About Roe
Manifesto
The back story…
At it’s core, Roe is a CMS (Content Mamangement System) and SSG (Static Site Generator). There are hundreds of them, you’ve probably heard of a few: WordPress, Ghost, Astro, Jekyll, Hugo… the list goes on. So, why Roe?
I’ve used (or tried to use) a bunch of these systems. I’ve been making websites off/on for over 20 years, many professionally and many just fun side-projects. A couple years ago I started a small agency with my wife: We are on the Web and I’ve built a few websites for clients recently but I was not a fan what was out there. Some interesting tools but it took too long to get something usable up and running.
In Februrary I was looking for a new project to sink into and a writer I read on Substack reached out. He was looking to replace WordPress, Substack and EasyCart with something he could self-host. I could have helped him cobble together a few self-hosted tools but seeing as I’d been wanting to take a crack at a CMS that works the way I want, I suggested that path.
4 months later, here we are, the beta is out. And with it, you could replace Substack, WordPress and build an online Store with something you host/own. Roe was built for people that make stuff. It’s been a labor of love thus far and I hope it continues for years to come.
If you’re interested, download it and git it a try.
Why Roe?
Self-hosting
Most web services these days are host everything for you. This convenience comes with a price, usually in the form of a monthly/yearly subscription and it gets costly.
You are also at the mercy of many of these large platforms, it’s hard to move your site, it’s hard to build your audience back up.
Roe gets around all of that. You self-host. The member system means that you have your email list forever. The site is yours, entirely. And since everything (almost) is in plain-text, you’re site is about as portable as it could be.
If you’re using Roe for personal sites, it’s free. If you’re using Roe for commercial sites, it’s a one-time license, that’s it. No ongoing subscription. Will keep working, no further payments.
File First
This system operates on a file-first architecture. Your content exists as Markdown files in the site/ folder, so does your database and configuration in YAML files. The database helps with performance and protecting important information, but the Markdown/YAML files are the site’s source of truth.
On top of this file-first structure, I built a user interface to make it easier to build sites in Roe. You can edit files in the Admin interface or you can edit the files in a text editor, they both work.
This architecture ensures portability: your content is never locked into a proprietary format.
Local First
Roe is meant to work on your computer and because your site/ folder contains all the content for your site, you’re protected should anything happen to your hosted site. You have a full working site and backup ready to go.
No templating language
This might seem like an odd selling point but I’m not a fan of learning new templating languages. Instead I built Roe-anji which are simple markdown extensions that do powerful things. They’re simple/modular building blocks and can be put together to do very complex things.
Go forth and build…
I hope that Roe makes it easier to build sites and share what you make. If you’re interested, hack on Roe, make it better with me. A more independent and unique internet is a foot.
Please reach out with any issues, feedback, feature requests or just to say hello.