General
Is Bengal free?
Yes! Bengal is open-source software released under the MIT License. You can use it for personal and commercial projects for free.
What Python version does Bengal require?
Python 3.14 or later (3.14t free-threaded build recommended for best performance).
See the Installation Guide for why and how to set it up.
Technical
Can I use React/Vue/Svelte?
Yes, but... Bengal is a Static Site Generator that outputs HTML. You can absolutely include compiled JS bundles (like React components) in your pages, but Bengal does not do server-side rendering (SSR) for JS frameworks.
Use Bengal for the content structure and React for "Islands of Interactivity."
How do I host a Bengal site?
Since Bengal outputs static HTML/CSS/JS (in thepublic/folder), you can host it anywhere:
- GitHub Pages
- Netlify
- Vercel
- AWS S3
- Apache/Nginx
No database or Python server is required for hosting.
Content & Theming
Can I use standard Markdown?
Yes. Bengal supports standard Markdown (CommonMark). We also support GitHub Flavored Markdown (GFM) tables and task lists out of the box.
How do I add a new theme?
You can install themes viapipor clone them into yourthemes/directory.
See the Themer Quickstart for details.