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fix: revert to_email/to_name EmailJS stopgap #7

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dommango merged 2 commits into from
Sep 1, 2026
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fix: revert to_email/to_name EmailJS stopgap #7

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docs: site audit (2026-08-31) and ten executable improvement plans
dommango Aug 31, 2026
0d3dab3
Revert "fix: restore to_email/to_name as an EmailJS recipient stopgap"
dommango Sep 1, 2026
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170 changes: 170 additions & 0 deletions docs/plans/01-reconnect-live-plumbing.md
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# Plan 01 — Reconnect the live plumbing

**Priority:** P0 (do first) · **Effort:** ~2–3 hours · **Value:** restores the two conversion paths that are dead today
**Depends on:** nothing · **Unblocks:** plans 03, 05

## Why

Three things are broken on https://dommango.github.io right now. All three were verified on 2026-08-31, not inferred:

1. **The contact form cannot send.** `lib/services/emailjs.ts` reads `NEXT_PUBLIC_EMAILJS_*` at build time. `.github/workflows/deploy.yml` passes **no** environment variables to `npm run build`, so the deployed bundle contains `"Email service not configured"` and no EmailJS service id. Every visitor who submits the form gets that error. (Checked by downloading the live chunks and grepping.)
2. **The Writing section never appears.** `scripts/fetch-substack.js` runs during the deploy build, and Substack answers GitHub Actions with HTTP 403. The job log for run 33308370829 says: `[substack] feed returned 403; keeping committed posts`. The committed `POSTS` array is empty, so the section (and its nav link) stay hidden even though a real post ("The game had already started", 2026-08-04) exists.
3. **No analytics are collected.** `NEXT_PUBLIC_GOATCOUNTER_SITE` is not in the build env, so `app/layout.tsx` never renders the GoatCounter script. `public/data/analytics.json` has been zeros since March. (The `GOATCOUNTER_SITE` secret already exists in the repo; it's just not wired to the build.)

A fourth P0 — the chat widget's wrong answers — is fixed properly in plan 06. This plan includes a **one-line stopgap** so the widget stops misinforming people today.

## Done when

- [ ] Sending the live contact form delivers an email to Dom's inbox (not to the sender).
- [ ] https://dommango.github.io shows a **Writing** section with the Aug 4 post and a **Writing** nav link.
- [ ] `curl -s https://dommango.github.io | grep -c goatcounter` prints `1` or more.
- [ ] The chat bubble is not rendered on the live site until plan 06 ships.
- [ ] The deploy workflow **fails loudly** if any required build secret is missing, so this can't silently regress.

## Files

- `.github/workflows/deploy.yml` — pass secrets into the build; add a guard step
- `lib/content/writing.ts` — regenerated by the fetch script (commit the result)
- `scripts/fetch-substack.js` — add a browser-like User-Agent and one fallback endpoint (best-effort)
- `app/layout.tsx` — don't render `<ChatBot />` when no chat API is configured
- `scripts/check-build-env.js` — new, tiny

## Steps

### 1. Put the EmailJS + reCAPTCHA values into GitHub secrets

The values live in `.env.local` (gitignored). Never paste them into a chat or a commit. Run this from the repo root; it reads the file and pipes each value straight into `gh` without echoing:

```bash
for k in NEXT_PUBLIC_EMAILJS_SERVICE_ID NEXT_PUBLIC_EMAILJS_TEMPLATE_ID NEXT_PUBLIC_EMAILJS_PUBLIC_KEY NEXT_PUBLIC_RECAPTCHA_SITE_KEY; do
v=$(grep "^$k=" .env.local | cut -d= -f2-)
if [ -n "$v" ]; then printf '%s' "$v" | gh secret set "$k"; echo "set $k"; else echo "SKIP $k (empty)"; fi
done
gh secret list
```

`GOATCOUNTER_SITE` already exists as a secret; reuse it below.

### 2. Wire the secrets into the build (`.github/workflows/deploy.yml`)

Replace the `Build Next.js` step with a guard + build:

```yaml
- name: Check required build env
env:
NEXT_PUBLIC_EMAILJS_SERVICE_ID: ${{ secrets.NEXT_PUBLIC_EMAILJS_SERVICE_ID }}
NEXT_PUBLIC_EMAILJS_TEMPLATE_ID: ${{ secrets.NEXT_PUBLIC_EMAILJS_TEMPLATE_ID }}
NEXT_PUBLIC_EMAILJS_PUBLIC_KEY: ${{ secrets.NEXT_PUBLIC_EMAILJS_PUBLIC_KEY }}
run: node scripts/check-build-env.js

- name: Build Next.js
env:
NEXT_PUBLIC_EMAILJS_SERVICE_ID: ${{ secrets.NEXT_PUBLIC_EMAILJS_SERVICE_ID }}
NEXT_PUBLIC_EMAILJS_TEMPLATE_ID: ${{ secrets.NEXT_PUBLIC_EMAILJS_TEMPLATE_ID }}
NEXT_PUBLIC_EMAILJS_PUBLIC_KEY: ${{ secrets.NEXT_PUBLIC_EMAILJS_PUBLIC_KEY }}
NEXT_PUBLIC_RECAPTCHA_SITE_KEY: ${{ secrets.NEXT_PUBLIC_RECAPTCHA_SITE_KEY }}
NEXT_PUBLIC_GOATCOUNTER_SITE: ${{ secrets.GOATCOUNTER_SITE }}
run: npm run build
```

