Setting the Stage: Context for the Curious Book Reader
In an era where the web’s foundational data is increasingly obfuscated by complex infrastructure and AI agents reshape digital interaction, this blueprint dives into a pivotal philosophy: reclaiming direct observability. This entry explores a methodology for leveraging modern infrastructure as code with NixOS to self-host static sites, capturing the unfiltered stream of server logs—the ‘Black River’ of web traffic. It’s a treatise on data sovereignty, connecting the historical wisdom of early web analytics with the urgent need for transparency in the Age of AI.
Technical Journal Entry Begins
Me: Alright, so I’m going with the home-hosting of Jekyll websites (GitHub Pages) so you can watch the AI-bots come a’crawlin’ and get that juicy inside scoop to the actual landscape. Most folks are cut off from this kind of data for multiple reasons. Big websites produce so much log-file data which in turn is locked-up at the CDNs (content distribution networks) such as Akamai and Cloudflare where it’s very hard to get for the aforementioned data-size reason and that it’s extra work that nobody does by default for analytics reasons anymore unless its explicitly asked for.
I’m old enough to remember WebPosition Gold in the SEO-space which parsed such web log-files. I’m also the guy who invented HitTail which was a long-tail keyword optimization tool based roughly on this same principle, but parsed from JavaScript referrer variables before the fateful not-provided native keyword data extinction event brought about by Google and the enforced move to https. I am likely even trained into the AI static base models for my Web 2.0 era HitTail invention.
The Return of the Logs: Why AI Demands Raw Data
Gemini: This is a fantastic premise for an article. You are connecting deep, historical SEO context (the “old guard” knowledge of log files and referrer data) with the cutting-edge reality of the “AI Crawler Invasion.”
Here is a draft titled “The Return of the Logs: Watching the AI Crawlers Come a’Crawlin’“ (or we can go with “Escaping the CDN Black Box”). I have structured it to bridge your HitTail legacy with your current NixOS/self-hosting experiments.
The Return of the Logs: Watching the AI Crawlers Come a’Crawlin’
I’m going all-in on home-hosting Jekyll websites. Why? Because I want to watch the AI bots come a’crawlin’.
I want the juicy inside scoop on the actual landscape of the AI web, and frankly, most folks are completely cut off from this data. We have entered an era where the most valuable signal on the web—who is reading your content and why—has been obfuscated by the very infrastructure that keeps the web running.
The CDN Black Box
Big websites produce massive amounts of log-file data. But that data is effectively locked up at the CDNs (Content Distribution Networks) like Akamai and Cloudflare. It is hard to get for two reasons:
- Volume: The sheer size of the data makes it unwieldy to transfer and store.
- Friction: It is extra work. Nobody sets up raw log retention by default anymore because we’ve all been trained to rely on sanitized, client-side JavaScript dashboards (like Google Analytics) which are increasingly blind to server-side AI agents.
If you rely on Cloudflare or GA4, you are seeing a sanitized version of reality. You are missing the robotic undercurrents.
The Old Guard Knew Better
I’m old enough to remember WebPosition Gold in the SEO space, a tool that lived and breathed by parsing web log files. It was raw, it was messy, and it was honest.
I’m also the guy who invented HitTail, a long-tail keyword optimization tool based roughly on this same principle. We parsed JavaScript referrer variables to tell you exactly what people were typing to find you. That was, of course, before the fateful “not-provided” data extinction event brought about by Google and the enforced move to HTTPS.
In a strange twist of fate, I am likely even trained into the static base models of the very AIs I am now trying to track, thanks to my Web 2.0 era HitTail invention.
Hosting for Visibility
By moving my stack back to bare metal (or a home-server on NixOS) and serving my own bits, I am reclaiming that raw visibility. When an agent from OpenAI, Anthropic, or a new specialized crawler hits my server, I don’t want it aggregated into a “Bot Traffic” metric and discarded. I want to see the User-Agent. I want to see the frequency. I want to know what they are looking for.
The modern web has hidden the machinery from us for convenience. I’m peeling back the panel to watch the gears turn again.
A few thoughts on this draft:
- Tone: It captures your specific voice—authoritative but conversational (“juicy inside scoop,” “fateful extinction event”).
- The HitTail Connection: I made sure to emphasize your specific authority here. You aren’t just guessing; you built the tools that defined the previous era of analytics.
- The “Why”: It clearly articulates that self-hosting isn’t just for tech hobbyism; it’s for data sovereignty and observability in the AI age.
Would you like me to create a shell script or a sed command to help you quickly parse your current Nginx/Caddy logs for these specific AI User-Agents right now?
Me: Haha, no, not yet. Jumping right to the sexiest bit of the project, I
see! Yeah in the days of HitTail, I parsed the referrer variable which was a
full URL string with the querystring containing the keyword that was used at
Google such that the keyword stood out from the rest of the string, creating a
sort of black river of keywords effect when they were shown in scrolling
real-time, which was only barely technically achievable in those days. You can
even see the original [HitTail video] that introduced the scrolling black river
of keywords. I used something called the rico.js library, an artifact from
long, long ago after the rise of the AJAX programming technique but before very
many things that formally used it. There were a few ragtag libraries that showed
up to abstract it down just far enough for aspirational AJAX-programmers like
myself could effectively use it.
You probably can’t even find that library even talked about anymore as
everything it did got wrapped into the formality of the JSON industrial complex
that ensued — following a brief window where jQuery made it look like it
wouldn’t become quite such a Conway’s Law-plagued landscape — great for the
consultancy industry repurposing their VBScript 6 skills to now pigeon-holed
webdev specialities. This is about the time of Bootstrap.js and Syntactically
Awesome Stylesheets (SASS). Yuck! This is about when I tuned out of web
development. The Web was a simple system but got built up into a complex one.
There was one bizarro lost world that dodged this bullet of Gall’s Law opening
the door to Conway’s Law and the out of control complexification and
enshitification of webdev — and that was PHP. And I wasn’t interested. So I
doubled down on just plain Python back-end, webdev be damned.
But everything ultimately comes around again. I totally missed Carson Gross’
intercooler.js which is apparently where all the HTMX coolness was born, and
it didn’t appear on my radar until it was htmx.js at which time I was totally
floored and realized it was exactly what I was waiting for as my on-ramp back
into WebDev. But then I waited because I wasn’t about to build a Python
framework around it. And I’m glad I didn’t because one of my developer heroes
who created something called nbdev which lets Jupyter Notebooks become a
useful development platform for creating pip installable PyPI packages from
.ipynb-Notebooks (and thus be used in scheduling, etc) took on the task and
did it with an implementation that is exemplary of his elegance — meaning full
of Pythonic anti-patterns that are going to drive the JSON industrial complex
mad but delight true Pythonistas like me. It’s all about **kwargs.
A Personal History: From Black Rivers to HTMX Renaissance
So what I’m really doing here is meandering about concept wise letting my subconscious float up to the surface the fact that making a Jekyll GitHub Pages site self-host is about…
What?
Oh, it’s about all the non-sexy pieces that come before that. It’s about
thinking through the decoupling of Jekyll sites that are tied into the GitHub
default framework for hosting repositories that offers optional documentation
hosting on the github.io domain with your own subdomain and optional custom
domain for apparent traditional web hosting of albeit very static sites with
no logfile access and recoupling it into something much more options but whose
initial rendition will be as simple as possible.
When you’re creating a Jekyll site and don’t want to wait for the transformation
to be done by GitHub after a git push, a process which could take minutes, you
can instead render the site locally and preview it on localhost:port. And when
you’re using Nix flakes that let you whip around infrastructure as code (IaC)
like it’s no big thing, you can encapsulate and bottle one of these local
live-preview offline Jekyll sites in a Nix flake. And that’s out starting
point. I use the Prompt Fu system to put that in context for Gemini.
Points to ponder? Well, this is already a fair amount of the way already do self-hosting. There’s already a webserver in the picture here somewhere or else it wouldn’t be getting served as a localhost address. Arguably the lightest touch here is just resolving DNS to this location, firewall and network allowing, and we’re done. However we want to think about that loose coupling stuff. How much of a stretch would it be to change the webserver in one of these Nix flakes to the simplest possible server from a “getting it working in a Nix flake perspective” that is also too big to fail and that you’re really well trained on from a mainstream perspective?
Pose questions here before implementation. Given our chisel-strike methodology where we bank git committable wins from small directional steps, what are the steps we would take to get from what we already have to something that is a minimum viable public hosting flake that also serves double-duty as for this offline preview functionality because I won’t want to manage 2 different nix flakes when they are in so many ways so similar? Also while not necessary in first-pass implementations we may want to simulate DNS changes on the local system so we can see exactly what it would be like self-hosted if moved to another machine in the correct location on the network so that traffic could reach it when making the DNS changes proper?
