From 1a64bce2fbf4f8c430672b63c62c6b99c0ac496a Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Joe Carstairs <me@joeac.net>
Date: Mon, 13 Apr 2026 08:37:56 +0100
Subject: [PATCH] website can get pubDate from filename instead of frontmatter

---
 website/src/components/BlogFeed.astro  | 23 +++++++++++++++++------
 website/src/content.config.ts          |  2 +-
 website/src/layouts/BlogPost.astro     |  7 ++++++-
 website/src/pages/blog/[...slug].astro |  7 ++++++-
 4 files changed, 30 insertions(+), 9 deletions(-)

diff --git a/website/src/components/BlogFeed.astro b/website/src/components/BlogFeed.astro
index ce011ba..663a826 100644
--- a/website/src/components/BlogFeed.astro
+++ b/website/src/components/BlogFeed.astro
@@ -19,20 +19,31 @@ const posts = maxEntries === undefined
 	: allPosts.sort(sortByPubDateDescending).slice(0, maxEntries);
 
 const distinctYears: number[] = posts
-	.map(post => post.data.pubDate.getFullYear())
+	.map(post => pubDate(post).getFullYear())
 	.reduce<number[]>((acc, curr) => acc.includes(curr) ? acc : [...acc, curr], [])
 	.sort((a, b) => b - a);
 
 function matchesYear(year: number) {
-	return (post: CollectionEntry<'blog'>) => post.data.pubDate.getFullYear() === year;
+	return (post: CollectionEntry<'blog'>) => pubDate(post).getFullYear() === year;
 }
 
 function sortByPubDateDescending(post1: CollectionEntry<'blog'>, post2: CollectionEntry<'blog'>) {
-	const date1 = post1.data.pubDate.getTime();
-	const date2 = post2.data.pubDate.getTime();
+	const date1 = pubDate(post1).getTime();
+	const date2 = pubDate(post2).getTime();
 	return date2 - date1;
 }
 
+function pubDate(post: CollectionEntry<'blog'>): Date {
+  if (post.data.pubDate) {
+    return post.data.pubDate;
+  }
+  const date = new Date(post.id);
+  if (isNaN(date.valueOf())) {
+    throw new Error(`Post ${post.id} does not have a valid publication date.`);
+  }
+  return date;
+}
+
 const HeadingElem = `h${headingLevel} class="p-name"`;
 const SubHeadingElem = `h${headingLevel + 1}`;
 const AuthorElem = `p${hideAuthor ? " hidden" : ""}`;
@@ -61,7 +72,7 @@ const canonicalBlogUrl = new URL('blog', Astro.site)
 				<li class="h-entry">
 					<a class="u-url p-name" href={`/blog/${post.id}`}>{post.data.title}</a>
 					<p class="p-summary" set:html={post.data.description} />
-					<FormattedDate className="dt-published" date={post.data.pubDate} />
+					<FormattedDate className="dt-published" date={pubDate(post)} />
 				</li>
 			)) }
 			</ul>
@@ -72,7 +83,7 @@ const canonicalBlogUrl = new URL('blog', Astro.site)
 				<li class="h-entry">
 					<a class="u-url p-name" href={`/blog/${post.id}`}>{post.data.title}</a>
 					<p class="p-summary" set:html={post.data.description} />
-					<FormattedDate className="dt-published" date={post.data.pubDate} />
+					<FormattedDate className="dt-published" date={pubDate(post)} />
 				</li>
 			)) }
 		</ul>
diff --git a/website/src/content.config.ts b/website/src/content.config.ts
index bf331ba..9514c9c 100644
--- a/website/src/content.config.ts
+++ b/website/src/content.config.ts
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ const blog = defineCollection({
     title: z.string(),
     hidden: z.optional(z.boolean()),
     description: z.optional(z.string()),
-    pubDate: z.date(),
+    pubDate: z.optional(z.date()),
     updatedDate: z.optional(z.date()),
   }),
 });
diff --git a/website/src/layouts/BlogPost.astro b/website/src/layouts/BlogPost.astro
index 3f7a999..267ea6c 100644
--- a/website/src/layouts/BlogPost.astro
+++ b/website/src/layouts/BlogPost.astro
@@ -4,7 +4,12 @@ import BaseHead from '../components/BaseHead.astro';
 import FormattedDate from '../components/FormattedDate.astro';
 import Navbar from '../components/Navbar.astro';
 
-type Props = CollectionEntry<'blog'>['data'];
+type Props = {
+  title: string;
+  description?: string;
+  updatedDate?: Date;
+  pubDate: Date;
+}
 
 const { title, description, pubDate, updatedDate } = Astro.props;
 
diff --git a/website/src/pages/blog/[...slug].astro b/website/src/pages/blog/[...slug].astro
index a4168b6..28d5ec0 100644
--- a/website/src/pages/blog/[...slug].astro
+++ b/website/src/pages/blog/[...slug].astro
@@ -53,6 +53,11 @@ const Content = post.filePath?.endsWith('.gmi')
   : (await render(post)).Content;
 ---
 
-<BlogPost {...post.data}>
+<BlogPost
+  title={post.data.title}
+  description={post.data.description}
+  pubDate={post.data.pubDate ?? new Date(post.id)}
+  updatedDate={post.data.updatedDate}
+>
   { post.filePath?.endsWith('.gmi') ? <Fragment set:html={Content}></Fragment> : <Content />}
 </BlogPost>