[opensourcedex]

vscode-front-matter is a free, open source content management systems (cms) project written in TypeScript and released under MIT. It has 2,544 GitHub stars, 107 forks and 99 open issues, and was last pushed 27 days ago. On this registry it ranks #26 of 47 tracked projects in Content Management Systems (CMS), with 5 head-to-head comparisons available.

What is vscode-front-matter?

What it is

Front Matter is a headless content management system that runs inside Visual Studio Code. It is an MIT-licensed TypeScript extension for the Visual Studio Code ecosystem, and it supports static-site generators and frameworks such as Hugo, Jekyll, Hexo, NextJs, and Gatsby. The project combines CMS-style management of content with the build model of a static-site generator.

The concrete problem it solves is the need to edit, create, organize, and preview static-site content without leaving Visual Studio Code. The README describes content, data, and media management, search, filter, sort, content creation, editing tools, preview, SEO checks, and extensibility. This places the CMS interface directly around the files and front matter used by the site generator.

Key capabilities

  • The extension supports content, data, and media management inside Visual Studio Code.
  • It lets users search, filter, and sort content collections.
  • It provides tools to create new content and edit existing content and media, including metadata on media files.
  • It can preview site or content output straight inside Visual Studio Code.
  • It includes SEO checks for title, description, and keywords.
  • It provides a taxonomy dashboard for tags, categories, and custom taxonomy.
  • It supports multilingual content management in version 10, and the extension UI supports English, German, and Japanese.

Who uses it and how

  • Authors of Hugo, Jekyll, Hexo, NextJs, or Gatsby sites can manage markdown content from the editor.
  • Editors can use dashboards to work with content, media, data files, taxonomy, and snippets.
  • Teams can preview content and run SEO checks.
  • Multilingual projects can manage translated content through the i18n support.
  • Projects that need custom behavior can use the extension's extensibility support.

Getting started

Run Front Matter inside Visual Studio Code and follow the extension documentation at frontmatter.codes. The README also points users to the GitHub repository for issues and feature requests.

When to use it — and when not to

Use Front Matter when content is managed in Visual Studio Code for a static-site generator. It is useful when CMS features should operate on files and front matter with the chosen site generator. Avoid it when the workflow must run outside Visual Studio Code, or when a fast feature request turnaround is essential, because the README states that feature requests may take longer and that major changes will happen only with personal need, company commitment, or significant community support.

project readme (upstream, from github) — read inline

Front Matter

Front Matter - A Headless CMS for Visual Studio Code

📢 2026 Open Source Priorities Update

I love working with and creating open source products, but after careful evaluation and working with a coach, I've decided to focus my efforts on creating a better revenue stream. As open-source isn't providing me a sustainable income, I need to focus my time and effort more strategically on how to make my work sustainable.

Front Matter CMS will continue to be maintained as I use it daily. However, major changes will only happen if there's a personal reason, a company commitment, or significant community support. Feature requests may take longer to be addressed.

I'm shifting focus to open source projects that I can learn from or that have different outcomes, like Demo Time, which I use when presenting at conferences. If you or your company would like to sponsor my work on Front Matter CMS or other projects, I'd love to discuss how we can collaborate to make it even better!

This is not about Front Matter CMS going away, but rather about managing expectations around feature development timelines.

Visual Studio Marketplace Number of installsRatings Sponsor the project

Check out the extension documentation at frontmatter.codes

❓ What is Front Matter?

Front Matter is a CMS that runs within Visual Studio Code. It gives you the power and control of a full-blown CMS while also providing you the flexibility and speed of the static site generator of your choice. Jump right into editing and creating content with Front Matter and be able to preview it straight in VS Code.

The extension supports various static-site generators and frameworks like Hugo, Jekyll, Hexo, NextJs, Gatsby, and more.

A couple of our extension highlights that hopefully get you interested in giving Front Matter a try:

  • Content, data, and media management
    • Search, filter, sort, etc. all your content
    • Create new content
    • Supporting tools to edit content and media
  • Preview your site/content straight in Visual Studio Code
  • SEO checks for title, description, and keywords
  • Extensibility
    • As we know, we cannot support all use cases. We provide a way to extend the functionality of the extension to your needs
  • and many more features ...

Missing something? Let us know by opening an issue on the GitHub repository

Site preview

If you see something missing in your article creation flow, please feel free to reach out.

Version 10

In version 10, we introduced the new i18n/multilingual support for your content. You can now manage your content in multiple languages, more information can be found in the multilingual section of our documentation.

Multilingual support

Version 9

The extension is now available in multiple languages: English, German, and Japanese. Want to add your language? Check out the localization the extension.

Version 8

The taxonomy dashboard got introduced on which you can manage your tags, categories, and custom taxonomy.

Taxonomy dashboard

Version 7

Snippets support for Front Matter has been added!

Snippets dashboard

Version 6

In this version, we introduced the new data files/folders dashboard. You can find more information about the release in our v6.0.0 release notes.

Data dashboard

Data files/folders are pieces of content that do not belong to any markdown content, but live on their own. Most of the time, these data files are used to store additional information about your project/blog/website that will be used to render the content.

Version 5

The new media dashboard redesign got introduced + support for setting metadata on media files v5.0.0 release notes.

Data dashboard

Version 4

Support for Team level settings, content-types, and image support. Get to know more at: v4.0.0 release notes.

Version 3

In version v3 we introduced the welcome and dashboard webview. The welcome view allows to get you started using the extension, and the dashboard allows you to manage all your markdown pages in one place. This makes it easy to search, filter, sort, and more.

Version 2

In version v2 we released the re-designed sidebar panel with improved SEO support. This extension makes it the only extension to manage your Markdown pages for your static sites in Visual Studio Code.

Front Matter - Managing your static sites straight from within VS Code | Product Hunt

⚙️ Installation

You can get the extension via:

Info: The docs can be found on frontmatter.codes.

🧪 Beta version

If you have the courage to test out the beta features, we made available a beta version as well. You can install this via:

Info: The BETA docs can be found on beta.frontmatter.codes.

📖 Documentation

All documentation can be found on frontmatter.codes.

Documentation repository: GitHub - Front Matter DOCs

💪 Contributing

Pull requests are welcome. Please open an issue first to discuss what you would like to change, or which problem you would like to fix. This makes it easier for us to follow-up and plan for future releases.

You can always help us improve the extension in varous ways like:

  • Testing out the extension and providing feedback
  • Reporting issues and bugs
  • Suggesting new features
  • Fixing an issue
  • Updating documentation
  • UI improvements
  • Tutorial

readme truncated — read the full docs on github

Frequently asked questions

Is vscode-front-matter free to use?

vscode-front-matter is open source under the MIT licence. There is no licence fee and no seat count — you can self-host it or, where the project offers one, pay a vendor for a managed version instead.

What does vscode-front-matter do?

Front Matter is a CMS running straight in Visual Studio Code. Can be used with static site generators like Hugo, Jekyll, Hexo, NextJs, Gatsby, and many more...

What is vscode-front-matter written in?

vscode-front-matter is primarily written in TypeScript. Its source is publicly available at https://github.com/estruyf/vscode-front-matter, and it has 2,544 GitHub stars.