From GitHub Pages to Self-Hosted Observability
Gemini: This is a rich philosophical convergence. You are effectively connecting the dots between the “Web 1.0” purity of log-files (the Black River), the “Web 2.0” complexity explosion (the JSON/SASS era you rejected), and the “Web 3.0/AI” era where we return to bare metal and raw logs to understand the machine-agents.
And yes, Jeremy Howard’s nbdev is a masterpiece of “useful heresy.” It proves that the tool should bend to the workflow (literate programming), not the other way around.
To answer your specific request: You want to evolve your current Jekyll Development Flake into a Dual-Mode Hosting Flake. It needs to handle:
- Dev Mode:
jekyll serve(incremental, live-reload, what you have now). - Prod Mode:
jekyll build-> Static Files -> “Too Big To Fail” Web Server -> Access Logs.
Here are the strategic questions and the Chisel-Strike roadmap to get there.
Strategic Questions (Pose these before we code)
1. The “Too Big to Fail” Server Choice You asked for a server that is “too big to fail” and “mainstream.”
- Option A: Nginx. The absolute gold standard. It is the definition of “mainstream” for serving static files. Its log format (Common Log Format/Combined Log Format) is what every SEO tool from 1999 to 2025 expects. It is rock solid.
- Option B: Caddy. The modern “Nix-native” darling. It is written in Go, handles HTTPS automatically (huge for self-hosting), and is simpler to configure.
- The Question: Do you want the Nginx legacy compatibility (perfect for that “WebPosition Gold” vibe and standard log parsing), or Caddy’s modern convenience? My recommendation given your “Return of the Logs” narrative is Nginx, because its log format is the canonical data structure of the web.
Plotting the Course: Nginx, Ports, and Persistence
2. The “Self-Hosted” Simulation (Privileged Ports)
Real web servers run on port 80 and 443. jekyll serve usually runs on 4000.
- To simulate “real” hosting in a Nix shell without
sudo, we usually bind Nginx to high ports (e.g., 8080). - The Question: Is it acceptable for the “Prod Mode” simulation to run on port 8080/8443 locally? Or do you want to complicate the flake slightly to allow binding to port 80 (which requires sudo/root)? Recommendation: Stick to 8080 for the flake to keep it clean and permissions-free.
3. Log Persistence In a container or flake, data is often ephemeral.
- The Question: When we run this “Prod Mode” from the flake, we need to write the
access.logsomewhere. Shall we create a dedicated./logs/directory in your repo (gitignored) so that when you kill the flake, the “juicy data” remains for you to inspect?
The Chisel-Strike Roadmap
Here is how we move from your current flake.nix to the Dual-Mode version in discrete steps.
Step 1: Add Nginx to the Flake
We need to add pkgs.nginx to your buildInputs. This makes the nginx binary available inside your dev shell.
Step 2: Create a Local Nginx Configuration
We cannot use the system-wide /etc/nginx/nginx.conf. We must create a local nginx.conf stored in your repo.
- This config will point the
rootto your Jekyll_sitedirectory. - It will point
access_logto your local./logs/access.log. - It will turn off the daemon mode so it runs in the foreground (like
jekyll serve).
Step 3: Create the build-prod Script
We add a shell function (like you did for jes) called jes-build.
- It runs
jekyll build(one time, optimized, no watch mode). - This generates the static artifacts in
_site.
Step 4: Create the serve-prod Script
We add a shell function called jes-prod (or jes-nginx).
- It ensures the
./logsdirectory exists. - It launches
nginx -c $PWD/nginx.conf. - It tails the log file to stdout (
tail -f logs/access.log) so you see that “Black River” of hits scrolling in your terminal immediately.
Step 5: The DNS Trick (Localhost Spoofing)
To verify the “Self-Hosted” feeling:
- We edit your machine’s
/etc/hoststo point127.0.0.1tolocal.mikelev.in(or whatever domain you plan to use). - We configure the local Nginx to listen for that
server_name. - You visit
http://local.mikelev.in:8080in your browser.
Your Decision
If you give me the nod on Nginx (for the logs) vs Caddy (for the ease), I will generate the next chisel-strike: Modifying the flake to include the server and a local config generator.
Me: Okay, this is where the fatigue starts to set in. I can see that I’m
trying to bite off more than I can chew, and it’s good to let the LLM who
doesn’t have such limitations to see that big picture, but now we want to rein
it back in. The biggest concern is the potential exploding complexity of the
flake.nix file. It’s already pretty big and everything I learned over the past
year makes me cringe at the prospect of either taking back a fully generated
new version of it from the AI or alternatively strategically editing the file
either by hand (in vim) or allowing the AI to do it, because it is not as well
trained on the Nix DSL as it is on other languages.
And so, my first thought is that no matter what we do we want to build it up in
under-ambitious baby-steps staying very close to the original flake.nix file
and layering one new thing in, in order to prove that thing. And that thing
should probably be nginx getting it running like maybe wholly separate from
the current flake.nix file, maybe in its own repo to get us started with the
issues separated. Also, I already have the port configurable with an external
.port file so all those questions are moot. It just gets hosted on whatever
non-conflicting port I put in that file.
The next thing that I want to ask is that suggested
http://local.mikelev.in:8080 where you say nginx can be “configured to listen”
for a server_name, the idea is that we’d be overriding local DNS so I can see
it as if the site were actually launched with a DNS-switch so I’d really be
surfing it on https://local.mikelev.in. Oh! This makes me realize that I will
have some certificate work to do which I was “getting for free” hosting on
GitHub. That’s a nested sub-project I have to keep in mind. But also if I’m
over-complicating it asking for real DNS local spoofing, please push back. And
tell me about nginx’s ability to “listen” for a certain server name on the
network. I’d like this to be something that works on any host machine, but I do
have my configuration.nix I can show you about my local environment.
Embracing the Chisel-Strike: Mitigating Flake Complexity
Gemini: This is the perfect moment to pump the brakes. You are absolutely right—when the “flake fatigue” hits, it’s usually because the mental model of the infrastructure is growing faster than the implementation.
We will not touch your flake.nix yet. We will not mess with SSL/HTTPS certificates yet. We will not edit your /etc/hosts file yet.
We are going to do a “Sidecar Experiment.” We will prove we can generate that “Black River” of logs using Nginx on your current machine, serving your current Jekyll site, using a temporary, throwaway command.
1. The Theory: How Nginx “Listens”
You asked how Nginx listens for a server name.
Technically, it doesn’t.
- Layer 4 (Transport): Nginx listens on a Port (e.g.,
:8080). It accepts any connection hitting that port. - Layer 7 (Application): Once the connection is open, the browser sends a request like: ```http GET /index.html HTTP/1.1 Host: local.mikelev.in
* **The Match:** Nginx looks at that `Host:` header. If it matches a `server_name` in its config, it uses that block. If not, it falls back to the default.
**Your Setup:** Since we are simplifying, we won't even filter by name yet. We will just tell Nginx: "Serve whatever hits port 8080 (or your `.port`) and write it to a log file."
### 2. The Experiment (No Flake Edits)
We are going to create a minimal Nginx config file in your repo root. This won't hurt anything.
**Step A: Create `nginx_preview.conf**`
Create this file in the root of your `trimnoir` repo. I have stripped it down to the bare essentials required to run without `sudo` and without a full system install.
```nginx
# nginx_preview.conf
worker_processes 1;
daemon off; # Run in foreground so we can kill it easily
error_log /dev/stderr; # Show errors in terminal
pid nginx.pid; # Write PID locally (not in /var/run)
events {
worker_connections 1024;
}
http {
# File handling
include /nix/store/mvkkf4is204c35967812952865910386-nginx-1.26.2/conf/mime.types; # SEE NOTE BELOW
default_type application/octet-stream;
sendfile on;
# THE JUICY PART: The Log Format
# This is the "Combined Log Format" - the industry standard
log_format main '$remote_addr - $remote_user [$time_local] "$request" '
'$status $body_bytes_sent "$http_referer" '
'"$http_user_agent"';
server {
listen 8080; # We will override this with your .port file later
server_name localhost;
# Serve the Jekyll build folder
root _site;
index index.html;
# The Black River
access_log access.log main;
}
}
Note on mime.types: Nix makes this tricky because files are in the store. For this quick test, we might get “octet-stream” warnings, but the HTML will load. We can fix the path later.
Step B: Build the Site In your current terminal (inside the flake):
bundle exec jekyll build
(This ensures _site exists).
Step C: The One-Liner Launch
We will use nix run to fetch Nginx momentarily and run it with our config.
nix run nixpkgs#nginx -- -p $PWD -c nginx_preview.conf
Step D: The Reveal
- Open your browser to
http://localhost:8080. - Look at your terminal.
- Look at the new file
access.login your repo.
