Intrepidus PRD (Product Requirements Document)

Project Overview

Name: Intrepidus

Tagline: A fearless exploration at the intersection of health, mind, and technology

Author: Toni Incog

Live Site: https://www.intrepidus.me

Repository: https://github.com/nocona71/quarto

Purpose

Intrepidus is a personal blog and knowledge platform exploring topics at the convergence of meditation, philosophy, personal knowledge management, AI, and technical experiments. It serves as both a publishing platform and a showcase for technical writing and interactive visualizations.

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Current Features

Content Management

• Articles: Long-form, in-depth pieces (currently 4 published)
• Blog Posts: Shorter-form content with code examples
• Post Types: Markdown, R (knitr/ggplot2), Python (Jupyter), LaTeX/TikZ visualizations
• Draft System: Content can be hidden from feeds/listings while remaining accessible
• RSS Feed: Full Atom feed with customizable items (60 items configured)
• Archive: Date-based organization (YYYY/MM/DD structure)

Frontend

• Theme: Bootstrap (Flatly) with light/dark mode support
• Navigation: Searchable navbar with links to Posts, Articles, About, RSS, GitHub
• Comments: Giscus-powered (GitHub Discussions)
• Features:
  • Table of contents on articles
  • Margin references/footnotes
  • Code highlighting
  • Lightbox for images
  • Responsive design

Technical Features

• Analytics: Google Tag Manager integration
• Cookie Consent: Implied consent (simple banner)
• SEO: robots.txt, meta tags, Google indexing support
• Code Examples: Snippets directory for reusable code
• Build System: Quarto with R/Python support
• Deployment: GitHub Pages with automated publish script

Styling

• Custom SCSS variables (styles.scss)
• Dark theme customizations (theme-dark.scss)
• Custom CSS overrides (custom.css)
• Bootstrap Flatly theme as base

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Technical Architecture

Stack

Layer	Technology
Site Generator	Quarto v1.8+
Styling	Bootstrap + custom SCSS/CSS
Content Format	QMD (Quarto Markdown)
Code Execution	R (knitr), Python (Jupyter)
Comments	Giscus (GitHub Discussions)
Analytics	Google Tag Manager
Hosting	GitHub Pages
Version Control	Git

Directory Structure

.
├── _quarto.yml              # Main configuration
├── _brand.yml               # [TODO: Add if needed]
├── index.qmd                # Homepage with listings
├── about.qmd                # About page
├── atom.qmd                 # RSS feed definition
├── posts/                   # Blog posts (YYYY/MM/DD/title)
├── articles/                # Long-form articles (YYYY/MM/DD/title)
├── snippets/                # Code snippets and examples
├── html/                    # Custom HTML includes (GTM, meta)
├── img/                     # Images and logo assets
├── styles/                  # SCSS and CSS
├── scripts/                 # Utility scripts
└── _site/                   # Generated output (git-ignored)

Build & Deployment

• Preview: quarto preview (localhost:5555)
• Build: quarto render → _site/
• Deploy: ./publish.sh → GitHub Pages

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Content Strategy

Published Content (Q1 2025)

1. “AI Club and the End of Control” (2025-07-09)
   • Status: Published
   • Format: Long-form article with PDF export
   • Topics: AI, automation, work, control
2. “CO2 Meter” (2025-03-25)
   • Status: Published
   • Topics: Environmental monitoring, IoT, personal projects
3. “English Tenses” (2024-01-07)
   • Status: Published
   • Topics: Language learning, grammar
4. Andrew (Older)
   • Status: Published
   • Format: Data visualization/economics example

Draft Content (Ready to Publish)

Currently, all draft posts have been removed due to rendering pipeline issues where code execution succeeded but HTML output generation failed.

Planned Content

• More AI/technology essays
• Health & meditation explorations
• Personal knowledge management case studies
• Interactive visualizations and experiments

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Metrics & Goals

Current State

• Published Articles: 4
• Draft Posts Ready: 0
• RSS Feed Items: 60 max
• Homepage Display: 3 most recent posts
• Comments System: GitHub Discussions enabled
• Analytics: Google Tag Manager tracking

Success Indicators

• Publish 1 article per month minimum
• Engage readers via comments (target: 1+ discussion per article)
• RSS subscriber growth
• Organic traffic via Google indexing
• Code examples utility (snippets reuse)

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Known Issues & Improvements

Recent Fixes (April 1, 2025)

✅ Cookie consent simplified from “express/interstitial” to “implied/simple”
✅ TikZ code blocks syntax corrected (# → % comments)
✅ Draft posts properly excluded from listings
✅ GTM scripts formatted and cleaned
✅ Gitignore updated for Quarto artifacts

Potential Improvements

• Add search functionality (site-wide)
• Create tagging/categorization system
• Add reading time estimates
• Implement related posts suggestions
• Add author bio/social links
• Create newsletter signup
• Add dark mode toggle (currently auto)
• Expand about page with contact methods
• Add archive/timeline view for posts
• Create category landing pages
• Implement image optimization
• Add webmentions for cross-site comments

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Dependencies & Prerequisites

Required

• Quarto v1.8+
• Git

Optional (for specific post types)

• R: For knitr/ggplot2 posts
  • Requires R installation + packages (knitr, rmarkdown, ggplot2)
  • Configured via ~/.Renviron
• Python: For Jupyter posts
  • jupyter, nbformat, ipykernel

Development

• VSCode with Quarto extension (recommended)
• Node.js (package.json exists, version specified in .nvmrc)

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Deployment & Publishing

Process

1. Write/edit content (posts or articles)
2. Preview locally: quarto preview
3. Render: quarto render
4. Commit: git add . && git commit -m "message"
5. Publish: ./publish.sh

GitHub Pages

• Hosted at: https://www.intrepidus.me
• Branch: gh-pages (auto-generated by publish.sh)
• Custom domain: intrepidus.me

Environment Variables

• GTM Tag ID: GTM-NJ5X9XDC
• Giscus Repo: nocona71/quarto-comments

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Future Vision

Phase 1: Polish Current Content

• Create archive/search page
• Improve mobile experience
• Expand about page

Phase 2: Community & Engagement

• Grow RSS subscribers
• Increase GitHub Discussions activity
• Cross-post summaries to social media
• Create discussion prompts in articles

Phase 3: Advanced Features

• Full-text search
• Topic/tag filtering
• Related articles algorithm
• Reading time estimates
• Bookmark functionality

Phase 4: Monetization/Sustainability (Optional)

• Coffee/support link
• Email newsletter
• Patreon or similar
• Sponsorships

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Success Criteria

Goal	Metric	Target	Current
Publishing Frequency	Articles/month	1+	0.3
Engagement	Comments per article	2+	TBD
Reach	Monthly unique visitors	500+	TBD
Content Variety	Post types	3+	2 (Markdown, TikZ)
Technical Quality	Build success	100%	✅
SEO	Google indexing	Full	✅

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Notes & Decisions

Design Choices

• Static Site: Simplicity, speed, no backend maintenance
• Quarto: Native support for Markdown, R, Python, LaTeX
• Bootstrap: Proven, accessible, highly customizable
• GitHub Pages: Free hosting, integrated with repo
• Giscus: Leverage GitHub Discussions, no separate comment backend

Trade-offs

• ✅ Fast, simple deployment
• ✅ Full control over content and design
• ✅ Supports multiple content formats
• ⚠️ No dynamic features (no user accounts, auth, etc.)
• ⚠️ Rebuild required for new posts
• ⚠️ No analytics beyond Google Tag Manager

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Last Updated: April 1, 2025 Status: DRAFT (Ready for Review & Customization)