The project
Rabin.blog is my technical journal for WordPress, automation, development, and homelab notes. The current site uses a custom-styled Astro theme with local Markdown and MDX content, published as a static site on Cloudflare Pages.
Astro replaced the previous Hugo site in October 2026. The migration carried over the complete post library, established public URLs, images, and existing discussion threads while giving the journal its own reading interface.
A theme built around reading
The interface pairs Dracula/Alucard-inspired dark and light palettes with a restrained layout for technical writing. A System → Dark → Light control follows the reader’s device preference by default and remembers explicit overrides.
The reading experience includes:
- Articles and shorter Notes, with tag archives and paginated lists
- Curated series with an explicit reading order and previous/next navigation
- An article contents rail, heading anchors, and internal-link previews
- Syntax-highlighted code with copy controls, callouts, and Mermaid diagrams
- Image galleries and optimized images beside the content
- Search, RSS, and related reading
Obsidian and Vault CMS for editorial work
The Astro content directory doubles as an Obsidian vault. Vault CMS and Astro Composer provide the editorial workspace around the same files Astro builds, keeping the writing, frontmatter, and attachments together.
New posts use a folder-based MDX structure with an adjacent images folder. Existing Markdown posts remain supported. MDX adds components such as steps and file trees where a technical explanation needs more than ordinary prose.
Drafts can be reviewed locally before publication and stay out of production builds and public discovery. Publishing means updating the content files and rebuilding the static site. The editor configuration is in place; end-to-end acceptance in the Obsidian plugin UI remains a follow-up.
Preserve continuity through the migration
Imported posts retain their established public paths, with redirects for selected legacy routes. Existing cover images take precedence; content without a cover receives a generated social card. Metadata, structured data, sitemap entries, and generated image references are checked during the build.
Comments use opt-in Isso embeds with the existing permalink-based thread IDs. The site also retains its Umami analytics identity, with tracking restricted to production builds.
Practical outcome
Rabin.blog is live on Astro 7 and Cloudflare Pages. The custom theme and file-based publishing model put the reading experience and editorial workflow under direct control, with Obsidian and Vault CMS configured around the content itself. The result is a technical journal that supports both short notes and longer, connected explanations without a separate WordPress publishing backend.