About This Wiki

Irregularpedia is the community-driven knowledge base for IrregularChat. This page explains the thinking behind the wiki, its technical architecture, and how you can contribute.

Philosophy

Why a Wiki?

The IrregularChat community generates a tremendous amount of knowledge through discussions, shared resources, and collaborative problem-solving. A wiki serves as:

• Persistent Memory - Conversations fade, but wiki pages endure
• Collaborative Knowledge - Multiple contributors improve content over time
• Searchable Reference - Find information quickly instead of scrolling through chat history
• Onboarding Resource - New members can self-serve common questions

Design Principles

Principle	Implementation
Open by Default	All content publicly accessible, no login required to read
Low Barrier to Contribute	Edit via browser, Obsidian, or any Markdown editor
Community Owned	Hosted on community infrastructure, not proprietary platforms
Version Controlled	Full history of changes, easy rollback if needed
Fast & Lightweight	Static site, no database, loads instantly worldwide

Technical Architecture

The Stack

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                         CONTENT LAYER                          │
│  Markdown files in /docs with YAML frontmatter                 │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
                              │
                              ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                      BUILD LAYER (VitePress)                   │
│  - Converts Markdown → HTML                                    │
│  - Generates navigation & search index                         │
│  - Applies theme & Vue components                              │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
                              │
                              ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                    HOSTING (Cloudflare Pages)                  │
│  - Global CDN (300+ edge locations)                            │
│  - Automatic HTTPS                                             │
│  - Preview deployments for PRs                                 │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
                              │
                              ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                         irregularpedia.org                      │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

VitePress

VitePress is the static site generator that powers this wiki.

Why VitePress?

• Speed - Built on Vite, the fastest JavaScript build tool
• Vue-Powered - Can embed interactive Vue components when needed
• Documentation-First - Designed specifically for technical documentation
• Excellent Markdown - Code highlighting, custom containers, frontmatter
• Built-in Search - Local search works offline, no external service needed

Key Features Used:

Feature	Purpose
Sidebar Navigation	Organized topic hierarchy
Local Search	Find content instantly
Dark/Light Mode	Reader preference
Code Highlighting	Technical examples
Frontmatter Tags	Content categorization
createContentLoader	Dynamic tags page generation

Cloudflare Pages

Cloudflare Pages hosts the built static files.

Why Cloudflare Pages?

• Free Tier - Unlimited bandwidth, unlimited sites
• Global CDN - Content served from nearest edge location
• Automatic Deployments - Push to GitHub → deployed in ~30 seconds
• Preview Deployments - Every PR gets a unique preview URL
• Automatic HTTPS - SSL certificates managed automatically

Deployment Flow:

git push → GitHub webhook → Cloudflare builds → Deploy to edge
                                    │
                                    └→ Preview URL for PRs

Source Control & Syncing

The wiki lives in two synchronized repositories:

Platform	URL	Purpose
GitHub	github.com/gitayam/IrregularChatWiki	Primary, triggers Cloudflare deploys
Forgejo	git.irregularchat.com/sac/IrregularChatWiki	Community mirror, self-hosted

Sync Mechanism:

GitHub Actions automatically syncs pushes to Forgejo:

# .github/workflows/sync-to-forgejo.yml
name: Sync to Forgejo
on:
  push:
    branches: [main]
jobs:
  sync:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
        with:
          fetch-depth: 0
      - run: |
          git remote add forgejo https://git.irregularchat.com/...
          git push forgejo main --force

This ensures:

• Redundancy - Content exists on multiple platforms
• Community Access - Contributors can use either platform
• Self-Sovereignty - Not dependent on any single provider

Repository Structure

IrregularChatWiki/
├── docs/                      # All wiki content
│   ├── index.md              # Homepage
│   ├── tags.md               # Auto-generated tags page
│   ├── tags.data.ts          # Tags data loader
│   ├── ai-ml/                # AI/ML topics
│   ├── community/            # Community resources
│   ├── cybersecurity/        # Security guides
│   ├── general/              # General topics
│   ├── infrastructure/       # Self-hosting guides
│   ├── matrix/               # Matrix/Element guides
│   ├── privacy/              # Privacy & OPSEC
│   ├── radio/                # RF/SDR topics
│   ├── research/             # OSINT & research
│   ├── server-guides/        # Server setup
│   └── public/               # Static assets (images, logo)
├── .vitepress/
│   └── config.ts             # VitePress configuration
├── .github/
│   └── workflows/            # GitHub Actions
├── package.json              # Node.js dependencies
└── README.md                 # Repository documentation

History

Migration from MediaWiki

This wiki was originally hosted on MediaWiki. In late 2024, it was migrated to VitePress for several reasons:

MediaWiki	VitePress
Requires PHP + MySQL	Static files only
Server maintenance needed	Zero maintenance
WYSIWYG sometimes breaks formatting	Consistent Markdown
Complex permission system	Simple Git-based workflow
Heavy resource usage	Lightweight, fast

The migration process involved:

1. Exporting MediaWiki content to XML
2. Converting to Markdown using custom scripts
3. Cleaning up formatting artifacts
4. Restructuring navigation
5. Adding frontmatter and tags

Contributing

Quick Edits

Every page has an "Edit this page on GitHub" link at the bottom. Click it to:

1. Fork the repository (first time only)
2. Edit the Markdown file in your browser
3. Submit a Pull Request
4. Changes deploy automatically when merged

Larger Contributions

For significant edits, clone the repository locally:

# Clone
git clone https://github.com/gitayam/IrregularChatWiki.git
cd IrregularChatWiki

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Start development server
npm run dev
# → Opens at http://localhost:5173

# Make your changes in docs/

# Build to verify
npm run build

# Commit and push
git add .
git commit -m "Add: description of changes"
git push

Using Obsidian

Obsidian is an excellent Markdown editor for wiki content:

1. Clone the repository
2. Open Obsidian → File → Open Vault
3. Select the docs/ folder
4. Edit with live preview and wiki-style linking
5. Commit and push changes via Git

Page Template

***
title: "Your Page Title"
tags: ["relevant", "tags", "here"]
***

# Your Page Title

Introduction paragraph explaining the topic.

## Main Section

Content with proper Markdown formatting.

### Subsection

More detailed content.

## Related Resources

- [Related Page](/path/to/page) - Brief description
- [External Link](https://example.com) - Brief description

Cost

Service	Cost
Cloudflare Pages	Free
GitHub	Free
Forgejo (self-hosted)	Already running
Domain (irregularpedia.org)	~$12/year
Total	~$12/year

Links

• Live Wiki: irregularpedia.org
• GitHub: github.com/gitayam/IrregularChatWiki
• Forgejo: git.irregularchat.com/sac/IrregularChatWiki
• VitePress Docs: vitepress.dev
• Cloudflare Pages Docs: developers.cloudflare.com/pages
• IrregularChat Community: irregularchat.com