Why I Built My Portfolio with Astro and Cloudflare Pages
Moving away from heavy single-page apps toward zero-JS static HTML, instant edge delivery, and markdown-first writing.
When I decided to rebuild my personal website, I had two distinct aesthetics stuck in my head: the calm, distraction-free digital minimalism of James Scholz, and the sleek, cyber-dark engineering polish of Gazi Jarin.
Most modern developer portfolios fall into the trap of over-engineering: massive client-side React bundles, dozens of external UI packages, and heavy page weights just to display some text and project links.
The Problem with Traditional SPAs
For a personal hub and blog:
- JavaScript bloat: You shouldn’t have to download 1.5MB of JavaScript before reading a 200-word note.
- Markdown friction: Writing a new note or updating a gear item in an SPA often requires configuring custom remark plugins, dynamic routing, or database calls.
- Bandwidth & latency: Standard hosting setups can suffer from cold starts and bandwidth quotas.
Why Astro Won
Astro delivers zero client-side JavaScript by default. The browser receives raw, semantic HTML and CSS, leading to instantaneous page loads and perfect 100 Lighthouse performance scores. Yet, whenever I need an interactive widget—like a live clock or a copy-to-clipboard button—I can seamlessly drop in interactive components.
Edge Hosting on Cloudflare Pages
Deploying on Cloudflare Pages gave me:
- Unlimited bandwidth with no surprise bills.
- Global edge caching (sub-50ms response times worldwide).
- Automatic preview builds on every
git push.
The result is a portfolio that feels both modern and fundamentally timeless.
Published by Apurbo (@apurbothea1)
Feel free to reach out with thoughts or questions.