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Clovie documentation

Vintage web dev tooling with modern quality of life

Welcome to the documentation for Clovie — a Node.js framework that bridges static site generation and full-stack applications.

What is Clovie?​

Clovie is the "Hollow Knight of Web Dev" — simple but deep, easy to start but room to grow. It combines static site generation with full-stack capabilities through a service-oriented architecture built on @jucie.io/engine.

Factories and server HTTP layers​

Server projects should treat api, routes, middleware, and hooks as factory-aware configuration: use defineRoutes / defineApi (same function), defineMiddleware, and defineHooks from clovie when handlers need useContext or when splitting endpoints across modules. Plain objects and arrays still work; Clovie normalizes mixed arrays before registering routes. See Configuration — Factories and API endpoints.

AI assistants (Cursor and others)​

The published clovie package includes .cursor/skills/clovie.mdc. Use clovie skills for usage, clovie skills path to locate the file inside node_modules, or clovie skills show to print it for copying into your project’s .cursor/skills/.

Key features​

  • Dual mode: static site generation or full server applications
  • Zero config: smart auto-detection of project structure
  • Fast builds: incremental builds with caching
  • Template agnostic: Handlebars, Nunjucks, Pug, Mustache, or custom engines
  • Asset pipeline: SCSS and JavaScript bundling with esbuild
  • Live reload: WebSocket-based reload in development
  • Dynamic routing: data-driven pages and API endpoints

Documentation map​

Quick start​

npx clovie create my-site
cd my-site && npm install && npm run dev
npx clovie create my-app --template server
cd my-app && npm install && npm run dev

Examples and templates​

  • Examples — sample configs (Handlebars, Nunjucks, server app, etc.)
  • Templates — static and server starters

Architecture​

Clovie uses a service-oriented architecture where functionality is provided by services extending ServiceProvider from @jucie.io/engine (File, Compile, Configurator, Run, Server, LiveReload, and more).

License​

Clovie is open source under the MIT License.