One small website that grows from chapter to chapter.
A working site on your own computer in Chapter 1
Published at a public address by Chapter 7
Improved by an AI agent, with every change reviewed by you
A plan for a website of your own in Chapter 19
Why a static website?
Your content is plain text in folders you control
The build produces ordinary files any browser can read
Hosting can be free: GitHub Pages serves public projects at no charge
Every change is recorded in Git and can be undone
What “static” means
A static site generator combines your writing, a layout, and settings into finished web pages before anyone visits.
“Static” describes how the result is served. It does not mean the site never changes: you edit, rebuild, and publish again.
How a static site generator works
content/ the Markdown you write
layouts/ templates that shape each page
hugo.toml the site's settings
|
v
hugo one command builds the site
|
v
public/ HTML, CSS, and images: the finished site
Where AI fits
An AI agent can draft, rearrange, and check your work.
It cannot know what happened to you, confirm that a claim is true, or decide what should be published.
Machines check rules. People judge meaning.
The working method
Supply the material the agent works from
Bound the task: one clear job, named files
Review every changed line, not the agent’s summary
Check with a build and automatic tests
Decide yourself what goes live
Your tools
Tool
Its job
Hugo
Builds the website
Markdown
The format you write in
VS Code
The editor we use
Git
Records every change so you can undo it
GitHub
Hosts, checks, and publishes the project
Codex CLI
The AI agent in the exercises
What you need
A laptop or desktop where you can install software
An internet connection
A free GitHub account, from Chapter 7
Access to an AI agent, from Chapter 8: check your account’s usage limits first
No programming, Git, or command-line experience is assumed.
The course in five parts
Chapters
Part
1 to 5
Build and understand a first site
6 to 7
Record it and publish it
8 to 12
Bring in an agent and give content a structure
13 to 17
Contribute, check, and reach readers
18 to 19
Keep it running, then make your own
How every chapter works
See the result first: what you will have at the end
Make one small change early
Break something on purpose, then recover from it
Try it your way, then save a checkpoint
Four learning paths
Path
For you if
The complete path
You are new to building websites
Web-literate
You know HTML, CSS, JSON, or YAML
Software engineers
Git and CI are daily tools; you need Hugo
Maintainers and teams
You already run a website
Every path builds the same website.
Habits for this course
Keep a short learning note: versions, errors, what you tried
Read error messages before changing anything
Save a checkpoint before each experiment
Never paste passwords or tokens into project files or prompts
Review every change an agent makes before you keep it
Before the next session
Install VS Code from its official download page
Install Hugo
Windows: winget install Hugo.Hugo.Extended
macOS: brew install hugo
Linux: follow the official Linux guide
Open a terminal and check: hugo version
Create a folder named my-knowledge-site
Next: Your First Hugo Website
Chapter 1: a local preview, your first edit, and one deliberate mistake you will know how to repair.