Copilot Instructions for coduinix.github.io

This is a personal blog and portfolio website built with Jekyll using the Minimal Mistakes theme, deployed to GitHub Pages.

Quick Start

Local Development

Run the Jekyll site locally with drafts and live reload in Docker:

docker run --rm \
  --volume="$PWD:/srv/jekyll:Z" \
  --publish 4000:4000 --publish 35729:35729 \
  jekyll/jekyll \
  jekyll serve --draft --livereload

The site will be available at http://localhost:4000.

Install Dependencies

bundle install

Architecture

Core Structure

• _posts/ — Published blog articles with front matter (YAML metadata)
• _drafts/ — Unpublished work-in-progress content (not rendered in production)
• _pages/ — Static pages like About, Blog, Articles, Talks (included in site build via include in _config.yml)
• _includes/ — Reusable HTML snippets (currently overrides theme components like author profile)
• _layouts/ — Custom layout templates (e.g., talk.html for talk pages)
• _talks/ — Talk collection with custom rendering
• assets/ — Images, CSS, and other static assets
• _config.yml — Jekyll configuration including theme, plugins, and defaults

Theme

Uses Minimal Mistakes v4.24.0 (remote theme) with the “contrast” skin. Customizations are minimal and loaded via jekyll-remote-theme.

Plugins

• jekyll-remote-theme — Load theme from GitHub
• jekyll-sitemap — Auto-generate XML sitemap
• jekyll-paginate — Pagination for blog archives
• jekyll-seo-tag — SEO meta tags
• jekyll-feed — RSS feed generation
• jekyll-include-cache — Performance optimization for includes

Content Conventions

Blog Posts

File format: _posts/YYYY-MM-DD-slug.md

Front matter example:

---
title: Article Title
excerpt: Brief summary shown in blog archives
tags:
  - tag1
  - tag2
toc: true
---

• Posts are automatically sorted by date (newest first)
• Excerpt separator is <!-- more -->
• Layout defaults to single with read time and sharing enabled
• Author profile shown by default on posts

Pages

Static pages (About, Blog, Articles, etc.) use layout: splash or single. Include permalink: to control URL structure. They must be listed in _config.yml under include: - "_pages" to be rendered.

Talks

Create markdown files in _talks/ directory. The custom layout talk.html is automatically applied (defined in _config.yml defaults).

Build & Deployment

GitHub Pages Workflow

Automatically deploys to GitHub Pages on every push to main branch. The workflow:

1. Checks out code
2. Builds Jekyll site to _site/ directory
3. Uploads artifact to GitHub Pages

View workflow: .github/workflows/jekyll.yml

Local Testing Before Commit

Always test locally with the Docker command above. Verify:

• Content renders without errors
• Links work correctly
• Front matter is valid YAML

Key Configuration

_config.yml highlights:

• timezone: Europe/Amsterdam — Blog post timezone
• permalink: /:categories/:year/:month/:day/:title — URL slug format
• sass.style: compressed — CSS minification
• tag_archive.path: /tags/ — Tag page location
• Google Analytics ID: G-19Y7T9TVQW

Common Tasks

Add a Blog Post

1. Create _posts/YYYY-MM-DD-slug.md
2. Add required front matter (title, excerpt, tags)
3. Write content
4. Test locally with Docker
5. Commit and push to main

Add a Draft

Same as above but use _drafts/ instead of _posts/. It will render locally with --draft flag but not in production.

Customize Content

• Override theme includes by creating files in _includes/ (currently has author-profile-custom-links.html)
• Modify site-wide defaults in _config.yml (collections, front matter defaults, etc.)

Update Theme or Plugins

Edit Gemfile or remote_theme in _config.yml. Run bundle install locally to test.

Dependencies

• Ruby with Bundler (managed by Docker image jekyll/jekyll)
• Node.js 25.9.0+ (declared in package.json, used if needed for asset pipeline)
• jekyll/jekyll Docker image (recommended for local testing)