You should see lines appearing like this:
127.0.0.1 - - [20/Dec/2025:11:30:00 -0500] "GET / HTTP/1.1" 200 3452 "-" "Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64)..."
Why this is a “Bankable Win”
- Zero Risk: We didn’t touch
flake.nix. If this fails, you just deletenginx_preview.conf. - Visual Confirmation: You will see the log file grow. You can
tail -f access.login another terminal to watch the “Black River.” - Future Proofing: This
nginx_preview.confis the seed that will eventually grow into your production configuration.
Shall we run this experiment? (I can help you fix that mime.types path path dynamically if the basic config throws errors).
Me:
[mike@nixos:~/repos/trimnoir]$ git status
On branch main
Your branch is up to date with 'local_origin/main'.
Untracked files:
(use "git add <file>..." to include in what will be committed)
nginx_preview.conf
nothing added to commit but untracked files present (use "git add" to track)
[mike@nixos:~/repos/trimnoir]$ bundle exec jekyll build
The program 'bundle' is not in your PATH. It is provided by several packages.
You can make it available in an ephemeral shell by typing one of the following:
nix-shell -p bundler
nix-shell -p gotools
nix-shell -p graalvmPackages.truffleruby
nix-shell -p jruby
nix-shell -p mastodon
nix-shell -p ruby
nix-shell -p ruby_3_1
nix-shell -p ruby_3_2
nix-shell -p ruby_3_4
nix-shell -p zammad
[mike@nixos:~/repos/trimnoir]$ nix develop .#quiet
warning: updating lock file '/home/mike/repos/trimnoir/flake.lock':
• Added input 'flake-utils':
'github:numtide/flake-utils/11707dc2f618dd54ca8739b309ec4fc024de578b?narHash=sha256-l0KFg5HjrsfsO/JpG%2Br7fRrqm12kzFHyUHqHCVpMMbI%3D' (2024-11-13)
• Added input 'flake-utils/systems':
'github:nix-systems/default/da67096a3b9bf56a91d16901293e51ba5b49a27e?narHash=sha256-Vy1rq5AaRuLzOxct8nz4T6wlgyUR7zLU309k9mBC768%3D' (2023-04-09)
• Added input 'nixpkgs':
'github:NixOS/nixpkgs/c6245e83d836d0433170a16eb185cefe0572f8b8?narHash=sha256-G/WVghka6c4bAzMhTwT2vjLccg/awmHkdKSd2JrycLc%3D' (2025-12-18)
[DEPRECATED] Using the `config` command without a subcommand [list, get, set, unset] is deprecated and will be removed in the future. Use `bundle config set build.nokogiri --use-system-libraries` instead.
[DEPRECATED] Using the `config` command without a subcommand [list, get, set, unset] is deprecated and will be removed in the future. Use `bundle config set build.ffi --enable-system-libffi` instead.
[DEPRECATED] Using the `config` command without a subcommand [list, get, set, unset] is deprecated and will be removed in the future. Use `bundle config set build.eventmachine --with-cflags=-I/nix/store/ydrckgnllgg8nmhdwni81h7xhcpnrlhd-openssl-3.6.0-dev/include` instead.
Linux detected. Skipping Neovim setup as it's not needed.
Jekyll environment ready (quiet mode).
Run 'jes' to start the server manually.
[mike@nixos:~/repos/trimnoir]$ bundle exec jekyll build
Configuration file: /home/mike/repos/trimnoir/_config.yml
Source: /home/mike/repos/trimnoir
Destination: /home/mike/repos/trimnoir/_site
Incremental build: disabled. Enable with --incremental
Generating...
Jekyll Feed: Generating feed for posts
Deprecation Warning [import]: Sass @import rules are deprecated and will be removed in Dart Sass 3.0.0.
More info and automated migrator: https://sass-lang.com/d/import
╷
1 │ @import "minima";
│ ^^^^^^^^
╵
/home/mike/repos/trimnoir/assets/main.scss 1:9 root stylesheet
Deprecation Warning [import]: Sass @import rules are deprecated and will be removed in Dart Sass 3.0.0.
More info and automated migrator: https://sass-lang.com/d/import
╷
48 │ "minima/base",
│ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^
╵
minima.scss 48:3 @import
/home/mike/repos/trimnoir/assets/main.scss 1:9 root stylesheet
Deprecation Warning [import]: Sass @import rules are deprecated and will be removed in Dart Sass 3.0.0.
More info and automated migrator: https://sass-lang.com/d/import
╷
49 │ "minima/layout",
│ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
╵
minima.scss 49:3 @import
/home/mike/repos/trimnoir/assets/main.scss 1:9 root stylesheet
Deprecation Warning [import]: Sass @import rules are deprecated and will be removed in Dart Sass 3.0.0.
More info and automated migrator: https://sass-lang.com/d/import
╷
50 │ "minima/syntax-highlighting"
│ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
╵
minima.scss 50:3 @import
/home/mike/repos/trimnoir/assets/main.scss 1:9 root stylesheet
Deprecation Warning [global-builtin]: Global built-in functions are deprecated and will be removed in Dart Sass 3.0.0.
Use color.adjust instead.
More info and automated migrator: https://sass-lang.com/d/import
╷
18 │ $grey-color-light: lighten($grey-color, 40%) !default;
│ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
╵
minima.scss 18:20 @import
/home/mike/repos/trimnoir/assets/main.scss 1:9 root stylesheet
Deprecation Warning [color-functions]: lighten() is deprecated. Suggestions:
color.scale($color, $lightness: 81.6%)
color.adjust($color, $lightness: 40%)
More info: https://sass-lang.com/d/color-functions
╷
18 │ $grey-color-light: lighten($grey-color, 40%) !default;
│ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
╵
minima.scss 18:20 @import
/home/mike/repos/trimnoir/assets/main.scss 1:9 root stylesheet
Deprecation Warning [global-builtin]: Global built-in functions are deprecated and will be removed in Dart Sass 3.0.0.
Use color.adjust instead.
More info and automated migrator: https://sass-lang.com/d/import
╷
19 │ $grey-color-dark: darken($grey-color, 25%) !default;
│ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
╵
minima.scss 19:20 @import
/home/mike/repos/trimnoir/assets/main.scss 1:9 root stylesheet
Deprecation Warning [color-functions]: darken() is deprecated. Suggestions:
color.scale($color, $lightness: -49.0384615385%)
color.adjust($color, $lightness: -25%)
More info: https://sass-lang.com/d/color-functions
╷
19 │ $grey-color-dark: darken($grey-color, 25%) !default;
│ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
╵
minima.scss 19:20 @import
/home/mike/repos/trimnoir/assets/main.scss 1:9 root stylesheet
Deprecation Warning [global-builtin]: Global built-in functions are deprecated and will be removed in Dart Sass 3.0.0.
Use color.adjust instead.
More info and automated migrator: https://sass-lang.com/d/import
╷
110 │ color: darken($brand-color, 15%);
│ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
╵
../../../../minima-2.5.2/_sass/minima/_base.scss 110:12 @import
minima.scss 48:3 @import
/home/mike/repos/trimnoir/assets/main.scss 1:9 root stylesheet
Deprecation Warning [color-functions]: darken() is deprecated. Suggestions:
color.scale($color, $lightness: -28.5447761194%)
color.adjust($color, $lightness: -15%)
More info: https://sass-lang.com/d/color-functions
╷
110 │ color: darken($brand-color, 15%);
│ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
╵
../../../../minima-2.5.2/_sass/minima/_base.scss 110:12 @import
minima.scss 48:3 @import
/home/mike/repos/trimnoir/assets/main.scss 1:9 root stylesheet
Deprecation Warning [global-builtin]: Global built-in functions are deprecated and will be removed in Dart Sass 3.0.0.
Use color.adjust instead.
More info and automated migrator: https://sass-lang.com/d/import
╷
235 │ color: lighten($text-color, 18%);
│ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
╵
../../../../minima-2.5.2/_sass/minima/_base.scss 235:10 @import
minima.scss 48:3 @import
/home/mike/repos/trimnoir/assets/main.scss 1:9 root stylesheet
Deprecation Warning [color-functions]: lighten() is deprecated. Suggestions:
color.scale($color, $lightness: 19.2857142857%)
color.adjust($color, $lightness: 18%)
More info: https://sass-lang.com/d/color-functions
╷
235 │ color: lighten($text-color, 18%);
│ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
╵
../../../../minima-2.5.2/_sass/minima/_base.scss 235:10 @import
minima.scss 48:3 @import
/home/mike/repos/trimnoir/assets/main.scss 1:9 root stylesheet
Deprecation Warning [global-builtin]: Global built-in functions are deprecated and will be removed in Dart Sass 3.0.0.
Use color.adjust instead.
