Hayden Bleasel, an expert developer from OpenAI, released Blume, an open-source documentation framework. Blume shipped to npm as version 1.0.3 the same day. It is as simple as Drop Markdown into a folder and ship a docs site. No app boilerplate is written or maintained afterward. The project is MIT-licensed and open sourced.

What is Blume?

Blume is a command-line tool paired with a component library for docs. It reads a folder of Markdown or MDX files. From that folder, it produces a production-grade documentation site. That output ships navigation, search, theming, and Open Graph images. Configuration stays optional and is added one file at a time. The code is a TypeScript monorepo; the published package sits at packages/blume. Blume’s own documentation, under apps/docs, is built with Blume itself. It requires Node.js 22.12 or newer. It runs with Bun, pnpm, npm, or yarn.

How Blume Works?

Under the surface, Blume generates and drives a hidden Astro project. First, the CLI loads blume.config.ts and scans your content into a graph. Next, it writes an Astro project into a .blume/ directory. Astro then renders every page through a single catch-all route. That route imports Blume’s shipped components, the generated data, and your overrides. On each run, .blume/ regenerates, and only changed files are rewritten. As a result, hot reload stays fast during editing. The core theme ships no client framework JavaScript. Consequently, pages score well on Core Web Vitals by default. When you need full control, blume eject promotes the runtime into a standalone Astro app. That ejected project still depends on the blume package.

Getting Started

Setup takes a single command, so onboarding is short.

npx blume init

Afterward, blume dev starts a hot-reloading server. Meanwhile, blume build writes static HTML and a local search index into dist/. The config file is real TypeScript, validated by a schema.

// blume.config.ts
import { defineConfig } from "blume";

export default defineConfig({
  content: {
    sources: [
      { type: "filesystem", root: "docs" },
      { type: "notion", database: process.env.NOTION_DB },
    ],
  },
});

Because the config is typed, editors catch mistakes before a build runs. The CLI covers the full lifecycle beyond those basics:

Command	Purpose
blume init	Scaffold a project, interactive by default
blume dev	Start the dev server with hot reload
blume build	Build the static or server site
blume add	Install a source component from the registry
blume sync	Re-fetch remote content sources
blume eject	Promote the runtime into a standalone Astro app
blume validate	Check internal, anchor, asset, and external links
blume doctor	Diagnose config and content problems

AI-Ready by Design

Beyond human readers, Blume targets agents too. Every page returns raw Markdown when you append .md to its URL. A single flag emits llms.txt and llms-full.txt for agents. Each page can be copied as Markdown or opened in ChatGPT, Claude, or v0. An optional in-page Ask AI assistant answers reader questions directly. It runs on the AI SDK through the Vercel AI Gateway, OpenRouter, Inkeep, or any OpenAI-compatible endpoint. Blume can also host a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server. Through it, Claude Code, Cursor, and VS Code read docs directly.

claude mcp add --transport http your-docs https://docs.example.com/mcp

That server exposes four read-only tools: search_docs, get_page, list_pages, and get_navigation.

Use Cases With Examples

Those capabilities map to concrete jobs. For an API product, drop in an OpenAPI or AsyncAPI spec. Blume then renders an interactive reference with schemas, auth, and a request playground via Scalar. For a library, point Blume at your GitHub Releases. Each release rolls up into a generated changelog timeline with an RSS feed. For a global audience, add translated files per locale. Blume supports 36 locales, locale-aware routing, and right-to-left layouts. For mixed content, combine local files with remote MDX, Notion, or Sanity. All sources render through the same components.

Introducing Blume

A world-class docs framework for everything you ship. Drop Markdown into a folder and ship a full docs site with no app boilerplate.

→ zero-config setup
→ automatic SEO and AEO
→ 30+ components
→ powered by astro + vite
→ open source, free forever pic.twitter.com/fQSwLd9BM9

— Hayden Bleasel (@haydenbleasel) July 13, 2026

How Blume Compares

For context, here is Blume against three common documentation approaches. Features change quickly, so verify current details before you adopt.

Dimension	Blume	Mintlify	Docusaurus	Astro Starlight
Type	Open-source CLI + framework	Hosted commercial platform	Open-source SSG	Open-source Astro theme
License	MIT, free	Proprietary; paid Pro tier	MIT, free	MIT, free
Setup	Zero-config Markdown folder	Config-driven, managed	Scaffold + React config	Astro project + theme
Engine	Hidden Astro + Vite	Proprietary hosted	React	Astro
Core-theme client JS	None (static HTML)	—	React runtime	Minimal (islands)
llms.txt / llms-full.txt	Built-in flag	Auto-generated	Community plugin	Community plugin
Built-in MCP server	Yes (four read-only tools)	Yes (auto-hosted)	Not built-in	Not built-in
Eject path	Standalone Astro app	Not applicable (hosted)	—	Already Astro

Strengths and Weaknesses

Strengths

• Zero-config start: a folder of Markdown becomes a full site.
• Static-first output ships no core client JS, aiding Core Web Vitals.
• Built-in AI surfaces: llms.txt, per-page Markdown, MCP server, and Ask AI.
• Type-safe config, so editors flag errors before a build runs.
• Eject path to a standalone Astro app reduces long-term lock-in.

Weaknesses

• Version 1.0.3 is new, so the ecosystem is still young.
• It needs Node.js 22.12 or newer, which some environments lack.
• Request-time features like Ask AI and MCP need a server adapter.
• The self-hosted model means you own analytics and assistant wiring.
• It has fewer third-party integrations than mature hosted platforms today.

Key Takeaways

• Blume turns a Markdown folder into a production docs site with zero config.
• It drives a hidden Astro and Vite project and can eject to standalone Astro.
• AI features ship built in: llms.txt, per-page Markdown, and an MCP server.
• It is MIT-licensed, needs Node.js 22.12+, and reached npm v1.0.3 on launch day.
• Early adopters include Quiver, moving from Mintlify, and Neon’s add-mcp docs.

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