Development Workflow

Where to Edit

Change one page’s layout or copy: route content.html
Change one page’s server logic: route index.php
Change one page’s client behavior: route-local {page-name}.js, included from that page’s content.html
Change shared shell: template.html and probably template_mobile.html
Change shared interaction logic: main.js for bootstrap/orchestration, or the relevant /js/*.js shared system file
Change shared look: style.css
Change persistence or permissions: relevant PHP code plus data contract

Decide whether the change is content, route logic, shared shell, frontend behavior, or persistence
Edit the smallest correct surface
If data shape changes, update read path, write path, and defaults
If auth/admin behavior changes, enforce it in PHP, not just JS
If the feature adds routes, APIs, uploads, or private /data files, check .nginx/fridge.dev before assuming PHP can see or protect it
If the feature adds or changes reusable UI, add a representative sample to /formatting
If any Markdown formatting changes, update the reference pages at /formatting/markdown and /formatting/markdown/feed to match
Test the target page and at least one unrelated page that shares the shell

GitHub Actions runs three lint steps:

Custom linting details:

PHP uses php -l
JavaScript uses node --check
Inline JS in .html and .php files is syntax-checked too
CSS uses custom Node scripts that validate standalone CSS, inline <style>, and style="" attributes

This setup is simple but honestly pretty smart for a repo with lots of inline markup/script/style.

Login/logout footer swap depends on exact HTML strings
Account sessions use the shared-domain fridg3_session cookie on production hosts; keep logout clearing both shared-domain and legacy host-only cookies
main.js is route-sensitive; move clearly page-owned code into route-local scripts, and larger shared systems into /js/*.js
Feed and journal have different storage models
Bookmarks have both server and localStorage behavior
Some old code still references legacy bookmark storage patterns
Mobile view is browser-only via the mobile_friendly_view cookie
.nginx/fridge.dev is live Nginx config source via symlink, so route changes need Nginx sanity checks too
Native JS alert(), confirm(), and prompt() are not used; use the on-site popup helpers in main.js
External links are guarded by the shared on-site popup unless a link explicitly opts out with data-no-external-popup
Reusable UI belongs on /formatting; if it can reasonably appear on another page, give it a specimen there

Before making a sweeping change, review:

Root files: index.php, content.html, template.html, template_mobile.html, main.js, style.css
Affected route directory
Related API endpoint
lib/render.php
.nginx/fridge.dev
Relevant workflow or script if the change affects deploy/lint/runtime ops

Trust code over docs when they conflict
Prefer boring safe edits over galaxy-brain rewrites
If you touch shared DOM ids or route transitions, click around the site after
If you touch /data schema, document it immediately so future-you doesn’t get jump-scared