Why Rocket?#

Rocket is for sites where content, documentation, and inspectable output matter more than building a large client-side application.

What Rocket optimizes for#

• HTML first: Pages render to HTML before JavaScript is involved.
• Zero JS by default: Browser JavaScript is emitted only for explicit component loading strategies.
• Server-rendered Web Components: Custom elements can be rendered into the document without shipping their component module to every visitor.
• Explicit page config: Each Page owns its public URL through config.path.
• Static deploy output: Static Pages build into files under dist/.
• Low configuration: A project needs rocket-config.js, Page files, and npm scripts before it can grow.
• Agent-friendly project shape: Pages, layouts, metadata, assets, and site data stay in ordinary files that coding agents can read and edit.

What Rocket is not#

Rocket is not a SPA framework, a backend application framework, or a React-first app stack. It also does not try to match Astro, Eleventy, or VitePress plugin ecosystems.

Choose Rocket when you want a content site or Web Component documentation site that starts static, can add JavaScript deliberately, and remains easy to own after an AI-assisted first draft.

The ownership model#

Rocket should leave you with boring files:

docs/
|-- pages/
|   |-- index.rocket.md
|   `-- components/button.rocket.md
|-- layouts/
|   `-- siteLayout.js
|-- styles/
|   `-- site.css
`-- siteData.js

The framework supplies page discovery, Markdown processing, component loading, static output, and development tooling. Your project owns the content, routes, layout boundary, design decisions, and deployment target.

Next steps#

• Start With AI creates a deployable project from a Site Brief.
• Manual Quick Start shows the smallest hand-built project.