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CHANGELOG.md

Changelog

All notable changes to arkashj.com are documented here. Format: Keep a Changelog · Versions: SemVer.

[2.3.0] — 2026-04-27 — Asset consolidation, mobile, Trustpilot, GitHub live charts

Added — Live GitHub activity section on the homepage

  • New components/sections/GitHubActivity.tsx rendering:
    • Live 12-month contribution heatmap (ghchart.rshah.org) — horizontal-scrollable inside an overflow-x-auto wrapper on mobile
    • Live stats card, current streak, top languages (github-readme-stats.vercel.app, streak-stats.demolab.com) themed to the Metior-Pro palette (mint primary #5EEAD4, warm-tan accent #F4A66A)
    • Personal commit-tracker snapshot from public/images/receipts/github-activity.png plus structured snapshot table (30d, 7d, active days, raw lines, adjusted output)
  • Wired into app/page.tsx between Projects and Tools+Knowledge sections.

Added — Real Trustpilot screenshots on /media

  • Review type extended with reviewer, date, excerpt, image.
  • 5 reviewers (Jim Watkins, Jack Frisbie, Daniel Adewumi, Brad Pierce, Allan Bell) shown as image-cards with <Image> (fill, aspect-[4/3], object-top); each card links to the live Trustpilot page.
  • Remaining 5 reviews kept as compact link list under + N more verified reviews.
  • Replaces the synthetic "Verified Benmore engagement" placeholder boxes flagged in design feedback.
  • Receipts folder renamed public/images/reciepts/ → public/images/receipts/; macOS-screenshot filenames (with NARROW NO-BREAK SPACE) renamed to clean kebab-case.

Added — Cover-letter response doc

  • docs/cover-letters/2026-04-keith-liston-o1-response.md — point-by-point evidence inventory mapping to all 8 USCIS O-1A criteria. Private working draft (folder excluded from lib/docs.ts so it is not served by the website).

Changed — Hero stat box

  • Replaced 887% Revenue Growth stat with 6+ Years Tech Experience per design feedback (the work-history claim was misleading on a public landing surface).

Changed — Real X / Twitter handle

  • lib/site.ts: https://x.com/_arkash → https://x.com/ArkashJ__ (the prior handle 404'd).

Changed — Mobile responsiveness

  • Added min-w-0 to grid items in the STU STREET disclosure list, the link-only Trustpilot list, the Medium articles list, and the Press list. Without min-w-0, CSS Grid items default to min-width: auto and refuse to truncate, which was producing 343 px of horizontal overflow on /media at a 375 px viewport.
  • Verified via Playwright at iPhone 13 Pro width (375 × 812): all 13 public routes (/, /about, /research, /experience, /projects, /work, /writing, /knowledge, /coursework, /credentials, /stack, /learnings, /architecture) report documentWidth ≤ viewportWidth.

Changed — GitHub profile README (separate repo)

  • ArkashJ/ArkashJ: rewrote profile README to reflect the current Benmore role, 4 published papers, real social handles, and live github-readme-stats widgets. Old README still claimed "Currently I'm building a UNet architecture for Image Segmentation" — that work was published months ago.

Changed — Image consolidation

  • All site images consolidated under public/images/:
    • public/myImg.jpeg → public/images/profile.jpeg
    • public/logos/*.svg → public/images/logos/*.svg
    • public/files/*.pdf → public/images/files/*.pdf
    • 37 unused legacy logos/JPGs at public/ root → public/images/legacy/
  • Updated all source references:
    • app/about/page.tsx, app/about/archive/page.tsx — profile import path
    • lib/structured-data.ts, lib/metadata.ts — Person JSON-LD + OG fallback URLs
    • components/ui/InstitutionLogo.tsx — institution logo URLs
    • app/credentials/page.tsx, lib/data.ts — verifiable credential PDF URLs
  • 58 dev/walkthrough screenshots at repo root → docs/screenshots/
  • public/ root now contains only: favicon.svg, images/, timeline/, llms*.txt, humans.txt, robots.txt, and verification keys (Google, IndexNow)
  • .gitignore: added !public/**/*.png exception so consolidated images at public/images/legacy/ are tracked.

Changed — Documentation

  • CLAUDE.md rewritten end-to-end. Old version still described the legacy Next 13 Pages Router site with three pages and "lint errors are ignored". New version reflects the App Router + TypeScript-strict architecture, the actual route table, the lib/ data layer, the MDX content tree, and the new image conventions.
  • README.md rewritten as a comprehensive author dossier — full life timeline, credentials, publications, knowledge domains, internal tools, repo tree, stack, links, badges. Goes well beyond a project-only README to consolidate the website's content into a single Markdown reference.

