RoboZone Website

The website for RoboZone, a student-led robotics education initiative founded in South Brunswick, NJ. Its established program is an in-person course; online classes and local branches are being explored. Intended address: https://robozone.world (see docs/DOMAIN-LAUNCH.md).

Built with Astro (pages are prerendered to static HTML and served by Astro's Node server) with a PocketBase backend for in-person sign-ups.

Where to change things

Almost everything you'll need to update is in src/data/site.ts:

To change…	Edit in site.ts
Where an offering stands (established, being explored, in development)	offerings[id].maturity
Announce or open a session: dates, times, location/timezone, grades, fee	sessions (instructions are in the comments)
One honest line about what's undecided for online classes or branches	offerings[id].openQuestions
Confirmed online-workshop facts (free, 60 minutes weekly, simulation + CAD)	onlineWorkshops
Students taught, workshop hours, mentors	impact
In-person course facts (grades, format, past venue, cost wording)	inPersonCourse.facts
Curriculum stages and topics (in-person)	curriculum
Team names, roles, bios, photos	team; portraits are cropped by scripts/make-portraits.mjs from src/assets/team/originals/
Workshop photos, captions, alt text	src/data/photos.ts (files in src/assets/photos/)
FAQs	faqGeneral, faqInPerson ("Can I enroll now?" is generated from sessions)
Contact email, donation link	site.email, links
Canonical web address	site in astro.config.mjs / SITE_URL env var

After changing a fact, update its status in docs/CONTENT-SOURCES.md.

Opening registration: add a session with state: "open" and every essential fact (dates, schedule, location or timezone, grades, fee, closing date, and a registration destination). Only then does a "Register" action appear, the header button change to "Workshop sign-up", and the form show on /signup. It closes itself after registrationCloses. Full walkthrough and the questions to settle before launching new formats: docs/LAUNCH-CHECKLIST.md.

Design tokens and components are documented in docs/DESIGN-SYSTEM.md. The 2026 audit is in docs/AUDIT.md.

Local development

npm install
npm run dev        # http://localhost:4321
npm test           # unit tests: program availability, form validation, servo-arm geometry
npm run build      # type check + production build
npm run check:links  # after a build: broken links, anchors, alt text, one h1 per page
npm run preview    # serve the production build

If your folder path contains a colon (for example Clubs:ECs), npm scripts can't find the astro command. Run it directly instead: node node_modules/astro/astro.js dev.

Testing the sign-up form without touching real data

The form sends to https://robozonenj.org/admin by default. Never test against it. Instead:

node scripts/mock-pocketbase.mjs                     # fake backend on :8090, stores nothing
echo "PUBLIC_POCKETBASE_URL=http://localhost:8090" > .env.development.local
npm run dev

Temporarily add a complete test entry to sessions with state: "open" and registration: { kind: "signup-form" }, try the form, then revert and delete .env.development.local. The mock's header comment lists inputs that trigger error responses.

Deployment

Unchanged from before:

• Clone repository, install Docker
• Create volume with docker volume create data
• Run docker compose up
• Head to admin dashboard
• Set up signups with the following fields:
  • Text: name
  • Text: guardian
  • Email: email
  • Email: guardian_email
  • Number: grade
• Make sure you can create entries without admin

The Linux-only build packages (@esbuild/linux-x64, @rollup/rollup-linux-x64-*) are now optionalDependencies, so npm install also works on macOS and Windows. The Docker build (Linux x64) still installs them.

Changing the logo: replace src/assets/brand/logo-padded.png (square PNG, transparent rounded corners), then run node scripts/make-brand-images.mjs to regenerate the favicons, touch icon, social preview image, and public/images/logo.png.