The web belongs to everyone. Silex is a free/libre visual website builder — no lock-in, no subscription, no tracking. Design visually, export clean HTML/CSS, host anywhere.
Try Silex online | Documentation | Desktop app — coming soon | Manifesto
Most no-code tools lock you in: proprietary formats, forced hosting, subscriptions. Silex is different.
- Your data is yours — standard HTML/CSS output, export everything, host anywhere, leave anytime
- Real web skills — everything you learn in Silex (HTML, CSS, JAMstack) is transferable knowledge
- Community-owned — maintained by Silex Labs, a non-profit recognized as being of general interest. No investors, no exit strategy, transparent finances
- Free forever — always free software (AGPL), all features included, no premium tier
"The only open source alternative to Webflow." — "The most powerful and graphically precise website builder that I have experienced."
- Web agencies — visual workflow, static output, scale client work without scaling your team
- WordPress developers — visual frontend, content from WP via GraphQL, ditch the theme layer
- Freelance webdesigners — create client sites without code, export standard HTML, host anywhere
- No-code developers — go beyond Wix/Squarespace with full CSS control and no vendor lock-in
- GrapesJS-based visual editor — drag-and-drop page building with HTML, CSS, and JS editors
- Static HTML output — fast, secure, easy to host anywhere
- CMS integration — bind components to WordPress, Strapi, Squidex, or any GraphQL API
- 11ty compatible — generate static sites from Silex templates, deploy with CI/CD
- Desktop app (coming soon) — work offline, no account needed, AI-ready with built-in MCP server. Built with Tauri for Windows, macOS, Linux. Follow progress.
- Plugin system — extend with server and client plugins in JS/TS
- SEO tools — meta tags, Open Graph, per-page settings
- Self-hosting — Docker, Node.js, or one-click deploy on CapRover, YunoHost, Elest.io
Use it online — v3.silex.me (free, requires a GitLab account for storage)
Desktop app (alpha) — download for Windows, macOS or Linux. Work offline, no account needed.
Run with Node.js:
npx @silexlabs/silexThen open http://localhost:6805.
Silex has been built by contributors from around the world since 2009. Today, over 1,000 people use it every week, and 23,000+ accounts have been created. It's a small, friendly community — you'll get noticed, your PRs get reviewed, and your work has real impact.
- Good first issues — start here
- Contributing guide — how to get started
- Community forums — ask questions, share ideas
- Chat — quick help
- Bug reports
This is a meta repo — it doesn't contain much code itself. Instead, it pulls together all Silex packages as git submodules in the packages/ directory. Dependencies are managed with Yarn Workspaces.
Each package (e.g. silex-lib, grapesjs-fonts) is its own git repository with its own issues, PRs and releases. You can contribute to a single package without touching the rest.
git clone git@github.com:silexlabs/Silex.git --recurse-submodules -j8
cd Silex
nvm install # optional — uses version from .nvmrc
yarn install # installs dependencies and builds all packages
npm start # starts the editor at http://localhost:6805Windows users: Run yarn install --ignore-scripts && yarn run build instead.
- Fork the package repo on GitHub (e.g.
silexlabs/silex-lib) - Add your fork as a remote:
cd packages/silex-lib git remote add fork git@github.com:<your-username>/silex-lib.git
- Create a branch, make changes, push to your fork:
git checkout -b my-fix # ... make changes ... git commit -m "fix: description of the fix" git push fork my-fix
- Open a PR from your fork against the upstream repo (
silexlabs/silex-lib)
Run npm run release for guided version bumping across packages. Run without arguments to see help and options (prepatch, preminor, patch, minor, dry-run).
Design websites with AI — open, local, yours. Learn more
The upcoming Silex Desktop app will let you create and transform sites through prompts: describe what you want, see it built live, refine the design in real time, publish clean HTML/CSS anywhere.
Silex uses MCP (Model Context Protocol), an open standard — so you choose your AI. Run a local model with Ollama for full privacy, or use any MCP-compatible tool: OpenCode, Goose, Claude Code, etc. The MCP server is optimized for small local models (7B+).
See the vibe coding roadmap for what's coming (prompt library, examples cookbook, best practices guide — contributions welcome).
Once Silex Desktop is running, connect your AI tool to:
http://localhost:6807/mcp
OpenCode — add an MCP server in your config file with URL http://localhost:6807/mcp.
Goose — add a remote server in your profile config with endpoint http://localhost:6807/mcp.
Claude Code — claude mcp add --transport http silex http://localhost:6807/mcp
Any other MCP client — use a Streamable HTTP transport pointed at the same URL.
