🏛️ CORE

Rails 8 monolith powering the complete rectorspace.com ecosystem

✅ Production Ready | 🚀 Built in 48 Hours | 🕌 Built with Ihsan

🌐 Visit Live • 📖 Read Story • 🏛️ RECTOR LABS

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🎯 The Vision

A single monolithic platform serving as the complete digital presence for RECTOR—combining portfolio, experiments, writings, Islamic resources, and developer tools under one unified architecture.

Philosophy: "Building for Eternity" - where technical excellence (dunya) meets purposeful impact (akhirah).

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✨ The 7-Section Architecture

CORE is a Rails 8 monolith serving rectorspace.com with route-based sections:

Section	Route	Purpose	Status
🏠 Homepage	/	Identity hub & project showcase	✅ Live
💼 Work	/work	Story-driven project narratives	✅ Live
🧪 Labs	/labs	Experiments & learning projects	📋 Planned
✍️ Journal	/journal	Blog & writings (Ghost CMS)	📋 Planned
📚 Cheatsheet	/cheatsheet	Developer reference & notes	📋 Planned
🕌 Dakwa	/dakwa	Islamic da'wah content	📋 Planned
📖 Quran	/quran	Quranic resources & tools	📋 Planned

Why monolith? Unified codebase, shared authentication, single deployment, faster iteration, lower operational complexity.

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🛠️ Tech Stack

Backend:

• Ruby on Rails 8 (latest stable)
• PostgreSQL (primary database)
• Solid Queue (background jobs)
• Action Cable (WebSockets)

Frontend:

• Tailwind CSS v4 (utility-first styling)
• Hotwire (Turbo + Stimulus)
• JetBrains Mono typography
• Responsive design (mobile-first)

Infrastructure:

• VPS deployment (Nginx + Puma)
• GitHub Actions CI/CD
• Let's Encrypt SSL
• Hourly GitHub API sync

Integrations:

• GitHub API (project metadata)
• Ghost CMS API (planned - journal)
• Quran API (planned - Quran section)

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🚀 Quick Start

Prerequisites

- Ruby 3.3+ (use rbenv or asdf)
- Rails 8
- PostgreSQL 15+
- Node.js 18+ (for asset pipeline)

Installation

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/RECTOR-LABS/core.git
cd core

# Install dependencies
bundle install

# Set up environment
cp .env.example .env
# Add your GITHUB_TOKEN to .env

# Database setup
bin/rails db:setup

# Sync GitHub repos (initial sync)
bin/rails github:sync

# Start development server
bin/dev
# or just: bin/rails server

# Visit http://localhost:3000

Development Commands

# Console
bin/rails console

# Database operations
bin/rails db:migrate
bin/rails db:seed
bin/rails db:reset

# GitHub integration
bin/rails github:sync           # Manual sync
bin/rails github:tech_stack     # Show tech summary

# Tests
bin/rails test

# Asset compilation
bin/rails assets:precompile

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📖 Architecture Highlights

GitHub Integration

• Automatic caching: All repos cached in PostgreSQL
• Hourly sync: Solid Queue job updates metadata
• Tech stack parser: Analyzes languages and categorizes projects
• Rate limiting: 5,000 requests/hour with token

Data Flow:

GitHub API → GithubApiService → GithubRepo (model) → PagesController → Homepage View
                ↓
           SyncGithubReposJob (hourly via Solid Queue)
                ↓
           TechStackParser (categorizes languages)

Work Section (Story-Driven)

• Markdown narratives: Story-focused, not traditional portfolio
• Redcarpet rendering: Clean, semantic HTML output
• Custom CSS: Justified text, generous spacing for readability
• GitHub metadata: Stars, forks, live URLs integrated

Custom Slash Command: /work:story <github-url> generates AI-powered narratives

Design System

• Color palette: NFT-inspired warm theme
  • Primary: Sky Blue #41CFFF, Warm Yellow #F9C846
  • Base: Soft Cream #FFF7E1, Deep Brown #3B2C22
• Typography: JetBrains Mono (full stack - headings, body, code)
• Layout: DHH.dk inspired - minimal nav, letter-style narrative
• Identity: Anonymous via NFT profile picture

Full design specs: docs/DESIGN_SYSTEM.md

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🌟 Key Features

Currently Live (Nov 2025)

✅ Homepage

• Dynamic project showcase from GitHub
• Tech stack summary with categorization
• NFT profile picture, warm theme design
• Responsive layout, semantic HTML

✅ Work Section

• Story-driven project pages (narrative format)
• Markdown rendering with custom CSS
• GitHub repository metadata
• Individual project pages (/work/:slug)

