Learning paths

Four ways through the book, depending on where you start.

The book is written to be read in order. One website grows from chapter to chapter, and each chapter starts from the result of the one before. These four paths suggest where to put your time, depending on what you already know.

If you skim a chapter, still do its exercises quickly: later chapters edit the files it creates. Downloadable chapter checkpoints, so you can start midway without repeating earlier steps, are planned.

The complete path

For you if you can manage files and install software, but you have not built a website, used a terminal, or used Git.

Read all nineteen chapters in order and do every exercise. Along the way:

By the end of	You will have
Chapter 3	A small, organised website running on your computer
Chapter 7	That website published at a public address
Chapter 8	Your first agent change, checked by you before it was kept
Chapter 14	Automatic checks on every proposed change
Chapter 19	A plan for a website of your own

Web-literate

For you if you can write HTML and CSS and have met formats such as JSON or YAML, but you have not used a static site generator, Git, or an AI agent on a project.

Chapters	How to read them
1 –3	Closely. Hugo’s project layout, page bundles, sections, and stable addresses are new.
4 –5	Skim the explanations, but do the exercises: later chapters edit the same footer and stylesheet.
6 –8	Closely. Git, publishing, and your first agent task.
9 and 12	Skim the YAML and JSON syntax; read the content-model and directory parts closely.
10 –11	Closely. Hugo templates are the heart of the generator.
13–19	In order.

Software engineers

For you if Git, a terminal, data formats, and continuous integration are everyday tools, and you want Hugo and a reviewed publishing pipeline.

Chapters	How to read them
1 –3	Briskly, for the project setup and Hugo’s content organisation: page bundles, `_index.md`, and sections.
4 –6	Skim, but apply their edits so your project matches the later chapters.
7	The GitHub Pages workflow and how it passes the published address to Hugo.
9 –12	Closely: content models, archetypes, templates, context, partials, and data files.
14	Checks on pull requests and requiring them before a merge.
15 –16	Page metadata, sitemap, feed, search, and multilingual configuration.
18	Pinned versions, redirects, and reverting a published change.
8 , 13 , 17	As your interest takes you: working with agents, and what a static site cannot do by itself.

Maintainers and teams

For you if you already run a website, with Hugo or another static site generator, and want AI agents to contribute to it without losing control of what gets published.

These chapters use the book’s example website, but their methods apply to your own repository. Where a chapter names a file such as content/articles/, substitute the equivalent in your project.

Chapter	What you take to your own site
8	An `AGENTS.md` instruction file, bounded tasks, and reviewing what an agent changed.
13	Content drafted only from supplied sources, and every claim checked before publishing.
14	Checks on every proposed change, required before anything is merged.
18	A maintenance routine, backups, credentials, and undoing a change that is already live.
19	A written brief with named authors, reviewers, and maintainers.
16	If your site has a second language: translations reviewed by a speaker and kept up to date.

Teaching this book

Lecture slides for teaching the book in a classroom are being added chapter by chapter, starting with the course introduction. The complete path is the order the chapters were written to be taught in.