My Perfect Craft CMS Starter Setup in 5 Minutes

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🧼 A Clean Start

I don’t like boilerplate bloat. My setup focuses on a minimal but powerful Craft CMS installation with everything I actually need — and nothing I don’t.

I use DDEV to spin up local environments in seconds. A single ddev start and I have a fully functional Craft install ready to go.

This approach is perfect if you work on multiple projects or jump between client work frequently. It keeps your system clean, consistent, and predictable.

⚡ Vite + Tailwind out of the box

Vite gives me fast front-end builds, and Tailwind handles design without leaving my HTML. No fiddling with Webpack configs. No npm run build drama. Just instant feedback and hot reloading.

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ddev npm install
ddev npm run dev

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This fires up the dev server, and everything is wired up automatically. Vite handles your asset bundling and manifest generation, so Craft can load your compiled assets in production without extra work.

🧭 A sensible structure

The starter comes with a simple but solid project structure. Nothing fancy, nothing weird. You know where everything lives, so you can jump straight into building features instead of setting up tooling.

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├─ src/
│  ├─ css/
│  ├─ js/
│  └─ vue/
├─ templates/
├─ config/
└─ web/

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🪄 Features I get “for free”

✅ HTTPS via DDEV
⚡ Vite + Tailwind preconfigured
🧰 Ready-to-use Content Builder – a flexible Matrix-based setup that’s easy to extend with your own blocks
🧱 Vue Web Components ready to drop in
🚀 Datastar examples included – no build step, no framework bloat
📦 Clean manifest integration for production
🧭 Predictable folder structure
🐳 Works on any machine with DDEV

This setup has grown out of actual project work — not a tutorial. It’s designed to be fast, stable, and boring (in the best possible way).

🚀 From zero to building in 5 minutes

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git clone git@github.com:handplant/craftcms-lazy-starter-kit.git
cd craftcms-lazy-starter-kit
ddev start
ddev composer install
ddev craft install
ddev npm install
ddev npm run dev

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Open your browser at 👉 https://craftcms-lazy.ddev.site …and you’re ready to build.

🧠 Final thoughts

There’s a certain joy in not having to fight your setup. With this starter, I can begin working on actual features immediately — no detours, no yak shaving.

If you work with Craft CMS often, I highly recommend creating a starter kit of your own (or borrowing mine). A clean foundation pays off every single time you start something new.