Website automations

Overview

The site is a Jekyll site published from the main branch by GitHub Pages. Most editorial content is manual: adding a news post, event, programme, project, research group, publication or external-coverage entry means editing the corresponding source file or data file and committing it. The automated parts build that source into pages, keep the funding-opportunities data current, verify local asset references, and refresh date-sensitive event views.

This document describes the implementation in the repository at the time it was written. For the content relationships and detail-page conventions, see detail-page authoring. For grid presentation rather than automation, see editorial-grid conventions.

Operating automations

GitHub Pages build and deployment

Item	Implementation
Purpose	Build the Jekyll site and publish the current `main` branch to GitHub Pages. This renders pages, collections, Liquid loops, the sitemap, CSS and JavaScript references.
Trigger	A push to the publishing branch, and an explicit Pages build request from the daily archive-refresh workflow.
Files/services	GitHub Pages; `_config.yml`; layouts in `_layouts/`; includes in `_includes/`; Jekyll’s GitHub Pages environment.
Dependencies	The supported GitHub Pages Jekyll environment; `jekyll-theme-primer`; `jekyll-sitemap`; valid Markdown/Liquid/YAML. `url` is `https://www.africaeuropecoremath.org` and `baseurl` is empty.
Output	The deployed production site, including generated collection pages and `sitemap.xml`.
Maintenance	Check the Pages deployment status after a push. Build locally when practical, and investigate invalid Liquid/YAML, missing dependencies or Pages configuration if it fails.
Status	Implemented.

There is no repository workflow that performs the normal Pages build; GitHub Pages performs it. The theme’s base stylesheet is declared explicitly in _config.yml so that /assets/css/style.css is reproducible.

Daily event-archive refresh

Item	Implementation
Purpose	Rebuild date-sensitive event views without an editorial commit, so an event becomes historical after its end date.
Trigger	`.github/workflows/refresh-event-archives.yml`: daily at `00:17` UTC, plus manual `workflow_dispatch`.
Files/services	GitHub Actions, GitHub CLI (`gh api`), the GitHub Pages build API, `news-events.md`, `events-archive.md`, `index.md`, `education.md`, and event templates/includes.
Dependencies	GitHub Actions token with `pages: write`; an active GitHub Pages site; correctly formatted `start_date` and, where applicable, `end_date` in `_events/*.md`.
Output	A Pages rebuild only; it does not alter the repository or event records.
Maintenance	In Actions, confirm the daily run succeeds. If it fails, check the Pages API response, the workflow permission, and whether Pages is enabled. A manual run is a safe diagnostic.
Status	Implemented.

The list condition is end_date when present, otherwise start_date, compared with Jekyll site.time. In news-events.md an event is upcoming when that date is today or later; in events-archive.md it is past when that date is earlier than today. The archive groups past events dynamically by start year and orders them reverse chronologically.

The homepage also loads assets/js/home-events.js. The build initially renders eligible events, then this browser-side safeguard rechecks local calendar dates, hides ended items and displays the earliest two upcoming items. This helps during the interval before the next scheduled rebuild; it is not a second data source.

Education’s upcoming-school list and the CoRE-Math Schools programme list use the same Events collection and the same end-date test at build time. They will update on the daily rebuild.

Daily funding-opportunities import

Item	Implementation
Purpose	Read the restricted ISP Mathematics Funding Database in Coda and publish a safe, deterministic subset of open and rolling opportunities.
Trigger	`.github/workflows/update-open-opportunities.yml`: daily at `03:00` UTC, plus manual dispatch.
Files/services	GitHub Actions; `scripts/build_open_opportunities.py`; Coda API; `_data/open_opportunities.json`; `opportunities.md`; `assets/js/opportunities.js`.
Dependencies	Repository secret `CODA_API_TOKEN`; the Coda document/table/column IDs defined at the top of the script; Python standard library; write access to `main`.
Output	A regenerated `_data/open_opportunities.json`; the workflow commits and pushes it only if it differs. It publishes records whose Coda status is `Open` or `Rolling`.
Maintenance	Review workflow logs and the generated JSON. The script fails without the secret or when Coda responses/required columns are invalid. Correct source URLs in Coda, not in the generated JSON, because the next run replaces it.
Status	Implemented.

The script reads Coda in both simple and rich formats so it can preserve public text but extract an unambiguous public HTTP(S) URL. It deliberately rejects Coda/Superhuman URLs, conflicting links and ambiguous multiple links. This is a safety measure, not an external-link availability check.