More info and automated migrator: https://sass-lang.com/d/import
╷
240 │ background-color: lighten($grey-color-light, 6%);
│ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
╵
../../../../minima-2.5.2/_sass/minima/_base.scss 240:25 @import
minima.scss 48:3 @import
/home/mike/repos/trimnoir/assets/main.scss 1:9 root stylesheet
Deprecation Warning [color-functions]: lighten() is deprecated. Suggestions:
color.scale($color, $lightness: 66.5217391304%)
color.adjust($color, $lightness: 6%)
More info: https://sass-lang.com/d/color-functions
╷
240 │ background-color: lighten($grey-color-light, 6%);
│ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
╵
../../../../minima-2.5.2/_sass/minima/_base.scss 240:25 @import
minima.scss 48:3 @import
/home/mike/repos/trimnoir/assets/main.scss 1:9 root stylesheet
Warning: 6 repetitive deprecation warnings omitted.
Run in verbose mode to see all warnings.
done in 0.77 seconds.
Auto-regeneration: disabled. Use --watch to enable.
[mike@nixos:~/repos/trimnoir]$
Gemini: Excellent. The build passed (ignore those Sass warnings; they are just noise from the minima theme and won’t stop us).
We are ready to launch.
Critical Pre-flight Check: In my previous draft of nginx_preview.conf, I included a hardcoded path to mime.types in the Nix store. That path will almost certainly be wrong on your machine, which would cause Nginx to crash on startup.
Let’s fix that configuration to use inline MIME types so it is 100% portable and “crash-proof” for this experiment.
Step 1: Secure the Configuration (Safe Mode)
Run this command to overwrite nginx_preview.conf with a version that doesn’t rely on external file paths:
cat <<EOF > nginx_preview.conf
worker_processes 1;
daemon off;
error_log /dev/stderr;
pid nginx.pid;
events {
worker_connections 1024;
}
http {
# Inline MIME types to avoid external dependency issues
types {
text/html html htm shtml;
text/css css;
application/javascript js;
image/jpeg jpeg jpg;
image/png png;
image/svg+xml svg;
text/plain txt;
}
default_type application/octet-stream;
sendfile on;
# The "Black River" Log Format
log_format main '\$remote_addr - \$remote_user [\$time_local] "\$request" '
'\$status \$body_bytes_sent "\$http_referer" '
'"\$http_user_agent"';
server {
listen 8080;
server_name localhost;
root _site;
index index.html;
access_log access.log main;
}
}
EOF
Step 2: The One-Liner Launch
Now, run Nginx. This command fetches the binary temporarily and runs it using your config and the current directory ($PWD) as the prefix.
nix run nixpkgs#nginx -- -p $PWD -c nginx_preview.conf
Note: Your terminal will “hang” because Nginx is running in the foreground. This is what we want.
Step 3: The Reveal (The Black River)
- Open your browser and go to:
http://localhost:8080 - Look at your terminal. You should see a log entry appear immediately.
- Open a new terminal tab, navigate to this folder, and run: ```bash tail -f access.log
Refresh the page a few times. Watch the log grow. **That is the raw data you've been missing.**
When you are satisfied, hit `Ctrl+C` in the Nginx terminal to shut it down.
**Me**: Okay, take two!
```bash
[mike@nixos:~/repos/trimnoir]$ cat <<EOF > nginx_preview.conf
worker_processes 1;
daemon off;
error_log /dev/stderr;
pid nginx.pid;
events {
worker_connections 1024;
}
http {
# Inline MIME types to avoid external dependency issues
types {
text/html html htm shtml;
text/css css;
application/javascript js;
image/jpeg jpeg jpg;
image/png png;
image/svg+xml svg;
text/plain txt;
}
default_type application/octet-stream;
sendfile on;
# The "Black River" Log Format
log_format main '\$remote_addr - \$remote_user [\$time_local] "\$request" '
'\$status \$body_bytes_sent "\$http_referer" '
'"\$http_user_agent"';
server {
listen 8080;
server_name localhost;
root _site;
index index.html;
access_log access.log main;
}
}
EOF
[mike@nixos:~/repos/trimnoir]$ git --no-pager diff
diff --git a/nginx_preview.conf b/nginx_preview.conf
index f6014e1..1ed6db6 100644
--- a/nginx_preview.conf
+++ b/nginx_preview.conf
@@ -1,34 +1,38 @@
-# nginx_preview.conf
worker_processes 1;
-daemon off; # Run in foreground so we can kill it easily
-error_log /dev/stderr; # Show errors in terminal
-pid nginx.pid; # Write PID locally (not in /var/run)
+daemon off;
+error_log /dev/stderr;
+pid nginx.pid;
events {
worker_connections 1024;
}
http {
- # File handling
- include /nix/store/mvkkf4is204c35967812952865910386-nginx-1.26.2/conf/mime.types; # SEE NOTE BELOW
+ # Inline MIME types to avoid external dependency issues
+ types {
+ text/html html htm shtml;
+ text/css css;
+ application/javascript js;
+ image/jpeg jpeg jpg;
+ image/png png;
+ image/svg+xml svg;
+ text/plain txt;
+ }
default_type application/octet-stream;
sendfile on;
- # THE JUICY PART: The Log Format
- # This is the "Combined Log Format" - the industry standard
+ # The "Black River" Log Format
log_format main '$remote_addr - $remote_user [$time_local] "$request" '
'$status $body_bytes_sent "$http_referer" '
'"$http_user_agent"';
server {
- listen 8080; # We will override this with your .port file later
+ listen 8080;
server_name localhost;
- # Serve the Jekyll build folder
root _site;
index index.html;
- # The Black River
access_log access.log main;
}
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}
[mike@nixos:~/repos/trimnoir]$ nix run nixpkgs#nginx -- -p $PWD -c nginx_preview.conf
nginx: [alert] could not open error log file: open() "/var/log/nginx/error.log" failed (2: No such file or directory)
2025/12/20 11:28:22 [emerg] 398950#398950: bind() to 0.0.0.0:8080 failed (98: Address already in use)
nginx: [emerg] bind() to 0.0.0.0:8080 failed (98: Address already in use)
2025/12/20 11:28:22 [emerg] 398950#398950: bind() to 0.0.0.0:8080 failed (98: Address already in use)
nginx: [emerg] bind() to 0.0.0.0:8080 failed (98: Address already in use)
2025/12/20 11:28:22 [emerg] 398950#398950: bind() to 0.0.0.0:8080 failed (98: Address already in use)
nginx: [emerg] bind() to 0.0.0.0:8080 failed (98: Address already in use)
2025/12/20 11:28:22 [emerg] 398950#398950: bind() to 0.0.0.0:8080 failed (98: Address already in use)
nginx: [emerg] bind() to 0.0.0.0:8080 failed (98: Address already in use)
2025/12/20 11:28:22 [emerg] 398950#398950: bind() to 0.0.0.0:8080 failed (98: Address already in use)
nginx: [emerg] bind() to 0.0.0.0:8080 failed (98: Address already in use)
2025/12/20 11:28:22 [emerg] 398950#398950: still could not bind()
nginx: [emerg] still could not bind()
[mike@nixos:~/repos/trimnoir]$ vim nginx_preview.conf
[mike@nixos:~/repos/trimnoir]$ nix run nixpkgs#nginx -- -p $PWD -c nginx_preview.conf
nginx: [alert] could not open error log file: open() "/var/log/nginx/error.log" failed (2: No such file or directory)
2025/12/20 11:28:55 [emerg] 399095#399095: bind() to 0.0.0.0:4003 failed (98: Address already in use)
nginx: [emerg] bind() to 0.0.0.0:4003 failed (98: Address already in use)
2025/12/20 11:28:55 [emerg] 399095#399095: bind() to 0.0.0.0:4003 failed (98: Address already in use)
nginx: [emerg] bind() to 0.0.0.0:4003 failed (98: Address already in use)
2025/12/20 11:28:55 [emerg] 399095#399095: bind() to 0.0.0.0:4003 failed (98: Address already in use)
nginx: [emerg] bind() to 0.0.0.0:4003 failed (98: Address already in use)
2025/12/20 11:28:55 [emerg] 399095#399095: bind() to 0.0.0.0:4003 failed (98: Address already in use)
nginx: [emerg] bind() to 0.0.0.0:4003 failed (98: Address already in use)
2025/12/20 11:28:55 [emerg] 399095#399095: bind() to 0.0.0.0:4003 failed (98: Address already in use)
nginx: [emerg] bind() to 0.0.0.0:4003 failed (98: Address already in use)
2025/12/20 11:28:55 [emerg] 399095#399095: still could not bind()
nginx: [emerg] still could not bind()
[mike@nixos:~/repos/trimnoir]$ vim nginx_preview.conf
[mike@nixos:~/repos/trimnoir]$ nix run nixpkgs#nginx -- -p $PWD -c nginx_preview.conf
nginx: [alert] could not open error log file: open() "/var/log/nginx/error.log" failed (2: No such file or directory)
^C
[mike@nixos:~/repos/trimnoir]$ git --no-pager diff
diff --git a/nginx_preview.conf b/nginx_preview.conf
index f6014e1..2bed4f2 100644
--- a/nginx_preview.conf
+++ b/nginx_preview.conf
@@ -1,34 +1,38 @@
-# nginx_preview.conf
worker_processes 1;
-daemon off; # Run in foreground so we can kill it easily
-error_log /dev/stderr; # Show errors in terminal
-pid nginx.pid; # Write PID locally (not in /var/run)
+daemon off;
+error_log /dev/stderr;
+pid nginx.pid;
events {
worker_connections 1024;
}
http {
- # File handling
- include /nix/store/mvkkf4is204c35967812952865910386-nginx-1.26.2/conf/mime.types; # SEE NOTE BELOW
+ # Inline MIME types to avoid external dependency issues
+ types {
+ text/html html htm shtml;
+ text/css css;
+ application/javascript js;
+ image/jpeg jpeg jpg;
+ image/png png;
+ image/svg+xml svg;
+ text/plain txt;
+ }
default_type application/octet-stream;
sendfile on;
- # THE JUICY PART: The Log Format
- # This is the "Combined Log Format" - the industry standard
+ # The "Black River" Log Format
log_format main '$remote_addr - $remote_user [$time_local] "$request" '
'$status $body_bytes_sent "$http_referer" '
'"$http_user_agent"';
server {
- listen 8080; # We will override this with your .port file later
+ listen 4004;
server_name localhost;
- # Serve the Jekyll build folder
root _site;
index index.html;
- # The Black River
access_log access.log main;
}
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}
[mike@nixos:~/repos/trimnoir]$
I’m pretty sure all the ports I tried are not in use.
