Blog Series

Building This Site

I built this site with the two ideas in mind:

I wanted more of an online presence and a place to my thoughts on lots of different things, including personal projects, work, etc.
I wanted to see what building a REAL website with AI was like, especially with it hooked up to headless CMS (I'm using Agility CMS).

I used the Cursor IDE initially and then switched to Claude Code. I like Cursor, since it's so deeply integrated into the IDE, and it's really cost effective, however, I'm starting to like Claude more and more, especially when using MCP Servers, as I'm doing a LOT with Agility.

I got Cursor and Claude to create these blog posts for me as I was working, so there's a LOT of stuff documented here. I have my personal hand-written thoughts separated from the agent-generated stuff.

Post Creation

One of the coolest things about this whole process, was how I created the posts in the series. Claude and Cursor did all the heavy lifting created these posts as Markdown files, included screenshots (created with Playwright MCP). Then I got Claude Code to upload the screenshots to Agility (using the Agility MCP), after which it then updated the image references and then created the posts.
I would LOVE to see that process of semi-attended content creation be more seamless - it worked pretty well, but I think it could be better.

The Code!

If you're looking to see how all this is coded up, check it out on github.

I hope you enjoy learning about the process I took in building this site!

Posts in this series

Planning JoelVarty.com - Before the Build

January 6, 2026 at 1:00 AM EST

Workcodingai

Build a personal website showcasing who I am, my career, and my blog. Inspired by Daring Fireball's clean design and Wes Bos's /uses page. Built with Next.js 16 and Agility CMS, targeting 100 Lighthouse scores.

Phase 1 Setup: Building the Foundation

January 6, 2026 at 2:00 AM EST

Workcodingai

I started by running create-next-agility-app to spin up a new Next.js project with Agility CMS integration. The AI agent set up ShadCN UI with the 'new-york' style and 'neutral' base color, installed base components, and created the complete folder structure.

BlogPost Model Setup: Learning from Assumptions

January 6, 2026 at 3:00 AM EST

Workcodingai

When setting up the BlogPost content model in Agility CMS, the AI agent ran into several issues trying to configure it via the MCP Server. The model needed specific field types and relationships that weren't immediately clear from the schema documentation.

Phase 3: Building the Layout Foundation

January 6, 2026 at 4:00 AM EST

Workcodingai

Phase 3 focused on creating the foundational layout components that will wrap every page on the site. The AI agent built out a complete header, footer, navigation system, mobile menu, and dark mode toggle - all with responsive design and clean styling.

Phase 5: About & Career Pages

January 6, 2026 at 5:00 AM EST

Workcodingai

Phase 5 was actually pretty straightforward since most of the heavy lifting was already done. The CareerTimeline component was already created in Phase 3, and the CareerEntry content model already existed in Agility CMS.