Getting Started

Raptor is a static site generator for Swift developers who’d rather write Swift than wrangle HTML and CSS. Think SwiftUI-style syntax, but purpose-built for creating websites that look great everywhere.

Raptor doesn’t try to convert SwiftUI code to HTML or just wrap HTML tags in Swift. Instead, it gives you an expressive API that feels familiar if you know SwiftUI, but works specifically for building static sites—even if you’ve never touched web development before.

What You’ll Need

Raptor uses modern Swift features and requires up-to-date tooling:

Swift: 6.2 or newer
Xcode: 26 or newer
macOS: 15.6 (Sequoia) or newer

Installing the Command-Line Tool

The easiest way to get started is with Raptor’s command-line tool. It handles everything from creating new projects to building and previewing your site.

Here’s how to install it:

Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/raptor-build/raptor

Move into the project:
```
cd raptor
```
Build the tool:
```
make
```
Install it system-wide:
```
make install
```
Or install it to a custom location:
```
make install PREFIX_DIR=/my/install/path
```
If you run into permission issues, try this instead:
```
sudo make install
```

Creating Your First Site

Once the CLI is installed, spinning up a new site takes one command:

raptor new ExampleSite

This creates a complete Swift package based on the Raptor Starter Template, with everything configured and ready to go. To open it in Xcode:

cd ExampleSite
open Package.swift

Building Your Site

When you’re ready to generate your site, just run:

raptor build

Raptor creates a Build directory containing all the HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and assets needed to publish your site.

Previewing Your Work

Don’t double-click the HTML files in Finder to preview your site. That opens them directly in your browser, which means they can’t find resources like stylesheets and scripts—so everything looks broken.

Instead, use Raptor’s built-in preview server:

raptor run --preview

This launches a local web server and opens your site in your browser. Now you can work in Xcode, rebuild with Cmd+R, and refresh your browser to see your changes instantly.

Learning by Example

The raptor-build/raptor-build repository is packed with examples showing real-world layouts, components, and modifiers. If you’re looking for model code to learn from or adapt for your own projects, that’s the place to start.

License

Raptor is licensed under the GNU General Public License v3+ (GPLv3+). You’re free to build and publish any kind of website—personal, commercial, whatever—and all the code your site generates is completely yours. Raptor itself can be used as a dependency in GPLv3-compatible open-source projects, with separate licensing available for proprietary applications.

Project Structure