Assuming that you have node and npm installed and available, create a project folder with a valid package.json. Install the necessary dependencies:

npm install --save-dev metalsmith metalsmith-in-place handlebars

Create a file called build.js at the root of your project folder, containing the following:

var metalsmith = require('metalsmith');
var handlebars = require('handlebars');
var inPlace = require('metalsmith-in-place');

Metalsmith(__dirname)
  .use(inPlace('handlebars'))
  .build(function(err) {
    if (err) throw err;
    console.log('Build finished!');
  });

Create a folder called src at the root of your project folder. Create index.html in src, containing the following:

---
title: My awesome blog
---
<h1>{{ title }}</h1>

Running node build.js will now build all files in src. After running this command, you'll have index.html in your build folder, with the following contents:

<h1>My awesome blog</h1>