Just-in-Time Learning

A minimalist, lightweight static blog generator built with Elixir, designed to be:

• Simple to maintain
• Fast to load
• Easy to build locally
• Aesthetic and clean

Features

• Markdown-based posts with YAML front matter
• Tag filtering system
• Dark/light theme toggle
• Responsive design
• Zero external dependencies at runtime
• No tracking or analytics
• Built entirely with Elixir

Prerequisites

• Elixir 1.19+
• Erlang/OTP 28+

Quick Start

Install Dependencies

mix deps.get

Development

Build and serve locally:

mix dev

Visit http://localhost:8000

Build Only

Generate HTML files without starting server:

mix build_site

Serve Only

Start HTTP server without rebuilding:

mix serve [port]  # default port: 8000

Adding New Posts

1. Create markdown file in _posts/ directory:

Format: YYYY-MM-DD-slug.md

2. Add YAML front matter:

---
layout: post
title: "Your Post Title"
date: 2025-01-01
tags: [tag1, tag2, tag3]
---

Your post content here...

3. Run mix build_site to generate HTML

Project Structure

├── _posts/              # Markdown source files
├── posts/               # Generated HTML posts
├── lib/
│   ├── blog_builder.ex  # Main build logic
│   ├── blog_server.ex   # HTTP server
│   └── mix/tasks/       # Mix tasks (build_site, serve, dev)
├── mix.exs              # Project configuration
├── post-template.html   # HTML template for posts
├── index.html           # Main blog listing page
├── style.css            # All styling
├── script.js            # Client-side JavaScript
└── posts.json           # Generated posts index

Deployment

GitHub Actions automatically builds and deploys to GitHub Pages on push to main.

Architecture

• Static Generation: Converts markdown → HTML at build time
• YAML Front Matter: Parses post metadata (title, date, tags)
• Template System: Applies HTML templates with string replacement
• JSON Index: Generates searchable posts.json for frontend
• HTTP Server: Elixir Plug/Cowboy for local development