# Static Site Generator A static site generator (SSG) is a tool that produces a complete website of static HTML files from source content (typically Markdown or a similar markup language) and templates. Unlike dynamic web applications that generate pages on each request, static sites are pre-built at compile time and served as plain HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files. Popular static site generators include Hugo, Jekyll, Gatsby, Eleventy, and Astro. Static sites are fast (no server-side processing per request), secure (no database or server-side code to exploit), and inexpensive to host (served from CDNs or object storage). They are well-suited for documentation sites, blogs, marketing pages, and landing pages. Static sites often consume APIs at build time (fetching data from a headless CMS or database to generate pages) or at runtime on the client side (loading dynamic content via JavaScript API calls). API gateways can serve as the data source for static sites, providing authenticated access to content APIs during the build process. Static sites can be hosted on edge networks alongside serverless API gateways, providing a complete application stack with minimal infrastructure. --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://docs.serverlessapigateway.com/glossary/s/static-site-generator.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.