Unleashing the Power of MDX in Gatsby Blogs

Gatsby has fast become a favorite tool of developers for building blazing-fast websites and apps. And it‘s no wonder – with its rich plugin ecosystem, seamless integration with data sources, and foundation in React, Gatsby is a powerhouse for creating dynamic web experiences.

One area where Gatsby really shines is blogging. The Gatsby starter blog is a great foundation for creating a performant, feature-rich blog. But you can supercharge your Gatsby blog and unlock a world of new possibilities by leveraging MDX.

In this deep dive, we‘ll explore what MDX is, why it‘s so potent when combined with Gatsby, and how you can convert a Gatsby starter blog to use MDX and elevate your content. Let‘s jump in!

Understanding MDX

To grasp why MDX is so game-changing, we first need to understand what it is. MDX stands for "Markdown with JSX." It‘s an extension of markdown that allows you to use JSX inline, empowering you to blend powerful React components with simple markdown authoring.

Consider this basic example:

# My Awesome Heading

This is a paragraph with some **bold** text and a [link](https://www.gatsbyjs.com).

<MyCustomComponent />

Here‘s another paragraph after the component.

With MDX, you can import and use React components directly in your markdown files. This opens up a world of possibilities, as you can now include interactive elements, data visualizations, embedded videos, and so much more in your content.

MDX has rapidly gained popularity since its introduction. According to State of JS, MDX usage among developers nearly doubled from 2019 to 2020, with 23% of respondents indicating they‘ve used MDX and would use it again. It‘s particularly prevalent in the Gatsby ecosystem, with the gatsby-plugin-mdx being the most downloaded Gatsby plugin as of June 2021 with over 3.7 million weekly downloads according to npm trends.

Benefits of MDX in Gatsby Blogs

So why use MDX in your Gatsby blog? Let‘s explore a few key benefits:

1. Enhanced Content: With MDX, your blog posts are no longer limited to static text and images. You can embed interactive components, stylized blocks of content, dynamic data visualizations, videos, and so much more. This allows you to create rich, engaging content that stands out.

2. React Power: Gatsby is built on React, so using MDX allows you to leverage the full power of React in your content. You can encapsulate complex functionality into reusable components and import them in your posts. Manage state, handle user interactions, integrate with third-party libraries – anything React can do, your blog posts can now do too.

3. Simplified Authoring: One of the benefits of markdown is its simplicity and readability. MDX preserves this while layering on the power of JSX. You can still write most of your content in plain markdown, dropping down to JSX when you need more interactivity or custom rendering. This keeps your content manageable and easy to author.

4. Unified Styling: With MDX, your blog posts can fully participate in your Gatsby theme and styling. By using components in your posts, you ensure consistent styling across interactive and static elements. And you can still style your markdown content with your site‘s global CSS or styled-components.

5. Performance: Because MDX is compiled to React components, the result is highly optimized. Just like any other React code in Gatsby, MDX will be server-rendered for fast initial loads and then hydrated for interactivity on the client.

Converting a Gatsby Blog to MDX

Now that we‘ve seen why MDX is so powerful, let‘s walk through the process of actually converting a Gatsby starter blog to use MDX.

We‘ll start with the official gatsby-starter-blog. You can follow along by cloning the starter locally:

gatsby new my-mdx-blog https://github.com/gatsbyjs/gatsby-starter-blog

Now let‘s step through the conversion process.

Step 1: Install MDX Dependencies

First, we need to install the necessary dependencies for using MDX in our Gatsby project. Run the following in your terminal:

npm install gatsby-plugin-mdx @mdx-js/mdx @mdx-js/react

This installs the official Gatsby MDX plugin along with the MDX parser and React renderer.

Step 2: Configure the MDX Plugin

Next, we need to configure Gatsby to use the MDX plugin. Open your gatsby-config.js file and make the following changes:

1. Remove the gatsby-transformer-remark plugin if present.
2. Add the gatsby-plugin-mdx to the plugins array:

plugins: [
  // ...
  {
    resolve: `gatsby-plugin-mdx`,
    options: {
      extensions: [".mdx", ".md"],
    },
  },
]

This tells Gatsby to process both .mdx and .md files with the MDX plugin.

Step 3: Update gatsby-node.js

Now we need to update the Node API in gatsby-node.js to use MDX instead of Markdown Remark.

