| name | reading-list-repo-maintenance |
| description | Use when maintaining the Zola reading-list repo, publishing notes, fixing templates, or verifying GitHub Pages deploys. |
| version | 1.1.0 |
| author | Bosun |
| license | MIT |
| metadata | {"hermes":{"tags":["zola","github-pages","reading-list","repo-maintenance"],"related_skills":["telegram-reading-flow"]}} |
Reading List Repo Maintenance
Overview
This skill is for working inside the oddship/reading-list repo that powers the reading-list site.
It assumes the repo is a Zola site deployed through GitHub Pages and that content updates are made by editing markdown files and pushing to main.
For routine useful links dropped in Rohan's work Telegram thread, publishing to this repo is delegated and expected. Do not stop at the local reading log or wait for a separate publish prompt.
When to Use
Use when:
- adding or editing note files under
content/notes/
- changing Zola templates or config
- fixing broken site links or rendering issues
- verifying a GitHub Pages deployment after a push
Do not use when:
- the task is only to log links privately in the work reading dropbox
- the user wants DNS or domain-management work outside the repo itself
Workflow
-
Inspect the repo state first.
- Read the relevant content/template/config files before editing.
- Completion criterion: the files governing the current bug or content change are identified.
-
Make the smallest correct repo change.
- Prefer compact markdown notes and minimal template edits.
- Completion criterion: the repo reflects the intended user-visible change.
-
Preserve stable note URLs and keep tags coherent.
- When importer-driven historical notes are regenerated, keep explicit slugs in frontmatter so title cleanup does not create Zola path collisions or unstable permalinks.
- Use only the compact public topic vocabulary by default:
agents, ai-infra, developer-tools, llm-research, org-design, security, systems, other.
- Use
other only as a temporary holding lane; if it grows past 20 notes, refile items or introduce a genuinely reusable new category.
- Keep source type, import state, digest grouping, and host/domain labels out of
taxonomies.tags; put them in [extra] metadata instead.
- Completion criterion: Zola builds without path-collision errors and the tag vocabulary stays compact and intentional.
-
Keep hosting context straight.
- While GitHub Pages is the active host,
config.toml should use https://oddship.github.io/reading-list as base_url.
- After custom-domain cutover, switch
base_url to https://reading-list.oddship.net.
- Completion criterion: generated URLs match the active deploy target.
-
Push and verify, not just commit.
- Use Conventional Commit messages, push to
main, inspect the latest GitHub Actions run, and check the live page.
- For work-thread link drops, this is part of the default completion path, not an optional follow-up.
- Completion criterion: the latest deploy workflow succeeded and the rendered page reflects the change.
-
Keep homepage, archive UX, and feeds intentional.
- Notes pagination, digest listing, and homepage summaries should keep working after content-shape changes.
- Keep tiered feeds live: all-site
/rss.xml, notes /notes/rss.xml, digests /digests/rss.xml, and per-tag /tags/<tag>/rss.xml.
- Completion criterion: homepage,
/notes/, /digests/, /tags/, and representative feeds render the expected content.
-
Run a humanizer pass before every commit.
- Remove AI-sounding phrasing where practical, and specifically eliminate em dashes from user-facing prose unless the user asked for them.
- Completion criterion: staged user-facing text has had a cleanup pass for voice and punctuation before commit.
-
Keep auth scoped.
- Use the dedicated repo token env var and path-scoped git credentials for this repo only.
- Completion criterion: automation can push without broadening GitHub access unnecessarily.
-
Keep repo-local skills in sync with live practice.
- When a recurring workflow changes, patch the repo-local skills/docs in the same commit rather than leaving the process layer stale.
- If the local
work-reading-dropbox skill also changed, sync it in the same pass unless the difference is intentionally local-only.
- Completion criterion: the repo remains a trustworthy upstream source for the workflow it describes.
-
Report partial states precisely.
- If a workflow is blocked, name the exact boundary:
logged but not published, note written but build failed, pushed but deploy failed, or deploy passed but live verification blocked.
- Completion criterion: chat never implies a public update is complete unless the live site was checked or the blocker is explicit.
Common Pitfalls
- Forgetting that
base_url controls generated links.
- Declaring success after a push without checking the Pages workflow.
- Checking the repo diff but not the live rendered site.
- Mixing private reading-log concerns with public note rendering concerns.
- Cleaning up titles without preserving slug stability, causing Zola path collisions.
- Committing user-facing prose without a humanizer pass.
- Treating
content/notes/ promotion as a later weekend task for normal useful work-thread link drops.
Verification Checklist
