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Eleventy

MKT AUTO
Velocity5.0

Simpler static site generator for the modern web

The v4 canary line is being renamed Build Awesome while 3.x is kept on pure maintenance.

static-site-generatorrebrandbreaking-changesasync-templatesincremental-buildsprerelease-train
Current state
Two lines run in parallel. The 3.x branch gets dependency-only releases — 3.1.5 and 3.1.6 explicitly ship no core code changes, after 3.1.3 and 3.1.4 failed to publish and were left as immutable dead tags. The v4 alpha train, meanwhile, is where the work is: Node minimum raised to 22.15, page.inputPathDir and page.dir removed, batched incremental builds added, and a large refactor of the Nunjucks fork onto a fully-async prerelease. The releases themselves now carry the Build Awesome name and offer an @awesome.me/buildawesome install alongside @11ty/eleventy@canary.
Where it's heading
v4 is accumulating breaking changes faster than it is stabilizing — three of the entries in this window announce removals or minimum-version bumps, and alpha.10 exists only to hotfix a regression alpha.9 introduced. The Nunjucks refactor is the biggest bet: making the fork fully async removes the need for async-specific template tags, but the release notes flag it as risky for existing Nunjucks users. The naming change is proceeding on the same timeline, so users tracking canary are absorbing an identity shift and an API shift at once.
Prediction
Expect more v4 alphas carrying breaking removals before any beta, with the Nunjucks async refactor generating follow-up regressions; 3.x looks likely to keep receiving dependency-only patches with no core changes.

Recent moves

  1. 1mo ago

    Nunjucks fork refactored onto a fully-async prerelease

    The most consequential of the three alphas that landed together: the Nunjucks fork moves to a fully-async prerelease, so async-specific tags are no longer needed for set or for blocks. The notes call it risky for existing Nunjucks users without labeling it breaking — and alpha.10 arrives immediately after to hotfix a regression from this batch.

    View source ↗
  2. 1mo ago

    Node 22.15 minimum, page path properties removed

    More of the v4 removals: the Node floor moves to 22.15 and page.inputPathDir and page.dir are cut — properties that were themselves only introduced in alpha.5. Batched incremental builds are the offsetting addition, letting multiple eligible incremental candidates be handled together.

    View source ↗
  3. 1mo ago

    Hotfix for a layout cache invalidation regression

    A single-commit hotfix undoing a layout cache invalidation regression introduced days earlier in the same alpha batch. Characteristic of the v4 train's current pace — features and their regressions arriving on the same day.

    View source ↗
  4. 1mo ago

    Eleventy v3.1.6: Everybody wants to do Maintenance

    The 3.x line continues as pure upkeep: a Node 26 deprecation warning silenced, liquidjs and markdown-it bumped for audit fixes, and CI hardened. The release title says the quiet part out loud — no feature work is happening on 3.x.

    View source ↗
  5. 4mo ago

    Canary warns the Eleventy name is changing to Build Awesome

    ⚡ SPARK

    The entry where the rename is first announced rather than assumed — every later alpha in this window is titled Build Awesome and ships a second install path. Read alongside the v4 breaking changes, it marks the point where the canary line stopped being just a version bump.

    View source ↗
  6. 4mo ago

    Dead tag: this release failed to publish, use 3.1.5

    Not a usable release — an immutable tag left behind by a failed publish, pointing users at the identical 3.1.5. It appears in the feed alongside its twin 3.1.4 for the same reason.

    View source ↗