shailendrasingh.dev

What

• Personal portfolio site built to show how I think about engineering, not just what I've built
• MDX content layer for blog posts, projects, and whiteboard ideas — all parsed at build time, no CMS required
• Strict server/client component split: all filesystem reads stay server-side, zero fs logic shipped to the browser
• Whiteboard section for ideas in flight — a live engineering notebook alongside finished work
• Dark/light theme with system preference detection and zero hydration flash on load

Why

• Most developer portfolios are either over-designed Dribbble pieces or bare GitHub profile pages — neither shows how you actually think
• Wanted a site where the code architecture is part of the portfolio: clean boundaries, deliberate tradeoffs, no magic
• Static prerendering means instant load times and zero runtime infrastructure cost — a conscious choice over a headless CMS
• The whiteboard section exists because shipping isn't the only signal worth showing — the ideas in progress matter too

How

• Next.js 14 App Router with generateStaticParams for static prerendering of every route at build time
• gray-matter parses MDX frontmatter at build time; content files live in the repo alongside the code
• next-themes handles the dark/light toggle with localStorage persistence and suppressed hydration mismatch
• Framer Motion powers scroll-triggered reveals and hover animations, isolated behind a client component boundary
• Inter and Fira Code loaded via next/font with CSS variable injection — no layout shift, no FOUT
• Deployed to Vercel via GitHub push with automatic preview deployments on every branch