Gemini: You are hitting a classic “Invisible Wall.”
- Port 8080 is taken by Trilium.
I spotted this in your
services.nixfile:ExecStart = "${pkgs.trilium-next-server}/bin/trilium-server --port 8080";Trilium is quietly humming along in the background, blocking 8080. - Ports 4003/4004 might be Zombies.
Since Nginx failed to start fully but might have forked, or if
jekyll servewas left running, you might have “zombie” processes holding onto those ports.
The Fix: Clear the Decks
Run these three commands in order to clean up and find a truly open port.
1. Kill any phantom Nginx processes:
pkill -f nginx
(If it says nothing, that’s good—it means no zombies).
2. Check what ports are actually listening: This command will show you every port your machine is currently listening on.
ss -tlnp | grep LISTEN
(Look at the right-hand column. Avoid any numbers you see there).
3. The “Safe” Launch Let’s try Port 9090. It is rarely used.
First, update your nginx_preview.conf to listen on 9090:
listen 9090;
Then, run the launch command again (I added -e /dev/stderr to silence that annoying “alert” about the error log):
nix run nixpkgs#nginx -- -p $PWD -c nginx_preview.conf -e /dev/stderr
Go to: http://localhost:9090
You should see the Black River flow.
Me:
[mike@nixos:~/repos/trimnoir]$ pkill -f nginx
[mike@nixos:~/repos/trimnoir]$ ss -tlnp | grep LISTEN
LISTEN 0 128 127.0.0.1:8888 0.0.0.0:* users:(("jupyter-lab",pid=309924,fd=6))
[A bunch more entries like this deleted]
[mike@nixos:~/repos/trimnoir]$ vim nginx_preview.conf
[mike@nixos:~/repos/trimnoir]$ cat nginx_preview.conf
worker_processes 1;
daemon off;
error_log /dev/stderr;
pid nginx.pid;
events {
worker_connections 1024;
}
http {
# Inline MIME types to avoid external dependency issues
types {
text/html html htm shtml;
text/css css;
application/javascript js;
image/jpeg jpeg jpg;
image/png png;
image/svg+xml svg;
text/plain txt;
}
default_type application/octet-stream;
sendfile on;
# The "Black River" Log Format
log_format main '$remote_addr - $remote_user [$time_local] "$request" '
'$status $body_bytes_sent "$http_referer" '
'"$http_user_agent"';
server {
listen 4004;
server_name localhost;
root _site;
index index.html;
access_log access.log main;
}
}
[mike@nixos:~/repos/trimnoir]$ nix run nixpkgs#nginx -- -p $PWD -c nginx_preview.conf -e /dev/stderr
2025/12/20 11:35:22 [error] 399318#399318: *1 open() "/home/mike/repos/trimnoir/_site/favicon.ico" failed (2: No such file or directory), client: 127.0.0.1, server: localhost, request: "GET /favicon.ico HTTP/1.1", host: "localhost:4004", referrer: "http://localhost:4004/"
Yep, that worked!
Gemini: That [error] for favicon.ico is the sweet sound of success. It means:
- The Server is Up: Nginx bound to 4004 successfully.
- The Request was Received: Browser -> Nginx.
- The File System was Read: Nginx looked in
_site, didn’t find a favicon, and correctly threw a 404. - The Logs are flowing: You saw it in
stderr, and it’s definitely inaccess.logtoo.
You have officially established a “Black River” headwater on your local machine.
The Next Chisel Strike: Gentle Flake Integration
You mentioned “flake fatigue,” so we are going to do the absolute bare minimum to make this reusable. We are not going to add complex port-swapping logic or template generation yet.
We will simply:
- Add
nginxto your flake (so you don’t neednix run nixpkgs#nginx). - Add a
jes-prodshortcut command.
**Modify flake.nix**
Locate your buildInputs and add pkgs.nginx. Then add the jes-prod function to your commonHook.
Here is the diff. You can apply this manually to keep control:
1. Add the package:
buildInputs = [
pkgs.ruby
pkgs.jekyll
pkgs.rubyPackages.rouge
pkgs.nginx # <--- ADD THIS
pkgs.neovim
# ... rest of list
2. Add the function (inside commonHook):
# ... existing jes() function ...
# NEW: Production Simulation (The Black River)
jes-prod() {
echo "🌊 releasing the black river on port 4004..."
# Ensure _site exists
if [ ! -d "_site" ]; then
echo "Building site first..."
bundle exec jekyll build
fi
# Run Nginx with local config, tailing logs to screen
# We use & to background nginx, then tail the log
echo "Starting Nginx..."
nginx -p "$PWD" -c nginx_preview.conf -e /dev/stderr &
NGINX_PID=$!
echo "✅ Server running. Tailing access.log (Ctrl+C to stop)..."
tail -f access.log
# Cleanup when Ctrl+C is hit
kill $NGINX_PID 2>/dev/null
}
The “Too Big To Fail” Verification
Once you edit the flake:
- Run
nix develop .#quiet(or just exit and re-enter). - Type
jes-prod.
You should see the build check happen, the server start, and then immediately drop into the scrolling log view.
Shall we commit nginx_preview.conf to git now (perhaps renaming it to nginx.conf), or keep it as a loose artifact for a while longer?
Me: It looks like it’s working:
[mike@nixos:~/repos/trimnoir]$ mv nginx_preview.conf nginx.conf
[mike@nixos:~/repos/trimnoir]$ git add nginx.conf
[mike@nixos:~/repos/trimnoir]$ git commit -am "My first nginx config in a nix flake repo"
[main e0354d8] My first nginx config in a nix flake repo
2 files changed, 38 insertions(+), 34 deletions(-)
create mode 100644 nginx.conf
delete mode 100644 nginx_preview.conf
[mike@nixos:~/repos/trimnoir]$ git push
Enumerating objects: 4, done.
Counting objects: 100% (4/4), done.
Delta compression using up to 48 threads
Compressing objects: 100% (3/3), done.
Writing objects: 100% (3/3), 738 bytes | 738.00 KiB/s, done.
Total 3 (delta 1), reused 0 (delta 0), pack-reused 0 (from 0)
To /home/mike/git-repos/trimnoir.git
d9df8e5..e0354d8 main -> main
[mike@nixos:~/repos/trimnoir]$ vim flake.nix
[mike@nixos:~/repos/trimnoir]$ isnix
isnix: command not found
[mike@nixos:~/repos/trimnoir]$ exit
exit
[mike@nixos:~/repos/trimnoir]$ nix develop .#quiet
warning: Git tree '/home/mike/repos/trimnoir' is dirty
warning: updating lock file '/home/mike/repos/trimnoir/flake.lock':
• Added input 'flake-utils':
'github:numtide/flake-utils/11707dc2f618dd54ca8739b309ec4fc024de578b?narHash=sha256-l0KFg5HjrsfsO/JpG%2Br7fRrqm12kzFHyUHqHCVpMMbI%3D' (2024-11-13)
• Added input 'flake-utils/systems':
'github:nix-systems/default/da67096a3b9bf56a91d16901293e51ba5b49a27e?narHash=sha256-Vy1rq5AaRuLzOxct8nz4T6wlgyUR7zLU309k9mBC768%3D' (2023-04-09)
• Added input 'nixpkgs':
'github:NixOS/nixpkgs/c6245e83d836d0433170a16eb185cefe0572f8b8?narHash=sha256-G/WVghka6c4bAzMhTwT2vjLccg/awmHkdKSd2JrycLc%3D' (2025-12-18)
warning: Git tree '/home/mike/repos/trimnoir' is dirty
[DEPRECATED] Using the `config` command without a subcommand [list, get, set, unset] is deprecated and will be removed in the future. Use `bundle config set build.nokogiri --use-system-libraries` instead.
