This Site: Vercel Hosting & Front End

This blog runs on Next.js, is styled with Tailwind CSS, and is hosted on Vercel. Here’s a short overview of the front end and how deployment works.

Front end

• Next.js (App Router) – File-based routing, server and client components, and built-in image and font optimisation. Posts are Markdown in _posts; gray-matter and remark handle frontmatter and rendering.
• Tailwind CSS – Utility-first styling and a simple light/dark theme with CSS variables. Layout is responsive with a single main content column.
• TypeScript – Used across the app for type safety.

There’s no separate CMS: editing a .md file in _posts and pushing to GitHub is enough to add or change a post.

Hosting on Vercel

Vercel is built for Next.js, so the setup is minimal:

1. Git integration – Connect the GitHub repo in the Vercel dashboard. Each push to the main branch triggers a new build and deployment.
2. Build – Vercel runs next build and serves the output. No server or extra config to manage.
3. Updates – After you push, the site usually updates within a couple of minutes.
4. Free tier – The hobby plan is enough for a personal blog and a custom domain.

Preview deployments are created for pull requests, so you can check changes before merging.

Custom domain

You can attach your own domain (e.g. niallkahlout.com) under Project → Settings → Domains. Vercel handles SSL and redirects.

So: the front end is Next.js and Tailwind; the content is Markdown in the repo; and Vercel hosts it and redeploys on every push. The About Me post stays pinned as the hero on the homepage—everything else appears in date order below it.