At page load, opportunities.js hides passed fixed-deadline calls, changes fellowship status after a deadline, sorts open calls by deadline and rolling calls alphabetically, and populates the three filters from data-* attributes. These browser changes are not saved back to Coda or GitHub.

Local-asset validation

Item	Implementation
Purpose	Fail early when a source file refers to a missing local image or document under `/assets/images/` or `/assets/documents/`.
Trigger	`.github/workflows/check-local-assets.yml`: pushes to `main` and pull requests. It can also be run locally with `python3 scripts/check_local_assets.py`.
Files/services	GitHub Actions, Python standard library, `scripts/check_local_assets.py`.
Dependencies	Repository checkout and source files encoded as text.
Output	A pass/fail log; no files are generated or changed.
Maintenance	Run it before committing asset work. It intentionally does not fetch external URLs and does not validate theme-provided assets.
Status	Implemented.

Jekyll-generated listings and archives

These are automated at each Jekyll build, but are not scheduled data imports. They depend on manually maintained source records.

Output	Source and behaviour	Status
Latest news	`site.posts` in `index.md` (first 3) and `news-events.md` (first 6), ordered by Jekyll post date. `news-card-excerpt.html` uses a supplied card/home excerpt, otherwise produces a short sentence-boundary-aware excerpt.	Implemented
News archive pages	The dated post URL convention is set by `permalink: /news/:year/:title/`; archive pages and their year links are manually maintained where present. Posts themselves are automatically date ordered.	Partially automated
Upcoming/past events	`site.events`, dates and Liquid conditions in `news-events.md`, `events-archive.md`, homepage and Education/Schools-programme lists. See daily refresh above.	Implemented
Related events	`_includes/related-events.html` selects Event records whose `programme`, `project` or `research_group` equals the current detail page identifier.	Implemented
Related event links on Event pages	`_layouts/event.html` resolves one programme, project and research group from Event metadata.	Implemented
Publications lists	`research-publications.md` and research-group pages select and sort `_data/publications.json` by `year` and `sort_author`, then render `_includes/publication-listing.html`.	Implemented
External Coverage list	`external-coverage.md` sorts `_data/external_coverage.yml` by `date`, newest first.	Implemented

The historical schools page (education-schools.md) is a manually curated archive and is deliberately not migrated wholesale into Events. Similarly, the explicit news-archive year links are not discovered dynamically.

Client-side interface automation

These scripts improve interaction but do not create or update content:

assets/js/mobile-navigation.js toggles the compact navigation button and aria-expanded state.
assets/js/member-universities.js opens, closes and returns focus from university-profile dialogs.
assets/js/news-lightbox.js turns post images into keyboard-operable dialog lightboxes.
assets/js/external-links.js makes off-site HTTP(S) links open in a new tab with noopener noreferrer.
assets/js/opportunities.js and assets/js/home-events.js are described above.
Anchor.js is loaded from cdnjs in _layouts/default.html to add heading anchors; it is an external runtime dependency.

RSS/Atom: no jekyll-feed plugin, feed template or feed file was found. There is no RSS automation.
Newsletter: no newsletter service, mailing-list form or scheduled mailing integration was found.
LinkedIn: the footer contains a normal external link to a LinkedIn group. It is not an API or publishing integration.
Social sharing: no automated social-post publishing or feed import was found.

Manual processes often mistaken for automations

New news, Events, programmes, projects, research groups, historical-school entries and External Coverage entries are authored manually.
Event relationships are automatic only after the matching identifier is entered in the Event record.
Publication records in _publications/ are not what the visible publication pages currently read; those pages read _data/publications.json.
The Dropbox picture catalogue is outside the website build. scripts/generate_photo_archive_catalog.py is an archive-maintenance utility, not a site automation or GitHub Action. See photo archive workflow.

Concerns and planned or partial work

Daily Pages rebuild is an external API trigger. If GitHub changes Pages API permissions or the repository’s Pages configuration, date-sensitive server-rendered lists will stop advancing. The homepage browser safeguard does not update Education or the Past Events page.
The opportunities workflow commits directly to main. This is intentional for generated data, but a failed or malformed Coda source needs investigation in Coda rather than a local edit to the JSON.
News archive year navigation is partly manual. New years require a corresponding archive destination/link if the site continues to use discrete year archives.
No feed/newsletter automation exists. This is a current absence, not a broken feature.
No automated external-link checker exists. The local asset check correctly limits itself to repository-controlled files.