--- title: Publish your first post and light up the RSS feed description: "Replace the scaffold's placeholder post with a fully-populated BlogSiteFrontMatter block and watch it flow into the blog index, per-tag pages, and the built-in RSS feed." canonical_url: https://usepennington.net/tutorials/blogsite/first-post/ sidecar_url: https://usepennington.net/tutorials/blogsite/first-post.md content_hash: sha256:bf1b7d1cf526a02296d63f73ddc7e1bd479cb2602441ed87657eb14c0ecffec2 tokens: 1818 uid: tutorials.blogsite.first-post reading_time_minutes: 4 --- Getting Started # Publish your first post and light up the RSS feed Replace the scaffold's placeholder post with a fully-populated BlogSiteFrontMatter block and watch it flow into the blog index, per-tag pages, and the built-in RSS feed. By the end of this tutorial, a running BlogSite at `http://localhost:5000` surfaces a single, fully-populated post on the home page, the archive, the per-tag index, and `/rss.xml` — the placeholder from the scaffold tutorial swapped for a post of your own. Each `BlogSiteFrontMatter` field maps to a specific surface; the steps walk through them in turn. ## Prerequisites - .NET 10 SDK installed - Completed [Scaffold a blog with BlogSite](https://usepennington.net/tutorials/blogsite/scaffold.md) (or have that example's `Program.cs` and a single placeholder post ready to reuse) The finished code for this tutorial lives in [examples/BlogSiteFirstPostExample](https://github.com/usepennington/pennington/tree/main/examples/BlogSiteFirstPostExample). --- ## 1. Start from a bare-minimum front-matter block This section replaces the scaffold's placeholder post with a new file `Content/Blog/my-first-post.md` that carries only the three fields every post truly needs — `title`, `description`, and `date` — then confirms it renders on the home listing, the archive, and the RSS feed even in this minimal state. **Delete `Content/Blog/hello-world.md` and create `my-first-post.md`** The scaffold tutorial left a placeholder post named `hello-world.md` in `Content/Blog/`. Delete it, then create a new file `my-first-post.md` in the same folder. The filename (minus `.md`) becomes the URL slug, so the post serves at `/blog/my-first-post/`. **Paste in title, description, and date only** Paste the markdown body below into the new file. These three fields are the smallest front matter that lets a BlogSite post render cleanly: `title` is the post's heading and link label; `description` is what the home card, archive card, and RSS `` element all pull from; and `date` drives both the archive sort order and the RSS `` element. ```markdown:symbol --- title: Shipping a tiny content engine for weekend projects description: Notes from the first month of building Pennington. date: 2026-04-10 --- Welcome to the first real post on this blog. The scaffold from the previous tutorial gave us a running BlogSite with one placeholder post; this post replaces it. ## What's here so far Just title, description, and date. That is enough for the home listing, the archive page, and the RSS feed to light up. ``` The two `---` fences delimit the YAML front matter block. The `date:` value parses as an ISO-8601 date; any format that round-trips as a date string works. For the full list of recognized front-matter keys, see the [Pennington.BlogSite.BlogSiteFrontMatter](https://usepennington.net/reference/api/blog-site-front-matter.md) reference page. > [!CHECKPOINT] > - Run `dotnet run` from the example project > - Visit `http://localhost:5000/` — a single recent-posts card titled **Shipping a tiny content engine for weekend projects** appears with the description from the front matter > - Visit `http://localhost:5000/archive` — the same post appears as the only archive entry, dated **2026-04-10** > - Visit `http://localhost:5000/blog/my-first-post/` — the post body renders with its H1 and paragraph text --- ## 2. Add the author, tags, series, and repository fields Next, the front-matter block expands with the four `BlogSiteFrontMatter` fields that each light up a distinct blog surface — `author`, `tags`, `series`, and `repository`. **Replace the front matter with the fully-populated block** Replace the existing YAML block with the fully-populated block below. Each new key drives a different surface: - `author:` — byline on the post page and the `` element in the RSS feed - `tags:` — `/tags//` index pages plus chips on the post page - `series:` — shared-banner threading on the post chrome - `repository:` — "Source Code" link card on the post page ```markdown:symbol --- title: Shipping a tiny content engine for weekend projects description: Notes from the first month of building Pennington — why Markdig plus Razor components plus a little YAML beats reaching for a heavier framework. date: 2026-04-10 author: Author Name tags: - pennington - dotnet - blogging series: Pennington Field Notes repository: https://github.com/example/pennington-field-notes --- Welcome to the first real post on this blog. The scaffold from the previous tutorial gave us a running BlogSite with one placeholder post; this post replaces it with something the BlogSite template actually has opinions about. ## What the front matter is doing Each field in the block above lights up a different surface — the archive card, the post header, the /tags/ listings, the RSS channel, the JSON-LD metadata — and walking through them in order is the point of this tutorial. ``` `BlogSiteFrontMatter` carries more keys than this — `sectionLabel` for navigation grouping and `redirectUrl` for migrated posts among them. For the full record definition, see [Pennington.BlogSite.BlogSiteFrontMatter](https://usepennington.net/reference/api/blog-site-front-matter.md). **Reload and confirm every surface updated** With the file saved, reload the running site and verify each new field in turn. No code changes are needed — the host from the scaffold tutorial stays untouched. The RSS feed is on because `EnableRss` defaults to `true`; to turn it off, set it on `BlogSiteOptions` (see [Pennington.BlogSite.BlogSiteOptions](https://usepennington.net/reference/api/blog-site-options.md)). > [!CHECKPOINT] > - Visit `http://localhost:5000/blog/my-first-post/` — the post header shows the byline **Author Name**, the series banner **Pennington Field Notes**, three tag chips (**pennington**, **dotnet**, **blogging**), and a **Source Code** link card pointing at the `repository:` URL. > - Visit `http://localhost:5000/tags/pennington/` — the post appears on the per-tag index; repeat for `/tags/dotnet/` and `/tags/blogging/`. > - Visit `http://localhost:5000/archive` — the archive card carries the longer description from the expanded front matter. > - Visit `http://localhost:5000/rss.xml` — the feed `` carries the site title and one `` whose ``, `<description>`, `<pubDate>`, `<author>`, and `<link>` all map back to the front matter. --- ## Summary - A Pennington blog post backed by `BlogSiteFrontMatter` maps predictably onto each blog surface — title/description/date for listings, author for byline and RSS, tags for `/tags/<tag>/` indexes, series for the shared banner, repository for the source-code link card. - Dropping a new `Content/Blog/*.md` file brings it straight to the home page, the archive, every tag it claims, and `/rss.xml` — no `Program.cs` changes needed. [Previous Scaffold a blog with BlogSite](https://usepennington.net/tutorials/blogsite/scaffold.md)[Next Add a hero, projects, and social links](https://usepennington.net/tutorials/blogsite/hero-projects-socials.md)