This project is made up of 24 packages — click to expand
| Package | Description |
|---|---|
| @silexlabs/sitemapgen | Generate asitemap.xml from a static site generator (SSG) output directory. |
| Silex Server (Rust) | A Rust implementation of the Silex website builder server, providing storage and hosting connectors for website manag... |
| Silex plugins | Environment-agnostic plugin system for Silex, inspired by 11ty config. |
| Silex Plugin Starter | Starter template for writing Silex plugins. |
| Silex Platform by Silex Labs | Ready-to-deploy Silex instance maintained by Silex Labs. |
| Silex core library | Core library of Silex — Node.js server, visual editor, npx CLI and Docker image. |
| Silex Desktop | Desktop application for Silex, the free/libre no-code website builder. |
| Silex Dashboard | Dashboard plugin for managing websites in Silex. |
| Silex Dashboard 2026 | Next-generation dashboard for Silex, replacing the legacy Vue.js dashboard. |
| node_modules Path | Get the path of the node_modules folder in your scripts or CLI or package.json. |
| @silexlabs/grapesjs-version-flow | A GrapesJS plugin for managing version upgrades and migrations with sequential upgrade flow and modal UI |
| Symbols plugin for GrapesJS | This plugin enables users to create symbols, which are reusable elements, in a page and accross pages |
| Grapesjs Storage Rate Limit | A plugin for GrapesJS that provides rate-limited storage, allowing you to save changes immediately and then cool down... |
| GrapesJs Notifications Plugin | Centralized notification system for GrapesJS plugins. |
| Grapesjs Loading | Shows a loading bar while the site is loaded or saved. |
| GrapesJS Keymap Dialog | This GrapesJS plugin implements a floating UI showing the available keymaps for the editor. |
| Grapesjs Fonts | Custom Fonts plugin for grapesjs |
| Grapesjs Filter Styles | This plugin adds a search bar in the Style manager so that users can search for a CSS style |
| GrapesJs Data Source plugin | This GrapesJS plugin integrates various APIs into the editor, providing powerful data-driven website building capabil... |
| GrapesJS CSS Variables | Define and manage CSS custom properties in GrapesJs editors, e.g. --primary. |
| GrapesJS AI Capabilities | Discovery and metadata layer for GrapesJS commands. |
| GrapesJS Advanced Selector Manager | An advanced selector management plugin for GrapesJS, designed for cases where the default Selector Manager falls short |
| Expression & Popin Form Components | A set of reusable web components to manage expressions (chains of tokens) and form overlays. |
| eleventy-plugin-concat | Eleventy plugin to bundle your scripts and styles. |
Silex is made up of many packages (git submodules), each with its own contributors. This project is maintained by Alex Hoyau and owned by the non-profit Silex Labs
2026 — Alex Hoyau, Safal2004, Wassim Triki
2025 — Alex Hoyau, ceubri, Mazen Kamal, Piotr Golebiewski, oliviermgx
2024 — Alex Hoyau, oliviermgx, JeremyZXi, SuperDelphi
2023 — Alex Hoyau, Eskeminha, Ari Karageorgos
2022 — Alex Hoyau, Makara Sok, Khaled Bentoumi
2021 — Alex Hoyau
2020 — Alex Hoyau, Fredrik Söderquist
2019 — Alex Hoyau
2018 — Alex Hoyau, Jean-Baptiste Richardet, jotakar, swakarm
2017 — Alex Hoyau, Jean-Baptiste Richardet, Jenn Parker, Rapenne Solène, tariqbenezza, singchan
2016 — Alex Hoyau, singchan, Pierre Ozoux
2015 — Alex Hoyau, singchan, Christophe, Pierre Ozoux, René Föhring, christian-bromann
2014 — Alex Hoyau, Camille Gérard-Hirne, neocorp64, Michele Martone, peoslaap
2013 — Alex Hoyau, Yann Le Scouarnec, TheCause, yanhick, Thomas Fetiveau
- Official website
- Manifesto — our values and commitments
- User documentation
- Developer documentation
- Road map — help define tasks and priorities
- Community forums
- Newsletter (EN) | (FR)
- OpenCollective — financial contributions
Silex stands on the shoulders of these open-source projects and their communities:
- GrapesJS — front-end drag-and-drop framework
- 11ty (Eleventy) — static site generator used for CMS integration
- Tauri — desktop app framework (Rust + WebView)
- TypeScript — language used across packages
Brought to you since 2009 by Alex Hoyau and the Silex community.
Silex is free/libre software. Join the community, contribute, donate, or report bugs.