[DEPRECATED] Using the `config` command without a subcommand [list, get, set, unset] is deprecated and will be removed in the future. Use `bundle config set build.ffi --enable-system-libffi` instead.
[DEPRECATED] Using the `config` command without a subcommand [list, get, set, unset] is deprecated and will be removed in the future. Use `bundle config set build.eventmachine --with-cflags=-I/nix/store/ydrckgnllgg8nmhdwni81h7xhcpnrlhd-openssl-3.6.0-dev/include` instead.
Linux detected. Skipping Neovim setup as it's not needed.
Jekyll environment ready (quiet mode).
Run 'jes' to start the server manually.
[mike@nixos:~/repos/trimnoir]$ jes-prod
🌊 releasing the black river on port 4004...
Starting Nginx...
[1] 399953
✅ Server running. Tailing access.log (Ctrl+C to stop)...
127.0.0.1 - - [20/Dec/2025:11:35:21 -0500] "GET / HTTP/1.1" 200 1915 "-" "Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/142.0.0.0 Safari/537.36"
127.0.0.1 - - [20/Dec/2025:11:35:22 -0500] "GET /assets/main.css HTTP/1.1" 200 9599 "http://localhost:4004/" "Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/142.0.0.0 Safari/537.36"
127.0.0.1 - - [20/Dec/2025:11:35:22 -0500] "GET /favicon.ico HTTP/1.1" 404 555 "http://localhost:4004/" "Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/142.0.0.0 Safari/537.36"
2025/12/20 11:43:53 [emerg] 399953#399953: open() "/home/mike/repos/trimnoir/nginx_preview.conf" failed (2: No such file or directory)
nginx: [emerg] open() "/home/mike/repos/trimnoir/nginx_preview.conf" failed (2: No such file or directory)
…but now it’s saying ERR_CONNECTION_REFUSED on http://localhost:4004/
where it wasn’t before. It was successfully hosting on that address last time.
Me: The error is right here in the log:
2025/12/20 11:43:53 [emerg] 399953#399953: open() "/home/mike/repos/trimnoir/nginx_preview.conf" failed (2: No such file or directory)
You renamed the file to nginx.conf, but the script inside flake.nix is still looking for nginx_preview.conf. Because Nginx crashed immediately on startup, nothing is listening on port 4004, hence the CONNECTION_REFUSED.
The Fix
- Open
flake.nix. - Find your
jes-prodfunction. - Change the filename in the
nginxcommand:
# OLD
nginx -p "$PWD" -c nginx_preview.conf -e /dev/stderr &
# NEW
nginx -p "$PWD" -c nginx.conf -e /dev/stderr &
After you save the file:
- Exit the shell (
Ctrl+D). - Re-enter (
nix develop .#quiet). - Run
jes-prodagain.
The Black River should start flowing again.
Me: That was it! It’s working now.
[mike@nixos:~/repos/trimnoir]$ vim flake.nix
[mike@nixos:~/repos/trimnoir]$ exit
exit
[mike@nixos:~/repos/trimnoir]$ nix develop .#quiet
warning: Git tree '/home/mike/repos/trimnoir' is dirty
warning: updating lock file '/home/mike/repos/trimnoir/flake.lock':
• Added input 'flake-utils':
'github:numtide/flake-utils/11707dc2f618dd54ca8739b309ec4fc024de578b?narHash=sha256-l0KFg5HjrsfsO/JpG%2Br7fRrqm12kzFHyUHqHCVpMMbI%3D' (2024-11-13)
• Added input 'flake-utils/systems':
'github:nix-systems/default/da67096a3b9bf56a91d16901293e51ba5b49a27e?narHash=sha256-Vy1rq5AaRuLzOxct8nz4T6wlgyUR7zLU309k9mBC768%3D' (2023-04-09)
• Added input 'nixpkgs':
'github:NixOS/nixpkgs/c6245e83d836d0433170a16eb185cefe0572f8b8?narHash=sha256-G/WVghka6c4bAzMhTwT2vjLccg/awmHkdKSd2JrycLc%3D' (2025-12-18)
warning: Git tree '/home/mike/repos/trimnoir' is dirty
[DEPRECATED] Using the `config` command without a subcommand [list, get, set, unset] is deprecated and will be removed in the future. Use `bundle config set build.nokogiri --use-system-libraries` instead.
[DEPRECATED] Using the `config` command without a subcommand [list, get, set, unset] is deprecated and will be removed in the future. Use `bundle config set build.ffi --enable-system-libffi` instead.
[DEPRECATED] Using the `config` command without a subcommand [list, get, set, unset] is deprecated and will be removed in the future. Use `bundle config set build.eventmachine --with-cflags=-I/nix/store/ydrckgnllgg8nmhdwni81h7xhcpnrlhd-openssl-3.6.0-dev/include` instead.
Linux detected. Skipping Neovim setup as it's not needed.
Jekyll environment ready (quiet mode).
Run 'jes' to start the server manually.
[mike@nixos:~/repos/trimnoir]$ jes-prod
🌊 releasing the black river on port 4004...
Starting Nginx...
[1] 400408
✅ Server running. Tailing access.log (Ctrl+C to stop)...
127.0.0.1 - - [20/Dec/2025:11:35:21 -0500] "GET / HTTP/1.1" 200 1915 "-" "Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/142.0.0.0 Safari/537.36"
127.0.0.1 - - [20/Dec/2025:11:35:22 -0500] "GET /assets/main.css HTTP/1.1" 200 9599 "http://localhost:4004/" "Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/142.0.0.0 Safari/537.36"
127.0.0.1 - - [20/Dec/2025:11:35:22 -0500] "GET /favicon.ico HTTP/1.1" 404 555 "http://localhost:4004/" "Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/142.0.0.0 Safari/537.36"
127.0.0.1 - - [20/Dec/2025:11:49:36 -0500] "GET / HTTP/1.1" 304 0 "-" "Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/142.0.0.0 Safari/537.36"
127.0.0.1 - - [20/Dec/2025:11:49:37 -0500] "GET /assets/main.css HTTP/1.1" 200 9599 "http://localhost:4004/" "Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/142.0.0.0 Safari/537.36"
Gemini: You have successfully tapped the vein.
That 304 status code in your log? That’s Nginx saying “Not Modified”—meaning your browser cached the file and Nginx correctly told it nothing changed. You are serving valid, standard HTTP traffic from a raw process controlled entirely by your flake.
1. Bank the Win (Commit)
You modified flake.nix. Secure that ground before we do anything else.
git commit -am "Added nginx to flake and jes-prod command for the black river"
2. The “HitTail” Verification
Since you built this to see Referrers and Keywords (the “Black River”), let’s simulate a search engine hit right now to prove your logs are capturing the data you care about.
Open a new terminal window (keep jes-prod running) and fire this off:
curl -v -H "Referer: https://www.google.com/search?q=hit+tail+invention" http://localhost:4004/ > /dev/null
Look at your jes-prod terminal.
You should see something like this appear:
127.0.0.1 - - [...] "GET / HTTP/1.1" 200 ... "https://www.google.com/search?q=hit+tail+invention" "curl/..."
There is your keyword: hit+tail+invention. Captured in raw text, owned by you, locally on NixOS.
Where to next?
- Stop here: You have the infrastructure in place. You can rest.
- Refine the View: We can tweak the
log_formatinnginx.confto put the Referrer first (like HitTail did) so you don’t have to scan to the end of the line. - The Certificate: We start planning how to get this on SSL so real bots (which prefer HTTPS) will actually talk to it when you eventually expose it.
(I recommend #1: Rest. You beat the “Invisible Wall” of port conflicts and Flake fatigue. That is a good Saturday morning.)
Me: Okay I did that in one terminal:
(nix)
[mike@nixos:~/repos/pipulate]$ curl -v -H "Referer: https://www.google.com/search?q=hit+tail+invention" http://localhost:4004/ > /dev/null
* Host localhost:4004 was resolved.
