builds the site with
hugo --minify - Static files are deployed via FTPS to my Hetzner server
Benefits #
- Free - €0 per month for CI/CD
- Automatic - no manual deployment needed
- Fast - changes are online in seconds
- Reliable - fewer errors through automation
- Versioned - every deployment is related to a Git commit
Content Creation #
Hosting on Hetzner #
The website is hosted on a Hetzner-server:
- European infrastructure - GDPR compliant
- Reliable - high availability
- Extremely affordable - only €1.90 per month
- Easy management via Hetzner customer portal
Conclusion #
An extremely cost-efficient, efficient, agentic web development setup
This setup allows me to focus entirely on content while the technical infrastructure runs cost-effectively, reliably, and with minimal maintenance in the background. The combination of open-source tools, AI support, and automated workflows represents a modern, forward-looking approach to web development that is ideal for both individual developers and small teams.
Technological Advantages #
- Hugo + Blowfish: Lightning-fast static page generation with professional design and Git submodule support
- Zed IDE: Optimized development environment with native support for all relevant file formats (Markdown, HTML, CSS, YAML, TOML)
- Mistral AI: Cost-effective AI support for agentic workflows and content creation
- Hetzner: GDPR-compliant hosting
Financial Advantages #
One-time costs:
- Total costs: Under €10 for setup and migration of the entire website
- Ongoing costs: Only €1.90/month for hosting (GitHub and Hugo are free)
- AI costs: Under €5 for the complete migration from Astro to Hugo
Ongoing costs:
- Maintenance: Minimal effort through avoidance of JavaScript/TypeScript, static pages, and automated deployment
Workflow Advantages #
- Agentic development: AI agents can work directly with Markdown files
- Speed: At least 5-10x faster than without agentic workflow
- Automation: GitHub Actions fully automates build and deployment
- Scalability: Easy extension through shortcodes and theme customizations
- Future-proof: Modern technologies with minimal dependencies
This setup allows me to focus entirely on content while the technical infrastructure runs cost-effectively, reliably, and with minimal maintenance in the background. The combination of open-source tools, AI support, and automated workflows represents a modern, forward-looking approach to web development that is ideal for both individual developers and small teams.
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