Build

  • Production build passes after the move. npm run lint clean (4 pre-existing warnings unrelated to this change). npm run format:check passes.
  • package.json version bumped 1.0.0 → 2.3.0 to align with CHANGELOG.

[2.3.0-prev] — 2026-04-26 — Initial 2.3 draft (superseded)

Changed — Single image location

  • All site images consolidated under public/images/:
    • public/myImg.jpeg → public/images/profile.jpeg
    • public/logos/*.svg → public/images/logos/*.svg
    • public/files/*.pdf → public/images/files/*.pdf
    • 37 unused legacy logos/JPGs at public/ root → public/images/legacy/
  • Updated all source references:
    • app/about/page.tsx, app/about/archive/page.tsx — profile import path
    • lib/structured-data.ts, lib/metadata.ts — Person JSON-LD + OG fallback URLs
    • components/ui/InstitutionLogo.tsx — institution logo URLs
    • app/credentials/page.tsx, lib/data.ts — verifiable credential PDF URLs
  • 58 dev/walkthrough screenshots at repo root → docs/screenshots/
  • public/ root now contains only: favicon.svg, images/, timeline/, llms*.txt, humans.txt, robots.txt, and verification keys (Google, IndexNow)

Changed — Documentation

  • CLAUDE.md rewritten end-to-end. Old version still described the legacy Next 13 Pages Router site with three pages and "lint errors are ignored". New version reflects the App Router + TypeScript-strict architecture, the actual route table, the lib/ data layer, the MDX content tree, and the new image conventions.
  • README.md rewritten as a comprehensive author dossier — full life timeline, credentials, publications, knowledge domains, internal tools, repo tree, stack, links, badges. Goes well beyond a project-only README to consolidate the website's content into a single Markdown reference.

Build

  • Production build passes after the move. No code-level behavior changes.

[2.2.0] — 2026-04-26

Added — Metior-Pro inspired visual identity

  • New navy palette: bg #0A1628, surface #0E1B30, elevated #14233A, border #1C2D48
  • Mint primary #5EEAD4 + warm-tan italic accent #F4A66A
  • Sharp edges throughout (Tailwind borderRadius mapped to 0)
  • Full-coverage faint grid background (replaced radial-masked grid)
  • Secondary 256px grid layer with subtle teal tint
  • Geist Sans + Geist Mono via geist package, wired through CSS variables
  • Theme system: dark + light via next-themes with data-theme attribute
  • Sun/moon ThemeToggle in nav (lucide-react icons), works on mobile + desktop
  • All Tailwind colors are now CSS variables — single source of truth in globals.css

Added — Hero overhaul

  • Two-column layout: copy + animated career-arc demo card on the right
  • Pill eyebrow with pulsing teal dot
  • Italic warm-tan display callout ("Build, ship, compound.")
  • Tag pill row beneath CTAs
  • New <Pill> and <HeroDemo> components

Added — Consistent page headers

  • SectionHeader rebuilt: Pill eyebrow → bold title → optional italic-accent line → muted description
  • Applied across all 11 pages (/about, /research, /experience, /projects, /work, /writing, /knowledge, /media, /stack, /learnings, /architecture)

Added — Animations (restrained)

  • Page entrance fade-up (320ms ease-out) on every <main> child
  • .stagger utility (40ms incremental delays for grid children)
  • .dot-pulse keyframe for live status dots
  • Card hover-lift with mint glow
  • All animations honor prefers-reduced-motion

Added — Life Changelog visual hierarchy

  • Major milestones (Published / Current / Live) get spotlight treatment
  • Larger title, primary border, gradient bottom rule, ring-shadow on node
  • Routine "Completed" entries quieter
  • Reverse-chronological order

Added — /stack, /learnings, /media, /architecture

  • /stack — uses.tech-style page, 36 entries × 7 categories
  • /learnings — 12 lessons cards, reverse chronological
  • /media — STU STREET podcast YouTube embeds (4 episodes), Medium articles (7), Substack posts (3), press
  • /architecture — 6 React/SVG diagrams (replaced ASCII)
  • All wired into NAV_LINKS

Added — Real public links

  • BioRxiv: SpatialDINO + ER Exit Sites FIB-SEM
  • Journal of Cell Biology (DOI URLs)
  • Journal of Chemical Physics 2022 (full title + DOI)
  • Harvard Kirchhausen Lab profile page
  • Medium @arkjain (7 distributed-systems posts)
  • STU STREET podcast (Spotify, Apple, 4 YouTube episode IDs)
  • 6 real GitHub repos surfaced as projects (Raft, CloudComputing, NEXMARK, Implicit-SGD, CS411, Spotify)

