Technical Stack

isHistory is built on a modern web stack optimized for content-heavy sites with strong SEO requirements. Every technology choice serves the dual goals of author experience and machine discoverability.

Core Framework

Astro 6 serves as the foundation. Its content layer API provides type-safe access to multiple content collections — the main archive (CMS-managed blog posts) and the vault (Obsidian-authored notes). The islands architecture means zero JavaScript ships by default; components only hydrate when interactivity is needed.

Content Pipeline

The site uses two parallel content pipelines that complement each other:

1. Archive Collection — CMS-managed markdown files with structured frontmatter (series, tracks, chapter codes). Uses Astro’s built-in glob loader. These are the long-form serialized chapters.

2. Vault Collection — Obsidian-authored notes with wiki-links, embeds, and tags. Uses astro-loader-obsidian to resolve wiki-links, render embeds, and convert hashtags into navigable links. These are the connective tissue — research notes, architectural decisions, and cross-references.

SEO & Discoverability

• @jdevalk/astro-seo-graph — Owns the unified JSON-LD @graph containing Organization, WebSite, WebPage, BreadcrumbList, and TechArticle schemas. All @id cross-references resolve within a single @graph.
• @obaronai/astro-ai-readiness — Generates llms.txt, agents.md, and .well-known/mcp.json for AI agent discoverability.
• @reunmedia/astro-og-images — Per-page OG image generation with unique hashes.
• @astrojs/sitemap — Dynamic priority and lastmod from frontmatter dates.

See Also

• [[Vision & Architecture]] for the design principles
• Content Schema for the data model