Astro is a web framework designed for creating content-driven websites. It’s recognized for powering some of the fastest websites on the internet, including a range of applications from client-side web apps to dynamic API endpoints. The framework offers versatility and is capable of handling various types of web development needs.
The framework boasts a next-generation frontend architecture, which greatly enhances the development process. It achieves this by automatically converting JavaScript to HTML, a process known as JS-to-HTML streaming using Astro’s Islands feature. This feature significantly boosts productivity and efficiency in web development, according to the Astro maintainers.
Astro allows developers to fetch data from a CMS or to work locally using type-safe Markdown and MDX APIs. A key feature of Astro is its ability to automatically remove any unused JavaScript and render content to HTML. This contributes to improved core web vitals, better conversion rates, and enhanced search engine optimization (SEO).
The framework is also adept at building and embedding sophisticated client-side web applications, such as Single Page Applications (SPAs) and Progressive Web Apps (PWAs). It enables developers to align backend APIs with frontend code within the same Astro codebase.
It also supports various popular frontend languages and frameworks, including React, Svelte, and Vue, allowing for flexible and diverse web development.
Astro’s compatibility with various UI frameworks and components is another of its strengths. It allows developers to continue using their favorite UI frameworks and components, and it offers a straightforward migration process for those moving from Create React App to Astro. This ease of integration and migration makes Astro a versatile and user-friendly option for web developers.
