How this site works

Every page here comes from a markdown file in a git repository. Writing a post means adding a file to src/content/essays/, giving it a title and a date at the top, and pushing. The host notices the push, runs the build, and the new page is live in under a minute.

The frontmatter

The block between the --- fences carries everything the site needs to know about a post:

---
title: "How this site works"
description: "One line for the index page and the RSS feed."
date: 2026-09-01
draft: false
tags: ["meta"]
---

Only title and date are required. Set draft: true and the post stays out of the index, the sitemap, and the feed until you flip it back.

The local loop

npm run dev      # http://localhost:4321, reloads as you type
npm run build    # produces dist/, the same output the host builds

The filename becomes the URL. how-this-site-works.md is served at /writing/how-this-site-works/, so the name is worth a moment’s thought.

What is not here

No database, no admin login, no plugin updates, no PHP version to keep current. The output is a directory of HTML files. If the host disappears, the same directory drops onto any other host, and the markdown underneath it opens in any text editor for as long as text editors exist.

Delete this post whenever it stops being useful.