In this article we will talk about a new plugin that lets you auto create pages from components in any folder within your Gatsby project! We will chat about the problem that sparked the creation of this plugin. Afterwards, we'll talk about how you can use this plugin to auto create pages without having to place your components in the src/pages directory.
The problem with static values
Here's how it all got started. The goal with Gatsby Manor (a separate project, unaffiliated with the Gatsby core team) is to create professional designed Gatsby starters to give your site a clean, modern look the moment you create a new project. While creating our newest starter gatsby-starter-eventually, I wanted to organize the directory structure of the project to better fit my workflow.
Gatsby core automatically turns React components in src/pages into pages. Prior to this plugin, that functionality was only available to Gatsby core as an internal plugin. There was no way to have a different folder automatically create pages from components because the default src/pages path was hardcoded. The side effect of this behavior is that you have a hard time creating folder structures that best fit your needs. If you wanted all your JavaScript to live in a single folder, you would lose the ability to automatically create pages.
The community asks for a solution
After searching the repo issues for a solution, I found other people having the same problem and asking for a solution. A user in #2424 wanted to move their components into a render folder. Another wanted to keep their Gatsby code near non-Gatsby related code but under a different directory name.
One issue raised how uncommon this pattern might be when handing a project over to other clients that are less technical. Each issue focused on a valid concern, with many community members in support of a better convention. With this data, I set out to determine a solution for this problem.
The great pull request
With the help of Kyle Mathews, he directed me to the location of the internal plugin responsible for the hardcoded behavior. To support the desired functionality, we would have to extract the internal plugin so any project could download the plugin from npm.
The next step would be to add a path option that takes a directory path string to denote the directory of components we want to use for automatic page creation. With a development plan in place, I started coding a solution. After a few days of coding, I opened a pull request to add a gatsby-plugin-page-creator to the Gatsby Plugin Library. After a few weeks of code reviews the pull request was merged!
How you can use this plugin
You can find gatsby-plugin-page-creator in the plugin library. Use yarn add gatsby-plugin-page-creator to add this into your project. In gatsby-config.js, use a JSON object to use the plugin, making sure to add the required path option with your desired directory path.
If you need to designate another location for auto page creation, add another entry of the plugin with a different path. You can have unlimited directories responsible for auto page creation. The result is you can keep your project well organized without having to give up on the most powerful out-of-the-box feature.
Community reception
This plugin has by far been the most impactful open source contribution I have made to date. As of writing, the newly published Gatsby plugin has been downloaded more than 50k+ times in less than a month!
I am happy this plugin is being used by so many developers. What brings me even more joy is that this small contribution will help the Gatsby community continue to deliver an amazing open source tool.
Gatsby Manor
Gatsby Manor builds professional design Gatsby starters. We make starters to meet your project needs, with new starters added monthly. Can't find a starter you like? Message us and we'll build a starter project for you.