Create `scripts/check-build-env.js` (CommonJS, like `fetch-substack.js`):

```js
// Fails the deploy build when a NEXT_PUBLIC_* value the site needs is missing.
// Local builds don't run this (see deploy.yml), so `npm run build` still works
// without a .env.local.
const REQUIRED = [
'NEXT_PUBLIC_EMAILJS_SERVICE_ID',
'NEXT_PUBLIC_EMAILJS_TEMPLATE_ID',
'NEXT_PUBLIC_EMAILJS_PUBLIC_KEY',
]

const missing = REQUIRED.filter((k) => !process.env[k])
if (missing.length > 0) {
console.error(`[env] missing required build env: ${missing.join(', ')}`)
console.error('[env] set them with `gh secret set <NAME>` — see docs/plans/01-reconnect-live-plumbing.md')
process.exit(1)
}
console.log('[env] all required build env present')
```

`ci.yml` does **not** run this step and should not — CI builds without secrets on purpose.

### 3. Verify the EmailJS template sends to Dom, not the visitor

`sendContactEmail` passes `to_name: fromName, to_email: fromEmail`. Whether that matters depends on the EmailJS template: if the template's "To email" field is `{{to_email}}`, the message goes to the **sender**. Open the template in the EmailJS dashboard and make sure "To email" is Dom's address (hard-coded), and `reply_to` is `{{reply_to}}`. Then remove the misleading params from `lib/services/emailjs.ts`:

```ts
{
from_name: fromName,
from_email: fromEmail,
reply_to: fromEmail,
message
}
```

### 4. Make the Writing section appear — commit the posts

Substack blocks GitHub's IP range, but not a residential connection. From the repo root:

```bash
node scripts/fetch-substack.js # expect: [substack] wrote 1 post(s) to lib/content/writing.ts
git diff lib/content/writing.ts # POSTS now has one entry
npm test -- --run # 13 tests pass
npx playwright test e2e/landing.spec.ts -g "writing section" # asserts section + nav link both present
```

Commit `lib/content/writing.ts`. This is the reliable path: the committed posts are what ship whenever the CI fetch fails, which is currently always.

**Recurring:** after each new post is published, run the two commands above and commit. (If `/content-publish` is used, add these two lines to the end of that skill so it happens automatically.)

### 5. Make the CI fetch a little more likely to succeed (best-effort)

In `scripts/fetch-substack.js`, change the request headers and add one fallback. Keep every existing guard.

```js
const FEED_URLS = [
'https://dommangonon.substack.com/feed',
// Substack's JSON API sometimes answers when the RSS route is challenged.
'https://dommangonon.substack.com/api/v1/posts?limit=6',
]
const HEADERS = {
'user-agent': 'Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; dommango.github.io build; +https://dommango.github.io)',
accept: 'application/rss+xml, application/xml, application/json;q=0.9, */*;q=0.8',
}
```

Loop over `FEED_URLS`; for the JSON endpoint map each item to `{ title, url: canonical_url, date: post_date, subtitle }` and apply the same placeholder filter (`title` of "Coming soon"). If both fail, keep the existing `keeping committed posts` behaviour. Add one unit test in `__tests__/parse-substack-feed.test.ts` only if you extract the JSON mapping into `scripts/lib/parse-substack-json.js`; otherwise no new tests — this path is best-effort by design.

### 6. Stopgap for the chat widget (`app/layout.tsx`)

```tsx
const CHAT_API_URL = process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_CHAT_API_URL
...
{children}
{CHAT_API_URL && <ChatBot />}
```

With no API configured the widget — and its "Skills page" answers — disappears. Plan 06 replaces it.

### 7. Deploy and verify

```bash
git checkout -b fix/reconnect-live-plumbing
git add -A && git commit -m "fix: pass build secrets to the Pages deploy, commit Substack posts, hide unconfigured chat"
git push -u origin fix/reconnect-live-plumbing
gh pr create --fill
# after merge:
gh run watch # deploy.yml should pass the new "Check required build env" step
curl -s https://dommango.github.io | grep -c 'id="writing"' # 1
curl -s https://dommango.github.io | grep -c goatcounter # >= 1
```

Then send a real message through the live form and confirm it arrives in Dom's inbox. Check the dashboard at `/dashboard-m7x9k2` two days later: page views should be non-zero.

## Gotchas

- `NEXT_PUBLIC_*` values are inlined **at build time**. Setting a secret without re-running the deploy changes nothing; trigger `gh workflow run deploy.yml` after setting them.
- The reCAPTCHA site key is public by design (it's shipped in the page) but keep it in secrets anyway so the workflow reads one source.
- Don't add these env vars to `ci.yml`. CI must keep building without secrets so pull requests from forks work.
- `writing.ts` between the `GENERATED` markers is machine-written; never hand-edit inside the markers.
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