akashpandey.com

This is my personal website for my research, field work, publications, skills, and contact details.

Live site: www.akashpandey.com

A small note

This is not a vibe-coded website. I made it for myself and still change it when I learn something new. I deliberately keep the content in JSON and Markdown, store the photos and CV as normal files, and use static pages where possible. It is a little old-fashioned, but it is quick and easy for me to edit. I took some help from ChatGPT when I got stuck.

How I made it

I started with Next.js and React, used Tailwind CSS for styling, and kept the small UI pieces inside the repository. MapLibre renders NASA GIBS satellite imagery. CelesTrak supplies the public orbital data, and Three.js draws the small satellite models and side scenes. KASI answers common questions locally and uses OpenRouter when it needs a model. The contact form sends mail through Resend.

The site is deployed on Vercel from this GitHub repository.

Run it locally

You need a recent Node.js version and npm.

git clone https://github.com/ItsAkashPandey/akashpandey.com.git
cd akashpandey.com
npm install
Copy-Item .env.example .env.local
npm run dev

Open http://localhost:3000.

The normal pages work from the local files. KASI, contact mail, and optional chat logging need the matching values from .env.example.

Before pushing a change, I normally run:

npm run lint
npm run build

Editing the content

• src/data/activities.json contains activities and their links.
• src/data/publications.json contains papers, DOI links, and publication images.
• src/data/skills.json contains tools, instruments, and skill photos.
• src/data/career.json and src/data/education.json contain the timeline.
• src/data/profile.md contains the facts used by KASI.
• src/data/privacy.md is the privacy text shown on the site.
• public/resume.pdf is the CV linked from the home page.

Activity photos go in a folder under public. This command rebuilds the resolvedImages lists from the real files:

npx ts-node scripts/resolve-activity-images.ts

I keep external links in the same JSON record as the related activity or publication. I check a link before adding it instead of guessing a post URL.

Useful links

• Website
• LinkedIn
• GitHub profile
• ORCID

Deployment

The main branch is connected to Vercel. Add the required environment variables in Vercel, push to main, and Vercel builds the site.

Do not commit .env.local. It contains private keys.

Thanks

Thanks to tedawf.com for the original inspiration, especially the way photographs and research work are presented. The open-source WorldWideView project was also useful while I was learning how orbit tracks can be presented.

License

The code is available under the MIT License.