Markdown Site

A minimalist markdown site built with React, Convex, and Vite. Optimized for SEO, AI agents, and LLM discovery.

Features

• Markdown-based blog posts with frontmatter
• Syntax highlighting for code blocks
• Four theme options: Dark, Light, Tan (default), Cloud
• Real-time data with Convex
• Fully responsive design

SEO and Discovery

• RSS feeds at /rss.xml and /rss-full.xml (with full content)
• Dynamic sitemap at /sitemap.xml
• JSON-LD structured data for Google rich results
• Open Graph and Twitter Card meta tags
• robots.txt with AI crawler rules
• llms.txt for AI agent discovery

AI and LLM Access

• /api/posts - JSON list of all posts for agents
• /api/post?slug=xxx - Single post JSON or markdown
• /rss-full.xml - Full content RSS for LLM ingestion
• Copy Page dropdown for sharing to ChatGPT, Claude, Cursor, VS Code

Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18 or higher
• A Convex account

Setup

1. Install dependencies:

npm install

2. Initialize Convex:

npx convex dev

This will create your Convex project and generate the .env.local file.

3. Start the development server:

npm run dev

4. Open http://localhost:5173

Writing Blog Posts

Create markdown files in content/blog/ with frontmatter:

Static Pages (Optional)

Create optional pages like About, Projects, or Contact in content/pages/:

---
title: "About"
slug: "about"
published: true
order: 1
---

Your page content here...

Pages appear as navigation links in the top right, next to the theme toggle. The order field controls display order (lower numbers first).

---
title: "Your Post Title"
description: "A brief description"
date: "2025-01-15"
slug: "your-post-slug"
published: true
tags: ["tag1", "tag2"]
readTime: "5 min read"
image: "/images/my-header.png"
---

Your markdown content here...

Images

Open Graph Images

Add an image field to frontmatter for social media previews:

image: "/images/my-header.png"

Recommended dimensions: 1200x630 pixels. Images can be local (/images/...) or external URLs.

Inline Images

Add images in markdown content:

![Alt text description](/images/screenshot.png)

Place image files in public/images/. The alt text displays as a caption.

Site Logo

Edit src/pages/Home.tsx to set your site logo:

const siteConfig = {
  logo: "/images/logo.svg", // Set to null to hide
  // ...
};

Replace public/images/logo.svg with your own logo file.

Favicon

Replace public/favicon.svg with your own icon. The default is a rounded square with the letter "m". Edit the SVG to change the letter or style.

Default Open Graph Image

The default OG image is used when posts do not have an image field. Replace public/images/og-default.svg with your own image (1200x630 recommended).

Update the reference in src/pages/Post.tsx:

const DEFAULT_OG_IMAGE = "/images/og-default.svg";

Syncing Posts

Posts are synced to Convex. The sync script reads markdown files from content/blog/ and content/pages/, then uploads them to your Convex database.

Environment Files

File	Purpose
.env.local	Development deployment URL (created by npx convex dev)
.env.production.local	Production deployment URL (create manually)

Both files are gitignored. Each developer creates their own.

Sync Commands

Command	Target	When to use
npm run sync	Development	Local testing, new posts
npm run sync:prod	Production	Deploy content to live site

Development sync:

npm run sync

Production sync:

First, create .env.production.local with your production Convex URL:

VITE_CONVEX_URL=https://your-prod-deployment.convex.cloud

Then sync:

npm run sync:prod

Deployment

Netlify

For detailed setup, see the Convex Netlify Deployment Guide.

1. Deploy Convex functions to production:

npx convex deploy

2. Connect your repository to Netlify
3. Configure build settings:
   • Build command: npx convex deploy --cmd 'npm run build'
   • Publish directory: dist
4. Add environment variable:
   • CONVEX_DEPLOY_KEY - Generate from Convex Dashboard > Project Settings > Deploy Key
5. Update netlify.toml with your production Convex HTTP URL (replace YOUR_CONVEX_DEPLOYMENT)

The CONVEX_DEPLOY_KEY lets Netlify automatically deploy functions and set VITE_CONVEX_URL on each build.

Project Structure

markdown-site/
├── content/blog/      # Markdown blog posts
├── convex/            # Convex backend
│   ├── http.ts        # HTTP endpoints (sitemap, API, RSS)
│   ├── posts.ts       # Post queries and mutations
│   ├── rss.ts         # RSS feed generation
│   └── schema.ts      # Database schema
├── netlify/           # Netlify edge functions
├── public/            # Static assets
│   ├── images/        # Blog images and OG images
│   ├── robots.txt     # Crawler rules
│   └── llms.txt       # AI agent discovery
├── scripts/           # Build scripts
└── src/
    ├── components/    # React components
    ├── context/       # Theme context
    ├── pages/         # Page components
    └── styles/        # Global CSS

Scripts Reference

Script	Description
npm run dev	Start Vite dev server
npm run dev:convex	Start Convex dev backend
npm run sync	Sync posts to dev deployment
npm run sync:prod	Sync posts to production deployment
npm run build	Build for production
npm run deploy	Sync + build (for manual deploys)
npm run deploy:prod	Deploy Convex functions + sync to production

Tech Stack

• React 18
• TypeScript
• Vite
• Convex
• react-markdown
• react-syntax-highlighter
• date-fns
• lucide-react
• Netlify

API Endpoints

Endpoint	Description
/rss.xml	RSS feed with post descriptions
/rss-full.xml	RSS feed with full post content
/sitemap.xml	Dynamic XML sitemap
/api/posts	JSON list of all posts
/api/post?slug=xxx	Single post as JSON
/api/post?slug=xxx&format=md	Single post as markdown
/meta/post?slug=xxx	Open Graph HTML for crawlers

How Blog Post Slugs Work

Slugs are defined in the frontmatter of each markdown file:

---
slug: "my-post-slug"
---

The slug becomes the URL path: yourdomain.com/my-post-slug

Rules:

• Slugs must be unique across all posts
• Use lowercase letters, numbers, and hyphens
• The sync script reads the slug field from frontmatter
• Posts are queried by slug using a Convex index

Theme Configuration

The default theme is Tan. Users can cycle through themes using the toggle:

• Dark (Moon icon)
• Light (Sun icon)
• Tan (Half icon) - default
• Cloud (Cloud icon)

To change the default theme, edit src/context/ThemeContext.tsx:

const DEFAULT_THEME: Theme = "tan"; // Change to "dark", "light", or "cloud"

Font Configuration

The blog uses a serif font (New York) by default. To switch fonts, edit src/styles/global.css:

body {
  /* Sans-serif option */
  font-family:
    -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu,
    Cantarell, sans-serif;

  /* Serif option (default) */
  font-family:
    "New York",
    -apple-system-ui-serif,
    ui-serif,
    Georgia,
    Cambria,
    "Times New Roman",
    Times,
    serif;
}

Replace the font-family property with your preferred font stack.

Source

Fork this project: github.com/waynesutton/markdown-site