My personal website build process

Up: § My personal website

The build process takes exported content and prepares it for the Eleventy static site generator, reorganizing the folder structure and syncing to the final website source.

Folder Structure

Directory	Purpose
`~/Code/digital-garden-python-export`	Source (output from My personal website export process)
`~/Code/digital-garden-ready`	Intermediate staging directory
`~/Code/notes`	Final Eleventy site source

Algorithm

Clean staging directory - remove and recreate digital-garden-ready
Create directory structure in staging:
- notes/
- pages/
- articles/
- posts/
- newsletters/
- assets/
First sync pass - rsync content to staging (files only, no directories):
- export/clippings → ready/notes
- export/notes → ready/notes
- export/spaces → ready/notes
- export/website/pages → ready/pages
- export/website/articles → ready/articles
- export/website/posts → ready/posts
- export/website/newsletters → ready/newsletters
Asset sync - rsync assets including subdirectories:
- export/assets/ → ready/assets
Final sync to Eleventy - rsync to notes/src/ with delete flag (removes files no longer in source):
- ready/articles → notes/src/articles
- ready/assets → notes/src/assets
- ready/newsletters → notes/src/newsletters
- ready/notes → notes/src/notes
- ready/pages → notes/src/pages
- ready/posts → notes/src/posts
Run image uploader - execute ~/Code/digital-garden-scripts/image_uploader.py
Clean site directory - remove and recreate notes/_site for fresh build

Key Design Decisions

Flattening content types - clippings, notes, and spaces all merge into a single notes/ directory in the final site
Using rsync with delete - ensures removed content is also removed from the website
Staging directory - provides a clean intermediate state before final sync
Separate image uploader - handles asset optimization/uploading as a distinct step