Gatsby does an incredible amount of cool stuff for you, automatically. This makes Gatsby an incredibly powerful, versatile tool. However, this broad depth of functionality can make it difficult to explain what Gatsby does in a concise and approachable way.

In this post, I’ll aim for the latter — an approachable explanation of what Gatsby does using a series of analogies that others have found helpful. I hope you do, too!

Start off with a pre-configured development environment and build process (high-performance car) Benefit from built-in performance optimization (Neo’s Matrix skills) Leverage static site delivery and web app experience (Compressed mattress) Prefetch resources for snappy routing (Psychic delivery person) Consolidate data sourcing and transformations (Amazon)

1. Start off with a pre-configured development environment and build process

Gatsby uses React for its UI layer. It can be notoriously difficult for newcomers to get started with React, or even for experienced React devs to configure a new React project from the ground up every time. (See: JavaScript Fatigue).

Is it possible to learn every fine-grained detail to optimize a development environment and build process for React? Sure. Is it necessary to get up and going on a project? No, not anymore.

I relate it to driving a high-performance car. Do I need to understand the inner workings and build process of a high-performance car (to an implementation-level depth) in order to drive one? Definitely not. I just need to know how to drive the car!

You just drive the car; you just start building your UI.

2. Benefit from built-in performance optimization

Performance optimization is a first-class concern for Gatsby. When you create a Gatsby site, you automatically enjoy performance benefits, without having to make any other considerations.

One question I hear sometimes is, “What does Gatsby do that I couldn’t do myself?” The basic answer, technically, is nothing. Here’s the caveat.

Take Neo in the Matrix. (If you haven’t seen The Matrix, I’ll give enough context). In the movie, there’s a part where the character Neo has skills uploaded directly into his brain. When he wakes up, he utters, “I know kung fu”.