Added — MDX embeds

  • <Tweet>, <YouTube>, <LinkedInPost>, <Substack>, <Gist> components in components/embeds/
  • Wired via components/MdxContent.tsx (server-side via next-mdx-remote/rsc)
  • react-tweet themed to navy palette via CSS vars

Added — Documentation

  • docs/HANDOFF.md — comprehensive 1900-word project orientation
  • docs/TODO.md — open work + cheatsheet
  • This CHANGELOG fully refreshed

Changed

  • app/work/page.tsx — removed all 4 "Demo coming" placeholder strings
  • components/sections/PaperCard.tsx — link always present (URL or "Link forthcoming")
  • components/sections/ProjectCard.tsx — link always present (URL or "Internal / private")
  • app/knowledge/[domain]/page.tsx — grid adapts to single-article (no empty column)
  • app/architecture/page.tsx — dropped redundant bg-bg wrapper, added Pill eyebrow
  • components/Meta.js → integrated into root app/layout.tsx
  • Active nav link uses primary teal (was reserved-cyan); fixes color rule violation flagged by audit

Removed

  • 10 stale feature branches (post-merge cleanup)
  • pages/ directory (entirely; App Router replaces it)
  • components/MdxContent.js and other legacy .js duplicates
  • app/architecture/flows.ts + components/architecture/AsciiDiagram.tsx (unused after diagram replacement)

[2.1.0] — 2026-04-26 — App Router + TypeScript migration

Added

  • Next.js 13 → 15.5, React 18 → 19, plain JS → TypeScript strict
  • Pages Router → App Router (app/ directory, server components default)
  • app/layout.tsx with Person JSON-LD, Nav, Footer, OG metadataBase
  • All page routes converted: /, /about, /research, /experience, /projects, /work, /writing, /writing/[slug], /knowledge, /knowledge/[domain], /knowledge/[domain]/[slug], /architecture, /404
  • app/sitemap.ts (native MetadataRoute, dynamic MDX routes)
  • app/robots.ts (native MetadataRoute)
  • app/VC + app/Volunteering — server-side redirects
  • MDX migrated to next-mdx-remote/rsc (server component, zero client JS)
  • lib/site.ts, lib/data.ts, lib/finance.ts, lib/content.ts — all typed
  • lib/structured-data.ts (Person/Article/ScholarlyArticle factories)
  • lib/metadata.ts buildMetadata() factory typed against next/Metadata
  • tsconfig.json strict mode + @/* path aliases
  • types/css.d.ts for CSS side-effect imports
  • .eslintrc.json disables no-html-link-for-pages (no pages/ dir)

Added — Dynamic OG images

  • lib/og.tsx shared renderOg() template (1200×630)
  • Static OG for /, /about, /research, /experience, /projects, /work, /writing, /knowledge, /architecture
  • Dynamic per-post OG for /writing/[slug], /knowledge/[domain], /knowledge/[domain]/[slug]

Added — More MDX content

  • 7 additional articles: o1-visa-evidence-hub, FDE feedback loop, Raft in 5 minutes, RocksDB write amplification, convergence intuition, why TypeScript strict, FSDP vs tensor parallel

[1.1.0] — 2026-04-26 — V2 site overhaul on legacy stack

Added

  • Design system, all 8 new pages, SEO infra (JsonLd, sitemap, robots), Finance Thesis Tracker + Trade Log, MDX content pipeline, /media page, dynamic OG images, real paper URLs

(Largely superseded by 2.x — kept here for historical traceability.)

[1.0.0] — 2026-04-26 — Foundation

Added

  • Apache 2.0 LICENSE
  • Production tooling: Prettier, ESLint (stricter), Husky, lint-staged, EditorConfig
  • vercel.json with security headers + caching
  • Dependabot config (security scanning, no auto-PRs)
  • GitHub Actions CI (lint + format:check + build)
  • Comprehensive README with shields.io badges
  • ASCII architecture flows in docs/architecture/
  • Public /architecture page
  • v1.0.0 git tag marking legacy snapshot

Changed

  • next.config.js: security headers, removed ignoreDuringBuilds
  • package.json: renamed arkashj-com, added dev scripts

Legacy (pre-1.0.0)

  • Next.js 13 Pages Router, 3 pages: /, /VC, /Volunteering
  • No TypeScript, no tests, no SEO, fixed 1500px width
  • Outdated bio (still said "junior at BU")

Roadmap

See docs/TODO.md for prioritized open work. Highlights:

  • P0 — Connect custom domain arkashj.com to Vercel · ffmpeg demo recordings for /work · Submit sitemap to Google Search Console
  • P1 — /press, /talks, /achievements, /coursework, /collaborators, /teaching, /open-source surfaces
  • P2 — Light-mode contrast audit · RSS for /writing · cmd+k search · resume PDF