CLAUDE.md

This file provides guidance to Claude Code (claude.ai/code) when working with code in this repository.

Project Overview

Personal academic website for Yixiao Chen (Bobchenyx.github.io), built on the Academic Pages Jekyll template (forked from Minimal Mistakes). Deployed via GitHub Pages. The site showcases publications, work experience, and a CV.

Development Commands

Local Setup (Ruby)

brew install ruby node
gem install bundler
bundle install

Serve Locally

jekyll serve -l -H localhost   # serves on localhost:4000

Note: _config.yml is NOT reloaded on live-reload — restart the server after config changes.

Docker

docker compose up              # serves on localhost:4000

JavaScript Build

npm run build:js               # minifies JS via uglifyjs → assets/js/main.min.js

Markdown Generators (Python)

python markdown_generator/publications.py   # TSV → _publications/ markdown files
python markdown_generator/talks.py          # TSV → _talks/ markdown files

Architecture

Site Structure

Active navigation (defined in _data/navigation.yml): Publications, Experience, CV (PDF link). Talks, Teaching, Portfolio, and Blog are available but currently disabled.

Content Model

Jekyll collections defined in _config.yml: _publications/, _talks/, _teaching/, _portfolio/, _posts/, _pages/. Each markdown file uses YAML front matter for metadata (dates, venues, URLs, categories). Publication files follow the naming convention YYYY-MM-DD-slug.md.

Publication categories (configured in _config.yml): books, manuscripts (Journal Articles), conferences (Conference Papers).

Layout Hierarchy

_layouts/default.html is the base template (includes head, masthead, sidebar, footer, scripts). Key specialized layouts:

single.html — posts, pages, publications (citation/bibtex/slides support)
talk.html — talks with venue/location metadata
cv-layout.html — CV rendering from markdown or _data/cv.json
archive.html — listing pages

Theming

6 themes × 2 modes (light/dark) = 12 color schemes. Theme set via site_theme in _config.yml (currently “default”). SASS variables in _sass/theme/. Dark/light toggle persists via localStorage in assets/js/_main.js.

Data Files (`_data/`)

navigation.yml — main site navigation links
cv.json — structured CV data for JSON-based CV page
authors.yml — author profile definitions

Styling

SASS pipeline: assets/css/main.scss imports from _sass/. Layout styles in _sass/layout/, vendor libs in _sass/vendor/. Uses Academicons for academic-specific icons (Google Scholar, etc.).

JavaScript

Source in assets/js/_main.js, minified bundle at assets/js/main.min.js. Build via npm run build:js (UglifyJS). After editing _main.js, you must rebuild the minified bundle.

Key Configuration

All site-wide settings are in _config.yml: site metadata, author info (name, bio, social links), collection definitions, publication categories, markdown processor (kramdown/GFM), plugins, and theme selection.

Author profile sidebar is configured in _config.yml under author: — avatar, name, bio, location, employer, and social/academic links.

Customization hooks: _includes/head/custom.html and _includes/footer/custom.html for injecting custom HTML without modifying core templates.

Yixiao Chen