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HHans Martens Dev
About me

I create
Astro themes

I'm Hans Martens, an Astro theme developer from Veghel, the Netherlands.

What drives me

Design and code, for the love of it

Web design and development are my craft. Astro Rocket is my first released theme, and I'm already working on what comes next.

What draws me to this work is where design and technology meet. Getting that intersection right — making something that is both beautifully designed and technically solid — is what I find genuinely satisfying. That's why I keep doing it.

Tools & Tech

My Stack

The tools I rely on every day to build fast, modern themes and websites, chosen for performance and reliability.

Tools & Tech

My Stack

The tools I rely on every day to build fast, modern themes and websites, chosen for performance and reliability.

Astro
Tailwind CSS
TypeScript
React
GitHub
Vercel
Claude
Good to know

Frequently asked questions

Some of the questions I get asked most often.

About the themes

Is Astro Rocket really free?
Yes — completely. It's MIT-licensed: free to use, modify, and build on, for personal and commercial projects alike. No trial, no locked features, no catch. If it saves you a week of setup, a star on GitHub is the nicest way to say thanks.
Why do you give your themes away for free?
Because building them is what I love, and free is what makes them useful to everyone. My own work stands on open-source tools, so giving something polished back feels right — and seeing what people build with my themes is the best reward there is.
Can I hire you to build my website?
No — I focus fully on building free, open-source themes for the Astro community, so I don't take on client work. But Astro Rocket is free and made exactly so you can build a website like this yourself, and the blog shows how it all works under the hood.
Do you plan to build more Astro themes?
Yes. Astro Rocket stays free and actively maintained, and a second free, open-source theme is in the making — growing out of everything Astro Rocket taught me. Follow along on the blog for what comes next.
Can I request features or report bugs?
Yes, please — that's how the theme grows. Open an issue on GitHub and we discuss the right solution together. Improvements that benefit every user ship in the theme; wishes specific to one website are yours to build on top, and the documentation helps you on your way.

About the work

How can I support your work?
Star the repository on GitHub, report what you run into, and share what you build — every website made with the theme is the best advertisement it can get. And if you write about it somewhere, send me the link — I always like seeing where the themes end up.
Do you use AI when you build?
Yes — I work alongside Claude as a thinking partner throughout every project. Not as a shortcut, but as a second perspective that helps me think through design decisions, review code, and spot things I might otherwise miss.
Why do you build with Astro?
Because it matches the way I think about the web: lean, purposeful, and built to last. Astro lets me ship fast sites without fighting the framework — minimal JavaScript, clean HTML, great SEO — so I can focus on the design and details that actually matter.
Do you always build with Astro?
Yes — these days, everything. My themes are Astro themes, this website runs on it, and I don't see that changing. I built with WordPress for over a decade before switching, so it's a deliberate choice, not a habit.
What is Astro?
Astro is a modern web framework built for content-driven sites. It ships zero JavaScript by default — only sending what the page actually needs. The result is fast load times, excellent Core Web Vitals scores, and lean, maintainable code.
Background

How I got here

If you'd like to know who's behind the work — where it started, the road from WordPress to Astro, and what I do away from the screen — it's one click away.

Read the introduction
My work

See what I create

Everything I've made is on the projects page, including Astro Rocket, free for anyone to build on.

See my workSend a message