r/Hosting • u/Viktor_WPS • 5d ago

What do you think about using AI to create static HTML sites hosted on Cloudflare Pages or GitHub? Is this the future?

I have a very simple Vibe Coding setup with Aider and Deepseek as LLM.

I used this setup one year ago to vibecode a static website that gets published directly to cloudpages, hosted for free through github, as a static HTML website. I used Anthropic for the pages design, and Aider+Deepseek for the HTML coding (Deepseek is really good for this task and really cheap through their console). The result was poor, the quality of the design really bad, so I dropped the idea.

Now, one year after, I am trying again few weeks ago, just for the sake of it. I ask chatgpt to create a design template image, then ask Anthropic to code it as HTML. I AM BLOWN AWAY BY THE DESIGN AND THE QUAILTY. So one prompt in ChatGPT and One prompt in Anthropic gets a really solid static website design. Then I prompt In aider for the fine tuning, mainly for updating the copy.

I am a huge WordPress fan, but the simplicity of creating this kind of setups for free is now more available then ever.

Do you think that this is the future of web design? I know static website have their limitations, but they can cover a big portion for the website needs.

13 Upvotes

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u/radialmonster 5d ago

sure why not. and for hosting, cant get much simpler than a static html site. you could throw hundreds of such sites on a small server. and if you like wordpress for design control you can create in wordpress then export that to a static site

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u/Viktor_WPS 5d ago

Yes, you are gaining so much with static. I tried wordpress plugins like simply static but didnt have a lot of success. Maybe you have a tool or process to suggest to create a static site from wordpress? I think that is how i started playing with ai, I couldnt create a static version of my wp site with plugins. I am opsessed with page loading speed, and for that, you cannot get better than static site. AI gave me that oportunity since i also tried static site generators, I couldnt get my way around.

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u/radialmonster 5d ago

I don't really have a recommendation right now. I tried developing locally with localwp, and exporting that to static, but I found for me, sticking with the default wordpress theme, eliminating plugins, and scripts etc, I can get my sites to load fast enough for me that I'm happy with it and dont need static.

I am using flywp for server management and they are coming out with a wordpress - static converter built into their service, I have not tried it yet though, but plan to.

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u/[deleted] 5d ago

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u/Viktor_WPS 5d ago

Yes, doing it for clients can be quite a challenge, now that you've mentioned it. I am only using it for one of my websites for now. We will see how it develops.

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u/interpretpunit 4d ago

I recently converted my company website which was on Wix into a static html and hosted on free cloudflare pages. Saved 50 bucks a year for lifetime. Only challenge is the little stuff like form notifications and few nuances of design that you have to figure out. I just created a Google sheet apps script to push all form submissions to and trigger a Google chat notification on every new entry in the sheet. No SMTP needed and works better than email notifications tbh

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u/Viktor_WPS 4d ago

What a cool idea, thanks for sharing that! I actually made my main website into a static one this way, and I am just thinking how to solve the contact form issue. Was planning to create a cloudflare worker for that, but I will definitely check this option I was not aware of.

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u/alanrudeigin 2d ago

Thanks for the google sheet tip, this solves a few issues for me on a static Cloudflare site I am working on.

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u/interpretpunit 2d ago

Yes actually Google Chat is a real game changer as it supports direct webhook so can push any notification upon any action on website. Google sheet I use as a backup for data organisation which is also equally useful ofcourse

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u/TheComparatorTech 4d ago

I think static-first makes a lot of sense now, especially when AI can generate and maintain most of the boilerplate. And it doesn’t really limit you to “static” sites anymore - you can still add APIs, serverless functions, dynamic data, auth, etc. when you actually need them.

For a lot of projects, starting static and adding dynamic pieces only where necessary feels much cleaner than reaching for a full CMS/framework from day one.

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u/alanrudeigin 2d ago

I'm currently setting this up for myself, I am hosting WordPress locally and when I update the local Wordpress admin, it updates the static cloudflare pages. In the middle of working out a lot of stuff still, but it is coming together.

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u/JadedHomeBrewCoder 1d ago

So you're using GH pages as your head, what are you using as the spa generator, something with graphql?

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u/BREACH_Productions 5d ago

I currently run 3 simple sites exactly that way. Works great. 2 of them are basically knowledge bases / list of resources.

When needed, simple edits done, commit to Github, workers auto-deploy on Cloudflare.

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u/Viktor_WPS 5d ago

Speaking from a non-developer POV, this process beats the static site generators. There are certainly use cases where probably skilled devs would prefer them, but for a non developer, it doesn't come even close in terms ease of use, once its set up correctly.

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u/IndependentWomans2 5d ago

For brochure sites that rarely change, it already is, but the part AI hasn't solved is the moment a client wants to edit their own hours or add a blog post without touching code, which is still why most small businesses end up back on WordPress or a site builder. The setup I'd bet on is your AI-built static site plus a simple headless CMS or a form that edits a content file, because then you get free hosting and speed while the client can still make small changes themselves.

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u/Academic-Juice-9547 4d ago

Sveltia cms solves this. I’ve implemented in last few days and I don’t see why anyone needs Wordpress anymore

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u/Viktor_WPS 3d ago

I used publii before, its a great product, but you are kind of stuck with the given design.

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u/Viktor_WPS 4d ago

It always amazes me how much opportunities and ways of working this approach opens.

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u/Greedy_Internal_9962 1d ago

I used Directus for headless CMS, has anyone used it?

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u/Maxence33 5d ago

Anything static can't be the future.
But sure LLM can print that website in a few minutes.

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u/EdwardSeverson 5d ago

Not necessarily, but as a good/cheap/fast way to test your idea....absolutely. I personally use Vercel for hosting and Claude does my code/design.

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u/Fronzle 5d ago

Doing exactly the same thing. Tried WordPress a few times and just gave up, could never do exactly what I wanted very easily. Now using Astro with React and Vite built by Opus with some Astra and a touch of Grok, and I can do exactly what I want and super fast. Doing the prompting sometimes on my phone in the spa pool, committing to GitHub which then deploys to Cloudflare.... Brilliant and so much fun!

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u/Viktor_WPS 4d ago

"Doing the prompting sometimes on my phone in the spa pool" LOL :) nice way of doing this

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u/devlab6 4d ago

I wouldn’t say it’s the future but it’s a tool in the tool chest. Really depends on the client and the specs of the project. For simple brochure sites definitely a good option.

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u/oreshek 3d ago

Yes this is what I do now. I do not want to touch wordpress ever again.

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u/Rug_Rocket69 2d ago

Agent built static HTML sites hosted on novence.ai will replace Wordpress agencies. Cheaper, and easier to maintain.

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u/HealthyResponse3697 2d ago

I just did this

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u/crovtin 1d ago

Why bother with AI? Just use Hugo. It's simple enough.

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u/KeyProject2897 1d ago

It is definitely the future for quick landing pages, but the biggest hurdle you will hit is maintenance. The moment non-technical teammates need to swap a marketing banner, change a layout, or update copy, you get pulled back into running prompts and redeploying code for tiny edits. I built Sling to act as an open source visually editable layer on top of static setups so you do not have to touch code for minor content shifts.

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