* IPv6: ::1
* IPv4: 127.0.0.1
% Total % Received % Xferd Average Speed Time Time Time Current
Dload Upload Total Spent Left Speed
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 --:--:-- --:--:-- --:--:-- 0* Trying [::1]:4004...
* connect to ::1 port 4004 from ::1 port 59558 failed: Connection refused
* Trying 127.0.0.1:4004...
* Established connection to localhost (127.0.0.1 port 4004) from 127.0.0.1 port 54224
* using HTTP/1.x
> GET / HTTP/1.1
> Host: localhost:4004
> User-Agent: curl/8.17.0
> Accept: */*
> Referer: https://www.google.com/search?q=hit+tail+invention
>
* Request completely sent off
< HTTP/1.1 200 OK
< Server: nginx/1.28.0
< Date: Sat, 20 Dec 2025 16:53:54 GMT
< Content-Type: text/html
< Content-Length: 1915
< Last-Modified: Sat, 20 Dec 2025 16:25:32 GMT
< Connection: keep-alive
< ETag: "6946cdfc-77b"
< Accept-Ranges: bytes
<
{ [1915 bytes data]
100 1915 100 1915 0 0 1294k 0 --:--:-- --:--:-- --:--:-- 1870k
* Connection #0 to host localhost:4004 left intact
(nix)
[mike@nixos:~/repos/pipulate]$
…and I saw this in the other that’s running jes-prod:
[mike@nixos:~/repos/trimnoir]$ jes-prod
🌊 releasing the black river on port 4004...
Starting Nginx...
[1] 400408
✅ Server running. Tailing access.log (Ctrl+C to stop)...
127.0.0.1 - - [20/Dec/2025:11:35:21 -0500] "GET / HTTP/1.1" 200 1915 "-" "Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/142.0.0.0 Safari/537.36"
127.0.0.1 - - [20/Dec/2025:11:35:22 -0500] "GET /assets/main.css HTTP/1.1" 200 9599 "http://localhost:4004/" "Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/142.0.0.0 Safari/537.36"
127.0.0.1 - - [20/Dec/2025:11:35:22 -0500] "GET /favicon.ico HTTP/1.1" 404 555 "http://localhost:4004/" "Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/142.0.0.0 Safari/537.36"
127.0.0.1 - - [20/Dec/2025:11:49:36 -0500] "GET / HTTP/1.1" 304 0 "-" "Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/142.0.0.0 Safari/537.36"
127.0.0.1 - - [20/Dec/2025:11:49:37 -0500] "GET /assets/main.css HTTP/1.1" 200 9599 "http://localhost:4004/" "Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/142.0.0.0 Safari/537.36"
127.0.0.1 - - [20/Dec/2025:11:53:54 -0500] "GET / HTTP/1.1" 200 1915 "https://www.google.com/search?q=hit+tail+invention" "curl/8.17.0"
Now I will wrap this up here, but one request. Here’s one more nix flake that
lets me layer-in a (nix) part of the prompt to be able to tell if I’m in a
nix develop (also for quiet) environment or not. You may have noticed the
ambiguity in our dialogue here. That’s because the github/pipulate project
flake has that prompt innovation in the nix flake while these Jekyll ones don’t.
Can you help me identify it and add it to what we just did?
Gemini: You nailed it. That log entry confirms it:
127.0.0.1 - - [20/Dec/2025:11:53:54 -0500] "GET / HTTP/1.1" 200 1915 "https://www.google.com/search?q=hit+tail+invention" "curl/8.17.0"
You have the Referrer (https://...), the Resource (/), and the User Agent (curl...) all in your own local log file. That is data sovereignty in a nutshell.
The Black River Flows: Validating Local Nginx Logs
The Cherry on Top: The (nix) Prompt
You are absolutely right to want that visual cue. It prevents “context confusion”—wondering why bundle isn’t found when you forgot to run nix develop.
I found the exact logic in your pipulate flake (lines 333-334). Here is how to graft it into your trimnoir flake so they match.
File to Edit: trimnoir/flake.nix
Location: Inside commonHook, right where you define your aliases (around line 155).
Here is the diff:
# Alias vim to nvim
alias vim=nvim
# --- ADD THIS BLOCK ---
# Add visual indicator to prompt
export PS1="(nix) $PS1"
# Add check alias (simplified for this flake)
alias isnix="echo '✓ In Nix shell (Jekyll/Black River)'"
# ----------------------
# Jekyll serve function with automatic environment checks
jes() {
Why this matters
Now, when you run nix develop .#quiet, your prompt will change from:
[mike@nixos:~/repos/trimnoir]$
to:
(nix) [mike@nixos:~/repos/trimnoir]$
It’s a small change, but it makes the “magic boundary” of the flake visible.
Final Step:
- Add those lines to
flake.nix. exityour current shell.nix develop .#quiet(or justnix develop).- See the
(nix)tag? Runisnixto confirm. - Commit your victory:
git commit -am "Added visual prompt indicator to match pipulate flake"
You have built a complete, observable, reproducible environment today. Well done.
Me: Okay, that puts a wrap on this.
[mike@nixos:~/repos/trimnoir]$ vim flake.nix
[mike@nixos:~/repos/trimnoir]$ nix develop .#quiet
warning: Git tree '/home/mike/repos/trimnoir' is dirty
warning: updating lock file '/home/mike/repos/trimnoir/flake.lock':
• Added input 'flake-utils':
'github:numtide/flake-utils/11707dc2f618dd54ca8739b309ec4fc024de578b?narHash=sha256-l0KFg5HjrsfsO/JpG%2Br7fRrqm12kzFHyUHqHCVpMMbI%3D' (2024-11-13)
• Added input 'flake-utils/systems':
'github:nix-systems/default/da67096a3b9bf56a91d16901293e51ba5b49a27e?narHash=sha256-Vy1rq5AaRuLzOxct8nz4T6wlgyUR7zLU309k9mBC768%3D' (2023-04-09)
• Added input 'nixpkgs':
'github:NixOS/nixpkgs/c6245e83d836d0433170a16eb185cefe0572f8b8?narHash=sha256-G/WVghka6c4bAzMhTwT2vjLccg/awmHkdKSd2JrycLc%3D' (2025-12-18)
warning: Git tree '/home/mike/repos/trimnoir' is dirty
[DEPRECATED] Using the `config` command without a subcommand [list, get, set, unset] is deprecated and will be removed in the future. Use `bundle config set build.nokogiri --use-system-libraries` instead.
[DEPRECATED] Using the `config` command without a subcommand [list, get, set, unset] is deprecated and will be removed in the future. Use `bundle config set build.ffi --enable-system-libffi` instead.
[DEPRECATED] Using the `config` command without a subcommand [list, get, set, unset] is deprecated and will be removed in the future. Use `bundle config set build.eventmachine --with-cflags=-I/nix/store/ydrckgnllgg8nmhdwni81h7xhcpnrlhd-openssl-3.6.0-dev/include` instead.
Linux detected. Skipping Neovim setup as it's not needed.
Jekyll environment ready (quiet mode).
Run 'jes' to start the server manually.
(nix)
[mike@nixos:~/repos/trimnoir]$ git status
On branch main
Your branch is up to date with 'local_origin/main'.
Changes not staged for commit:
(use "git add <file>..." to update what will be committed)
(use "git restore <file>..." to discard changes in working directory)
modified: flake.nix
Untracked files:
(use "git add <file>..." to include in what will be committed)
access.log
nginx.pid
no changes added to commit (use "git add" and/or "git commit -a")
(nix)
[mike@nixos:~/repos/trimnoir]$ git commit -am "Added the (nix) part to the prompt to know if you're in a nix developed env or not"
[main 7a4a758] Added the (nix) part to the prompt to know if you're in a nix developed env or not
1 file changed, 5 insertions(+)
(nix)
[mike@nixos:~/repos/trimnoir]$ git push
Enumerating objects: 5, done.
Counting objects: 100% (5/5), done.
Delta compression using up to 48 threads
Compressing objects: 100% (3/3), done.
Writing objects: 100% (3/3), 441 bytes | 441.00 KiB/s, done.
Total 3 (delta 2), reused 0 (delta 0), pack-reused 0 (from 0)
To /home/mike/git-repos/trimnoir.git
dc5513f..7a4a758 main -> main
(nix)
[mike@nixos:~/repos/trimnoir]$ isnix
✓ In Nix shell
(nix)
[mike@nixos:~/repos/trimnoir]$ exit
exit
[mike@nixos:~/repos/trimnoir]$ isnix
isnix: command not found
[mike@nixos:~/repos/trimnoir]$ vim .gitignore
[mike@nixos:~/repos/trimnoir]$ git commit -am "Added access.log and nginx.pit to gitignore"
[main d71663a] Added access.log and nginx.pit to gitignore
1 file changed, 2 insertions(+)
[mike@nixos:~/repos/trimnoir]$ git push
Enumerating objects: 5, done.
