# Maintaining Your Blog
This guide covers common tasks for managing your blog over time.
## Adding New Posts
Creating posts regularly is straightforward with bckt-new:
```bash
bckt-new --title "My Latest Thoughts" --tags "tech,opinion"
```
Or use the interactive mode:
```bash
bckt-new
```
After creating your post:
1. Edit the content in your favorite editor
2. Preview with `bckt dev`
3. Build and deploy when ready
## Updating Existing Posts
To update a post:
1. Navigate to the post directory:
```bash
cd posts/2024/01/my-post
```
2. Edit `post.md` or `post.html`
3. Rebuild:
```bash
bckt render
```
The incremental build will only regenerate the changed post and related pages (archives, tags, RSS).
## Managing Tags
### Viewing All Tags
Your blog automatically generates tag pages. Access them at:
```
https://yourblog.com/tag/tagname/
```
### Adding Tags to Posts
Edit the frontmatter:
```yaml
tags:
- technology
- tutorial
- beginners
```
Or as a comma-separated string:
```yaml
tags: technology, tutorial, beginners
```
### Renaming Tags
To rename a tag across all posts:
1. Use find and replace in your editor across `posts/` directory
2. Search for `- old-tag-name` and replace with `- new-tag-name`
3. Rebuild: `bckt render --force`
## Working with Themes
### Switching Themes
List installed themes:
```bash
bckt themes list
```
Switch to a different theme:
```bash
bckt themes use another-theme
```
Rebuild after switching:
```bash
bckt render --force
```
### Installing New Themes
Install a theme from a local `.zip` archive:
```bash
bckt themes install path/to/my-theme.zip
```
The archive file name (without `.zip`) becomes the theme name; override it with
`--name`, and overwrite an existing theme with `--force`. Then activate it:
```bash
bckt themes use my-theme
```
### Customizing Your Theme
You can customize your active theme by editing files in `templates/` and `skel/` directories:
- **templates/**: HTML templates (uses MiniJinja syntax)
- **skel/**: Static assets (CSS, JavaScript, images)
After making changes:
```bash
bckt render --force
```
To preserve your customizations, consider:
- Creating a custom theme in `themes/my-custom-theme/`
- Version controlling your changes
- Documenting your customizations
## Managing Static Assets
### Adding Images and Files
Static files in `skel/` are copied directly to `html/`:
```
skel/
├── favicon.ico
├── style.css
├── images/
│ ├── logo.png
│ └── banner.jpg
└── downloads/
└── resume.pdf
```
Access them in templates and posts using paths relative to your site root:
```markdown
[Download Resume](/downloads/resume.pdf)
```
### Updating CSS
Edit your theme's CSS in `skel/`:
```bash
# For bckt3 theme
vim skel/style.css
```
Then rebuild static assets:
```bash
bckt render --static
```
## Site Configuration Updates
### Changing Site Title or Description
Edit `bckt.yaml`:
```yaml
title: "New Blog Title"
description: "Updated description"
```
Rebuild completely:
```bash
bckt render --force
```
### Updating Base URL
If you change domains:
```yaml
base_url: "https://newdomain.com"
```
Then:
```bash
bckt clean
bckt render
```
This ensures all links and URLs are updated.
### Adjusting Homepage Posts
To show more or fewer posts on your homepage:
```yaml
homepage_posts: 15 # Default is 5
```
Rebuild:
```bash
bckt render --force
```
## Search Index Maintenance
If you've enabled search, the index is automatically regenerated during builds. To force a rebuild:
```bash
bckt render --force
```
The search index is written to the path specified in `bckt.yaml`:
```yaml
search:
asset_path: assets/search/search-index.json
```
## Backup and Version Control
### Using Git
Initialize a repository if you haven't:
```bash
git init
```
Create `.gitignore`:
```
html/
.bckt/
```
Commit your source files:
```bash
git add .
git commit -m "Initial commit"
```
Push to GitHub:
```bash
git remote add origin https://github.com/yourusername/your-blog.git
git push -u origin main
```
### What to Back Up
Always version control:
- `posts/` - Your content
- `bckt.yaml` - Configuration
- `pages/` - Custom pages
- Custom templates and styles (if you've modified them)
No need to version control:
- `html/` - Generated output
- `.bckt/` - Build cache
- `themes/` - Can be re-installed from the theme archive
## Performance Optimization
### Incremental Builds
Use incremental builds during development:
```bash
bckt render # Only rebuilds changed files
```
### Full Rebuilds
Use full rebuilds when:
- Switching themes
- Changing configuration
- Strange rendering issues appear
```bash
bckt render --force
```
### Clean Builds
If you encounter build issues:
```bash
bckt clean
bckt render
```
## Organizing Old Posts
### Creating Archive Sections
You can organize old posts by creating date-based directories:
```
posts/
├── 2024/
│ ├── 01/
│ └── 02/
├── 2023/
│ ├── 12/
│ └── 11/
└── archive/
└── 2022/
```
bckt will still find and index all posts regardless of directory depth.
### Hiding Posts Without Deleting
Create a drafts or archive folder with `.bcktignore`:
```bash
mkdir posts/archive
touch posts/archive/.bcktignore
mv posts/2020 posts/archive/
```
Posts in `archive/` won't be rendered but are preserved.
## Monitoring Your Blog
### RSS Feed
Your blog automatically generates an RSS feed at `/rss.xml`. Share this with readers:
```
https://yourblog.com/rss.xml
```
### Analytics
Add analytics by editing your theme's `base.html` template:
```html
<script async src="https://analytics.example.com/script.js"></script>
```
## Troubleshooting Common Issues
### Posts Not Appearing
Check:
- Date is in correct ISO 8601 format: `2024-01-15T12:00:00Z`
- No `.bcktignore` file in parent directory
- Post directory follows structure: `posts/YYYY/MM/slug/post.md`
### Images Not Loading
Check:
- Image path is correct in Markdown: `images/photo.jpg`
- Image is listed in `attached:` frontmatter
- Image file exists in post directory
### Theme Changes Not Showing
```bash
bckt render --force # Force full rebuild
```
### Build Errors
View verbose output:
```bash
bckt render --verbose
```
Or clean and rebuild:
```bash
bckt clean
bckt render --verbose
```
## Getting Help
If you encounter issues:
1. Check the [bckt documentation](https://github.com/vrypan/bckt/tree/main/docs)
2. Review the [README](https://github.com/vrypan/bckt/blob/main/README.md)
3. Open an issue on [GitHub](https://github.com/vrypan/bckt/issues)
## Next Steps
You now have everything you need to maintain a successful blog with bckt!
For advanced topics, check out the detailed documentation:
- [Posts Guide](../posts.md) - Deep dive into post features
- [Templates Guide](../templates.md) - Customizing templates
- [Search Configuration](../search.md) - Advanced search setup
- [Theme Development](../theme-hosting.md) - Creating your own themes