Stonecharioteer's Tech Blog

A Hugo-powered technical blog focused on software development, Python, and career insights. Built with the PaperMod theme and enhanced with custom admonitions and features.

Live Site: https://tech.stonecharioteer.com/

Setup

Prerequisites

Install Hugo 0.146.7 extended using the .deb file:

# Download Hugo 0.146.7 extended
wget https://github.com/gohugoio/hugo/releases/download/v0.146.7/hugo_extended_0.146.7_linux-amd64.deb

# Install the package
sudo dpkg -i hugo_extended_0.146.7_linux-amd64.deb

Development

# Clone and setup theme
git submodule update --init --recursive

# Local development server
hugo serve --buildDrafts

# Production build
hugo

Testing GitHub Actions Locally

Test the build workflow locally using act:

# Test the build job only (skips deployment)
gh act -j build

# Test with specific event (e.g., pull request)
gh act pull_request -j build

Content Management

Creating Posts

# Create new post with year organization
hugo new content content/posts/2025/my-post-title.md

# Legacy format (directly in posts/)
hugo new content content/posts/my-post-title.md

Frontmatter Template

---
date: "2025-01-15T10:30:00+05:30" # IST timezone
draft: false
title: "Your Post Title"
tags: ["python", "tutorial", "career"]
cover: # Optional
  image: "/images/cover.jpg"
  alt: "Cover image description"
private: true # Optional - hides from listings
url: "custom-url-path" # Optional
---

Content Types

Regular Posts: content/posts/YYYY/title.md Unlisted Content: content/unlisted/ (published but not featured) Static Pages:

• gear.md - Personal tech setup
• favourites.md - Curated resources
• values.md - Personal philosophy

Custom Features

Admonitions

Enhanced content blocks for technical documentation:

{{< note title="Important" >}} Your note content here {{< /note >}}

{{< info >}} Information with default title {{< /info >}}

{{< warning title="Caution" >}} Warning content {{< /warning >}}

{{< tip title="Pro Tip" >}} Helpful suggestion {{< /tip >}}

{{< example title="Code Demo" >}} Example or demonstration {{< /example >}}

Quotes (Special Features)

Perfect for poetry, literature, or attributed quotes:

{{< quote title="Poetry" footer="Robert Frost" blockquote="true" >}} Two roads
diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by, And that has made
all the difference. {{< /quote >}}

{{< quote footer="Maya Angelou" >}} Prose quotes flow naturally without line
preservation. {{< /quote >}}

Quote Parameters:

• title - Custom title (default: "Quote")
• footer - Attribution text
• blockquote - Preserve line breaks for poetry (default: false)

External Code Integration

{{< code language="python" source="code/example/main.py" >}}

Includes and highlights code from files in the /code/ directory.

Content Guidelines

Writing Style

• Technical precision with practical examples
• Personal voice and anecdotes
• Performance analysis using timeit when relevant
• Cross-references to gear and favorites pages

Tag Strategy

• Technical: python, microservices, grpc, data-structures-and-algorithms
• Content: reflection, housekeeping, career, culture
• Use lowercase, hyphenated format for consistency

Images

Place images in static/images/ and reference as /images/filename.jpg

Special Content

Private Posts

Add private: true to frontmatter to hide from listings while keeping publicly accessible via direct URL.

Code Examples

Maintain runnable examples in /code/ directory that can be included in posts via the code shortcode.

Theme & Styling

• Base Theme: PaperMod (git submodule)
• Dark Mode: Automatic theme switching supported
• Custom Features: Admonitions, external code integration, private posts
• Typography: Serif fonts for quotes, monospace for code

Deployment

The site uses Git integration for automatic last-modified dates. Ensure commits are properly authored for accurate timestamps.