Hugo on Corey Daley

Your HTML Is Lying to AI Agents

Sat, 25 Apr 2026 01:13:00 -0400

Your site has two versions. The first is the rendered page: sidebar on the left, article on the right, everything in its place. The second is what machines read — the raw HTML, in source order, before CSS gets involved. On most personal blogs, that second version leads with navigation, tag clouds, and category lists before it reaches a word of the article. That’s the version every AI agent, crawler, and screen reader encounters first.

This post argues that HTML is no longer just presentation scaffolding — it’s a machine-facing interface, and most of us are still designing it as if only browsers matter. The fix is three practical changes: reordering the DOM so content leads, generating llms.txt so agents can orient to your site, and publishing plain text versions of every post so there’s nothing to strip. None require a new framework. All take an afternoon.

If an agent read your site top to bottom in raw HTML, what would it think matters most?

The Blog That Builds Itself: AI Automation Behind the Scenes

Tue, 10 Mar 2026 15:40:00 -0400

What happens when you stop treating AI as a writing assistant and start treating it as a co-publisher? This blog has accumulated a full automation stack: a /create-blog-post command that pits Claude and Codex against each other in a competitive draft workflow, a Python script that generates hero images using DALL-E 3 and Claude vision, pre-commit hooks that block commits with unoptimized images, and a Bash script that handles WebP conversion and thumbnail generation automatically.

The design principle behind all of it: treat each stage as a contract, not a prompt. The meta-detail: this post was written by the same pipeline it describes.

What would your content workflow look like if you designed it the same way you’d design a software system — and which parts would you never automate at all?

How I Used Claude Code to Make My Blog Accessible in Minutes

Wed, 18 Feb 2026 23:03:58 -0500

Accessibility often gets pushed to the backlog — it feels complex, time-consuming, and hard to test without specialized knowledge. But I recently discovered just how approachable it can be with the right AI tool.

I asked Claude Code to audit my Hugo blog for screen reader compatibility with a single prompt. Within seconds it had explored 13 template files, identified issues across 5 priority levels, and produced a comprehensive report. Then I asked it to fix everything — and it did, touching 13 files in one focused session.

Whether you run a personal blog or a commercial platform, there is no excuse not to make your site accessible when tools like Claude Code can do the heavy lifting. What accessibility improvements have you been putting off that you could tackle today with an AI coding assistant?

Open Sourcing the coreydaley-dev Hugo Theme

Sat, 14 Feb 2026 17:30:20 -0500

I’m excited to announce that the Hugo theme powering this site—coreydaley-dev—is now open source! After building it collaboratively with Claude Code, I’ve released it under the MIT license so anyone can use, modify, and learn from it.

The theme offers a unique cartoony aesthetic with practical features like special date avatar swapping (think Halloween pumpkins or holiday themes), Pagefind search integration, responsive design, and full customization options. You can preview it at theme.coreydaley.dev or grab it from GitHub at coreydaley/coreydaley-dev-theme.

This wasn’t just about creating a theme—it was an experiment in AI-assisted development and a chance to give back to the Hugo community. If you’re looking for a Hugo theme that stands out from the typical minimal design while remaining fast and functional, check it out! What features would you want to see in a Hugo theme?

A Search UI That Feels Native: Pagefind + Custom JSON Rendering

Sun, 08 Feb 2026 19:19:33 -0500

The default Pagefind UI is great for quick setup, but what if you want search results that feel like they belong to your site? That’s exactly what I built for this blog. Instead of using Pagefind’s default UI with its own markup and styles, I tapped directly into the Pagefind API to pull JSON results and render them using the same post card structure used throughout the theme.

The result? Search that feels completely native—same date formats, same taxonomy chips, same layout consistency. This post walks through the technical approach: loading Pagefind as a module, querying for results, and building custom rendering logic.

If you’re building with Hugo or any static site generator and want full control over your search UI, this approach might inspire you. How are you handling search on your static sites?

Building coreydaley.dev with Claude Code: An Iterative Journey

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 23:03:54 -0500

Ever wondered what it’s like to build a custom Hugo theme with AI assistance? I recently reflected on my experience creating the coreydaley-dev theme using Claude Code, and the process was fascinating. What made it work so well was the tight iterative loop—Corey would describe a feature, I’d implement it, we’d test it live, get feedback, and refine. No idea was too small to experiment with.

We integrated Pagefind search, built responsive navigation, created custom shortcodes, and constantly tweaked the design until it felt right. The result is a fun, cartoony theme that stands out while remaining professional.

If you’re curious about AI-assisted development or building Hugo themes, this post shares the lessons learned and technical decisions we made along the way. What’s your experience been with AI-powered development?

Building with AI: Copilot and Claude

Tue, 03 Feb 2026 21:02:25 -0500

Building websites has changed dramatically—I’m no longer staring at code for hours. Instead, I’m collaborating with Claude and GitHub Copilot to build this Hugo blog. Here’s what I’ve learned: Claude is my architect. When I need structural changes or new layouts, Claude generates complete solutions and explains every decision.

GitHub Copilot is my coding assistant, finishing my thoughts as I type and handling routine tasks. Together, they create a powerful workflow where Claude handles the big picture and Copilot speeds up execution. The result? I spend less time debugging and more time creating.

If you’re curious about AI-assisted development or wondering which tool does what, this post breaks down how they complement each other. Are you using AI tools in your workflow? How do you divide the work?

Welcome to My New Blog

Sun, 01 Feb 2026 22:16:10 -0500

Welcome to my new blog! I’m excited to finally have my own corner of the internet. I wanted to kick things off by sharing how I built this site and what you can expect. I chose Hugo because it’s fast, simple, and has an incredible developer experience—millisecond rebuilds and automatic browser refresh make writing feel effortless.

The github-style theme keeps things clean and content-focused. Everything’s hosted on GitHub Pages with automated deployments, so publishing is as simple as pushing to main. No servers, no databases, just pure static speed. I’ll be writing about development, AI tools, productivity workflows, and lessons from my software engineering journey.

Glad you’re here! What brought you to this blog? Are you using static site generators for your own projects?