Getting Started with Astro and MDX

Introduction

Astro has become one of my favorite frameworks for building content-focused websites. When combined with MDX, it offers an incredibly powerful authoring experience that bridges the gap between writing markdown and building interactive components.

Why Astro?

Astro’s island architecture is brilliant for content sites:

• Zero JavaScript by default: Ship only what you need
• Framework agnostic: Use React, Vue, Svelte, or plain HTML
• Content collections: Type-safe content management
• Fast builds: Optimized for performance

MDX Integration

MDX brings the best of both worlds:

import MyComponent from '../components/MyComponent.astro';

# This is markdown

<MyComponent prop="value" />

Still markdown here!

This flexibility means you can:

1. Write primarily in markdown for speed
2. Add interactive components where needed
3. Maintain type safety throughout

Content Collections

Astro’s content collections provide schema validation:

const blog = defineCollection({
  type: 'content',
  schema: z.object({
    title: z.string(),
    description: z.string(),
    date: z.coerce.date(),
  }),
});

Conclusion

The combination of Astro and MDX creates a sweet spot for developer experience and user experience. You get the authoring speed of markdown with the power of components when you need them.