Find the createPages function and update the GraphQL query to fetch Mdx nodes instead of MarkdownRemark:

const result = await graphql(`
  query {
    allMdx(sort: { fields: [frontmatter___date], order: DESC }, limit: 1000) {
      edges {
        node {
          fields {
            slug
          }
          frontmatter {
            title
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
`)

Then, in the createPage call for each post, update the component path to point to a new template we‘ll create:

const posts = result.data.allMdx.edges

posts.forEach((post, index) => {
  createPage({
    path: post.node.fields.slug,
    component: path.resolve("./src/templates/blog-post.js"),
    context: {
      slug: post.node.fields.slug,
    },
  })
})

Step 4: Create an MDX-Enabled Blog Post Template

Our existing blog post template is set up to render markdown, so we need to create a new one that can handle MDX.

Create a new file at src/templates/blog-post.js and add the following:

import React from "react"
import { graphql } from "gatsby"
import { MDXRenderer } from "gatsby-plugin-mdx"
import Layout from "../components/layout"

const BlogPost = ({ data }) => {
  const post = data.mdx
  return (
    <Layout>
      <article>

        <MDXRenderer>{post.body}</MDXRenderer>
      </article>
    </Layout>
  )
}

export const query = graphql`
  query($slug: String!) {
    mdx(fields: { slug: { eq: $slug } }) {
      frontmatter {
        title
      }
      body
    }
  }
`

export default BlogPost

Here we‘re using the MDXRenderer component provided by the MDX plugin to render our post body, which will now be in MDX format.

Step 5: Write Your First MDX Post

Now for the fun part – let‘s create our first MDX blog post!

Create a new file in content/blog, perhaps named my-first-mdx-post.mdx. Add some content mixing markdown and JSX:

---
title: My First MDX Post
date: "2021-06-10"
---

# Hello, MDX!

This is my first post written in MDX!

MDX allows me to use <strong>JSX inline with my markdown</strong>. How exciting!

I can even import and use React components:

<MyCustomComponent />

The possibilities are endless!

Start your development server with gatsby develop and navigate to your new post. You should see it rendered with MDX!

Step 6: Explore the Possibilities

With the basic setup complete, you can now start exploring all the possibilities MDX unlocks. Here are a few ideas:

• Create reusable content components like callouts, embedded videos, or interactive charts
• Integrate third-party React libraries for data visualization, animation, etc.
• Build interactive elements like quizzes or calculators right in your posts
• Use GraphQL to query and display data in your posts

The sky‘s the limit! By leveraging MDX, you can create truly unique and engaging content experiences in your Gatsby blog.

Tips and Best Practices

As you dive into using MDX with Gatsby, keep these tips and best practices in mind:

1. Keep It Readable: Just because you can use JSX everywhere doesn‘t mean you should. Use it judiciously and prefer plain markdown for most of your content. This keeps your posts readable and maintainable.

2. Create Reusable Components: If you find yourself using the same interactive elements or custom components in multiple posts, consider abstracting them into reusable components. This makes your content more modular and maintainable.

3. Optimize Performance: While MDX is compiled to optimized React components, be mindful of the size and complexity of the components you include. Very large or complex interactive elements can impact performance.

4. Use the Gatsby Ecosystem: Many Gatsby plugins and starters now support MDX out of the box. Leverage these to add features like code syntax highlighting, embed providers, RSS feeds, and more to your MDX-powered blog.

5. Style Strategically: You can style your MDX content using your site‘s global styles, CSS modules, or styled-components. Choose the approach that best fits your project and use it consistently.

The MDX Ecosystem

Beyond the Gatsby ecosystem, there‘s a growing set of tools and platforms supporting MDX. Here are a few notable ones:

• Next.js: This popular React framework recently added built-in support for MDX, making it easy to use MDX in Next.js projects.
• Storybook: Storybook, a UI component explorer, supports MDX for writing component documentation and stories.
• Docz: Docz is a documentation generation tool built on MDX and Gatsby.
• MDX Deck: This is a popular tool for creating slide decks using MDX.

In the CMS space, platforms like Contentful and Sanity are beginning to add support for MDX, allowing content authors to leverage its power in a familiar editor interface.

Conclusion

MDX is a powerhouse technology that unlocks a new realm of possibilities for content creation in Gatsby and beyond. By combining the simplicity of markdown with the expressiveness of JSX and React components, MDX empowers developers to create dynamic, engaging content experiences.

In this guide, we‘ve walked through the process of converting a Gatsby starter blog to use MDX, explored the benefits MDX provides, and discussed best practices for using it effectively. We‘ve also touched on the broader ecosystem developing around MDX.

Whether you‘re building a personal blog, a documentation site, or a content-rich application, MDX is a compelling tool to have in your arsenal. Its fusion of content and code opens up new avenues for creating interactive, data-driven, and visually stunning content.

So dive in, experiment, and unleash the power of MDX in your Gatsby projects! The only limit is your imagination.