✅ GitHub Sync

• Hourly background job via Solid Queue
• 35 repos cached (24 personal + 11 org)
• Tech stack parser with language analysis
• Manual sync via rake tasks

✅ Production Infrastructure

• Live at rectorspace.com
• CI/CD via GitHub Actions
• SSL with Let's Encrypt
• VPS deployment (Nginx + Puma)

Coming Soon

🚧 Labs Section - Experiments and learning projects 🚧 Journal Section - Ghost CMS integration for blog 🚧 Cheatsheet Section - Developer reference notes 🚧 Dakwa Section - Islamic da'wah content 🚧 Quran Section - Quranic resources and tools

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📊 Current Stats

Built: Nov 2-3, 2025 (one weekend!) Status: Live in production Sections: 2/7 complete (Homepage + Work) Repositories Tracked: 35 (18 non-fork) Tech Stack: TypeScript (44.4%), Shell (16.7%), JavaScript, Rust, Python Commits: 15+ in first 3 days Deploy Time: < 5 minutes (CI/CD)

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🎨 Design Philosophy

Inspirations:

• DHH.dk: Minimal navigation, letter-style narrative, embedded links
• Basecamp: Generous whitespace, conversational tone, calm spacing

Principles:

• Content-first: No navbar/footer/sidebar clutter
• Scannable: Clear hierarchy, generous line height (1.75-1.875)
• Warm aesthetic: Light theme only, NFT-inspired colors
• Monospace beauty: JetBrains Mono everywhere (18px for readability)

Brand Assets:

• 3 logo variants + NFT profile picture
• Pixel art graphics from Kenney.nl
• Custom color palette with warm tones

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🏆 Build Story

Timeline:

• Saturday (Nov 2): Rails 8 initialization, design system, homepage with GitHub integration
• Sunday (Nov 3): Work section, story rendering, production deployment, CI/CD setup
• Result: Fully functional, production-ready platform in 48 hours

Philosophy Applied:

• ✅ 100% Working Standard: Every feature fully functional before deployment
• ✅ Ihsan (Excellence): Beautiful design, clean code, thoughtful UX
• ✅ Amanah (Responsibility): Production-ready, secure, maintainable
• ✅ No Israf (Waste): Efficient architecture, minimal dependencies

Lessons Learned:

• Rails 8 is blazingly fast for monolithic apps
• Monoliths > microservices for solo developers
• Design system upfront = faster implementation
• GitHub API + caching = perfect project showcase

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🗺️ Roadmap

Phase 1: Foundation ✅ (Nov 2-3, 2025)

• Rails 8 initialization
• Homepage with GitHub integration
• Work section with story narratives
• Production deployment + CI/CD
• Design system implementation

Phase 2: Content Expansion 🚧 (Nov-Dec 2025)

• Labs section (experiments showcase)
• Journal section (Ghost CMS integration)
• Cheatsheet section (developer notes)

Phase 3: Islamic Platforms 📋 (Q1 2026)

• Dakwa section (da'wah content)
• Quran section (resources + tools)
• Islamic content strategy

Phase 4: Advanced Features 📋 (Q2 2026)

• Search functionality across all sections
• RSS feeds for Journal
• Analytics dashboard
• Performance optimization

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🤝 Contributing

Built by RECTOR LABS with Ihsan (excellence) and Amanah (responsibility).

Contribution Areas:

• 🐛 Bug reports and fixes
• 🎨 Design improvements
• 📖 Documentation enhancements
• 🚀 Feature suggestions
• 🔍 Code reviews

Guidelines:

1. Fork the repository
2. Create feature branch (git checkout -b feature/AmazingFeature)
3. Commit changes (git commit -m 'feat: Add AmazingFeature')
4. Push to branch (git push origin feature/AmazingFeature)
5. Open Pull Request

Standards:

• Follow Rails conventions and best practices
• Write tests for new features
• Update documentation as needed
• Keep commits atomic and well-described

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📄 License

This project is open source and available under the MIT License.

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🔗 Links

• 🌐 Website: rectorspace.com
• 📖 Project Story: rectorspace.com/work/core
• 🐙 Personal GitHub: @rz1989s
• 🏛️ Organization: RECTOR-LABS

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🙏 Acknowledgments

• Ruby on Rails - DHH and the Rails core team for Rails 8
• Tailwind CSS - Adam Wathan for the best CSS framework
• Kenney.nl - Free pixel art assets
• GitHub - For the amazing API and platform
• Superteam - Inspiring the blockchain journey
• Allah SWT - For the ability to create and learn

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Built with Bismillah 🕌

May this platform bring benefit to those who visit. Aamiin.

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🏛️ RECTOR LABS | Building for Eternity | 2025