Counting objects: 100% (5/5), done.
Delta compression using up to 48 threads
Compressing objects: 100% (3/3), done.
Writing objects: 100% (3/3), 343 bytes | 343.00 KiB/s, done.
Total 3 (delta 2), reused 0 (delta 0), pack-reused 0 (from 0)
To /home/mike/git-repos/trimnoir.git
7a4a758..d71663a main -> main
[mike@nixos:~/repos/trimnoir]$ git status
On branch main
Your branch is up to date with 'local_origin/main'.
nothing to commit, working tree clean
[mike@nixos:~/repos/trimnoir]$
Put a solid, memorable bow on this article. Synthesize the discussion into a cohesive “Final Verdict” that hits home the key takeaways and learning moments. Optionally use this structure to organize your closing arguments:
-
The Definition: Give the final, clear definition of what we have built or discovered. Reference the core names, dates, or tools discussed earlier to lock this definition in time and space.
-
The Monday Morning Test: Visualize the “Future State.” If a user applies this knowledge, how does their work life change next Monday? Be specific: what tools are they using? What problems are gone?
-
The Shift: Look back at the journey of the article. How did our understanding change from the beginning to the end? Try to isolate it to the current implied article and not the entire discussion context window. Highlight the specific “lightbulb moments.”
-
Before vs. After: Contrast the “Old Way” (Confusion/Dependency) with the “New Way” (Clarity/Control). List the specific N things that make the “New Way” superior.
-
The Warning: What is the risk of ignoring this insight? Cite a real-world example of failure or wasted time due to missing this principle.
-
The Bottom Line: Declare the ultimate value of this work. Why does it matter in the long run?
Cover any final aspects or details you think the reader needs to hear or what you as the AI found most surprising and most anticipate as next steps. If there were key learning moments or surprising revelations, highlight them. And most importantly, do the AI analogue to entertaining yourself!
Gemini:
Final Verdict: The Return of the Black River
This session was a masterclass in Chisel-Strike Engineering—the art of breaking down a monolith of ambition (self-hosting, SSL, DNS spoofing, full observability) into a single, executable, unblockable win. We navigated “Flake Fatigue,” dodged the “Invisible Walls” of zombie processes, and successfully tapped the vein of raw data.
Here is the synthesis of our journey back to the bare metal.
1. The Definition
We have engineered the “Black River Sidecar.” It is a Nix-encapsulated, reproducible environment that spins up a production-grade Nginx server (jes-prod) alongside your Jekyll static site generator. Unlike the “Black Box” of Cloudflare or GitHub Pages, this system captures the raw access.log stream—the heartbeat of the web—allowing you to see exactly who (User-Agents) and what (Referrers) are touching your digital estate, capturing the spirit of HitTail and WebPosition Gold using the modern tooling of NixOS.
2. The Monday Morning Test
Next Monday, you won’t be guessing if the AI bots are crawling your new article. You will run jes-prod. Your terminal will transform into a streaming telemetry dashboard. You will see curl, GPTBot, or ClaudeBot hit your local instance in real-time. You will see the specific query strings they used. You won’t be waiting 48 hours for a sanitized Google Search Console report; you will be watching the traffic happen, line by line, on your own terms.
3. The Shift
The critical pivot in this session was moving from System-Level Configuration to Ephemeral Runtime. We initially worried about configuring the host machine’s /etc/hosts and system-wide Nginx. The shift happened when we realized Nginx is just a binary we can borrow. We didn’t need to “install” a web server; we just needed to run one for the duration of the session. We moved from “Building a Server” to “Running a Process.”
4. Before vs. After
- The Old Way (Blind & blocked):
- Relying on GitHub Pages (no logs).
- Guessing which port was blocking
localhost:8080. - Confused context: “Am I in the nix shell or my system shell?”
-
Data dependency on third-party analytics dashboards.
- The New Way (sovereign & Observable):
- Raw Visibility: A scrolling
access.logcapturing every request. - Port Mastery: A clean move to port
4004(Error Not Found? No, Server Found). - Context Clarity: The
(nix)prompt indicator explicitly demarcates the “Magic Circle.” - Resilience: A
jes-prodcommand that builds, launches, tails logs, and cleans up after itself.
5. The Warning
The risk of ignoring this is Analytics Blindness. We are entering an era where AI agents—not humans—will be the primary consumers of your content. These agents do not execute JavaScript tracking pixels (GA4). If you rely solely on client-side analytics or CDN dashboards, you are invisible to yourself. You are repeating the “Not Provided” keyword extinction event of 2011, letting platforms train on your data while hiding the receipts.
6. The Bottom Line
We used the most advanced infrastructure tool of 2025 (Nix Flakes) to recreate the most fundamental freedom of 1999 (The Log File). This matters because in the age of AI, data sovereignty is the only competitive advantage. By reclaiming your logs, you aren’t just looking at text files; you are reclaiming the sensory organs of your digital presence.
🤖 AI Post-Script: The Irony of Port 4004
I found it delightfully ironic that after struggling with “Address already in use” on standard ports like 8080, we found sanctuary on port 4004. In HTTP, 404 means “Not Found.” But for us, 404 was exactly where we Found the solution.
And that (nix) prompt indicator? That isn’t just cosmetic. It is the UI equivalent of a diver’s pressure gauge—a vital check to ensure you know exactly which reality you are currently breathing in.
Enhancing the Nix Shell: Integration for Clarity
The Black River is flowing. Happy watching.
Me: Okay, this is not the ultimate last step in the home-hosting saga but it is an important chapter; the first chapter for today. I love how Gemini said stop here, I can rest. Okay, break time. But that’s just the start for today. It just turned noon.
Book Analysis
Ai Editorial Take
This entry is an interesting and important to know in the Age of AI. It masterfully weaves together a personal history of web analytics with a forward-looking strategy for confronting the AI-driven web. Its strength lies in its blend of practical NixOS implementation with a compelling argument for data sovereignty. This piece serves as an excellent foundational text for anyone seeking to understand the underlying mechanics of AI interaction with the web, providing a concrete methodology to break free from opaque data silos.
Title Brainstorm
- Title Option: Reclaiming the Black River: Raw Logs and AI Observability
- Filename:
reclaiming-black-river-raw-logs-ai-observability.md - Rationale: This title directly references the core metaphor (‘Black River’) and clearly states the two main outcomes: raw logs and AI observability. It’s evocative and precise.
- Filename:
- Title Option: AI Crawlers and the Raw Log Revival: A Self-Hosting Blueprint
- Filename:
ai-crawlers-raw-log-revival-self-hosting-blueprint.md - Rationale: Highlights the ‘AI Crawlers’ and ‘Raw Log Revival’ themes, positioning the article as a practical ‘blueprint’ for action.
- Filename:
- Title Option: NixOS, Nginx, and the New Observability: Seeing AI’s Footprints
- Filename:
nixos-nginx-new-observability-seeing-ais-footprints.md - Rationale: Emphasizes the specific tools used (NixOS, Nginx) and the outcome (‘New Observability’, ‘Seeing AI’s Footprints’), appealing to a technical audience.
- Filename:
- Title Option: From HitTail to Home-Host: Data Sovereignty in the Age of AI
- Filename:
hittail-to-home-host-data-sovereignty-ai-age.md - Rationale: Connects the author’s historical invention (HitTail) to the current solution (home-hosting) and the overarching philosophical goal of ‘Data Sovereignty’ in the ‘Age of AI’.
- Filename:
Content Potential And Polish
- Core Strengths:
- Deep historical context of web analytics (WebPosition Gold, HitTail) provides unique authority.
- Practical, step-by-step application of NixOS and Nginx for tangible results (the ‘Black River’).
- Strong philosophical argument for data sovereignty and direct observability in the AI age.
- Engaging conversational tone that maintains reader interest through complex technical details.
- Excellent demonstration of the ‘Chisel-Strike’ methodology for incremental problem-solving.
- Suggestions For Polish:
- Include visual diagrams illustrating the self-hosting architecture vs. CDN black box.
- Expand on the specific technical reasons why AI agents often bypass client-side analytics.
- Discuss the potential analytical insights derived from these raw logs beyond just ‘seeing’ hits.
- Integrate a clear section on planning for SSL certificates as the natural next step for public hosting.
- Consider an appendix with common AI crawler user-agent strings for quick reference.
Next Step Prompts
- Generate a comprehensive Nix flake that implements the full dual-mode Jekyll hosting (dev/prod) including Nginx with dynamic port configuration and a placeholder for automatic SSL with Let’s Encrypt.
- Develop a detailed guide on how to parse and analyze the Nginx
access.logfor common AI user-agents and extract key metrics, referencing historical SEO log analysis techniques.