jola.dev

A Phoenix-based blog and portfolio website for jola.dev, built with Elixir and NimblePublisher for static content management.

Overview

This project is a personal blog and portfolio site that features:

• Static blog posts generated from Markdown files
• No database dependency - all content is compiled at build time
• Server-side rendered pages with Phoenix
• Tailwind CSS for styling
• Syntax highlighting for code blocks via Makeup
• Health checks and monitoring ready for production

Prerequisites

• Elixir 1.14 or later
• Node.js (for asset compilation)
• Mix (comes with Elixir)

Getting Started

1. Clone the repository

   git clone <repository-url>
   cd jola_dev

2. Install dependencies

   mix setup

   This command will:

   • Install Elixir dependencies
   • Install Node.js dependencies (Tailwind, Esbuild)
   • Set up the development environment

3. Start the Phoenix server

   mix phx.server

   Or to start with an interactive shell:

   iex -S mix phx.server

4. Visit the site

   Open your browser and navigate to http://localhost:5554

   Note: The development server runs on port 5554, not the default Phoenix port 4000.

Project Structure

jola_dev/
├── lib/
│   ├── jola_dev/           # Core application logic
│   │   └── blog/           # Blog system with NimblePublisher
│   └── jola_dev_web/       # Web layer (controllers, views, templates)
├── priv/
│   └── posts/              # Markdown blog posts organized by year
│       ├── 2019/
│       ├── 2020/
│       └── 2025/
├── assets/                 # Frontend assets (CSS, JS)
└── config/                 # Application configuration

Writing Blog Posts

Blog posts are stored as Markdown files in priv/posts/YYYY/ with the naming convention: MM-DD-slug-title.md

Each post must include frontmatter:

---
id: unique-slug
title: "Your Post Title"
author: "Author Name"
tags: ["elixir", "phoenix", "web"]
description: "A brief description of your post"
---

Your post content here...

Posts are compiled at build time and automatically available at /posts/slug-title.

Development Commands

Running tests

mix test

Formatting code

mix format

Running static analysis

mix credo --strict

Building assets

mix assets.build    # Build frontend assets
mix assets.deploy   # Build and minify for production

Key Features

• Static Blog Generation: All blog posts are compiled from Markdown at build time
• No Database: Pure static content, no Ecto or database setup required
• Syntax Highlighting: Code blocks in blog posts are automatically highlighted
• Health Checks: Available at /health for monitoring
• LiveDashboard: Development metrics at /dev/dashboard (dev only)
• Production Ready: Includes Sentry integration and Docker deployment configuration

Production Deployment

The application is configured for production deployment with:

• Docker support (see Dockerfile)
• Health check endpoint at /health
• Sentry error tracking integration
• Asset fingerprinting and caching

For deployment, ensure you set the required environment variables:

• SECRET_KEY_BASE - Generate with mix phx.gen.secret
• PHX_HOST - Your production domain (e.g., "jola.dev")
• PORT - Port to bind to (default: 4000)

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.