ThinkNimble Research Institute

We don't know what "it" is, but we've been doing it for a long time.

The world is like that. We are a group of builders, entrepreneurs, and downright
curious people trying to figure things out — just like you are, we expect.

The mission of our so-called "Research Institute" is to share what we've learned
in order to help others navigate the world.

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What We Share

Essays Deep explorations Long-form pieces that synthesize research, explore complex topics, and present original thinking on technology and its implications.

Digital Garden Knowledge building blocks Our collection of interconnected notes — short-form insights and observations that serve as atomic units of thought, linked wiki-style to form a knowledge graph.

Projects Things we've built Showcases of our work in software engineering, AI systems, and human-computer interaction — tools, experiments, and solutions we've created along the way.

Key Features

Content Organization

• Wiki-style linking - Interconnected notes that build a knowledge graph
• AI attribution system - Transparent labeling of human-written, AI-supported, and AI-generated content
• Status indicators - Track content maturity from seed ideas to evergreen pieces
• Author profiles - Learn about our contributors and their areas of expertise

Technical Excellence

• Lightning-fast static site - Built with Jekyll for optimal performance
• Privacy-focused analytics - Using Fathom instead of invasive tracking
• Dark/light themes - Automatic theme switching based on system preferences
• Mobile-responsive - Optimal reading experience on any device
• Syntax highlighting - Beautiful code examples with language-specific highlighting

Local Development

Prerequisites

• Docker and Docker Compose
• Just command runner (brew install just)
• Git

Quick Start

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/thinknimble/tn-research.git
cd tn-research

# Start the development server (with live reload)
just up

# Visit http://localhost:4001

The Docker setup automatically installs all dependencies and starts Jekyll with live reload enabled.

Development Commands

# Start development server
just up

# Stop Docker containers
just down

# Rebuild Docker image
just build

# Clean all artifacts and Docker resources
just reset

# Run with drafts enabled
JEKYLL_DRAFTS=true just up

# Check for broken internal links
just check-links

Creating Content

# Create a new note
just new-note "Your Note Title"

# Create a new essay
just new-essay "Your Essay Title"

# Create a new project
just new-project "Your Project Title"

These commands create properly formatted markdown files with all required frontmatter fields in the appropriate directories.

Content Structure

Collections

The site uses Jekyll collections to organize different content types:

_essays/          # Long-form essays and analysis
_notes/           # Atomic notes and knowledge fragments  
_posts/           # Blog posts (YYYY-MM-DD-title.md format)
_publications/    # Formal research publications
_projects/        # Project showcases and case studies
_authors/         # Author profiles and bios

Front Matter Templates

Note: Use just new-note, just new-essay, or just new-project to automatically create files with proper frontmatter.

Note Template

---
layout: note
title: "Note Title"
date: YYYY-MM-DD
updated: YYYY-MM-DD
tags: [tag1, tag2]
attribution: human-written  # or ai-supported, ai-generated
authors: ["Author Name"]
status: budding  # or seed, evergreen
summary: "Brief description"
---

Essay Template

---
layout: essay
title: "Your Essay Title"
subtitle: "Optional subtitle"
date: YYYY-MM-DD
authors: ["Author Name"]
attribution: human-written  # or ai-supported, ai-generated
abstract: "Brief summary"
readtime: "15 min read"
status: draft  # or seed, published
published: false  # or true
related_notes: [note-slug-1, note-slug-2]
---

Project Template

---
layout: project
title: "Project Title"
subtitle: "Brief tagline"
date: YYYY-MM-DD
end_date: present  # or YYYY-MM-DD
status: active  # or completed, archived
banner_image: "https://..."
description: "Detailed description"
technologies:
  - Technology One
  - Technology Two
github_url: "https://github.com/..."
tags: [tag1, tag2]
---

Publication Template

---
layout: publication
title: "Publication Title"
date: YYYY-MM-DD
authors:
  - Author One
  - Author Two
abstract: "Brief description"
attribution: human-written
pdf_url: "/path/to/pdf"  # optional
arxiv_url: "https://arxiv.org/..."  # optional
doi: "10.xxxx/xxxxx"  # optional
---

AI Attribution Policy

We believe in transparency about AI use in content creation. All content includes an attribution field:

• Human Written - Created entirely by human effort
• AI Supported - Human-AI collaboration
• AI Generated - Primarily AI-created with human oversight

Learn more in our AI Attribution Policy.

Deployment

The site automatically deploys to GitHub Pages when changes are pushed to the main branch. CloudFlare handles DNS and CDN services.

Deployment Pipeline

1. Push to main triggers GitHub Actions
2. Jekyll builds the static site
3. Deploys to GitHub Pages
4. CloudFlare serves from research.thinknimble.com

Project Structure

tn-research/
├── _includes/        # Reusable components
├── _layouts/         # Page templates
├── _essays/          # Essay content
├── _notes/           # Note content
├── _posts/           # Blog posts
├── _publications/    # Research publications
├── _projects/        # Project showcases
├── _authors/         # Author profiles
├── assets/           # Images and media
├── static/           
│   ├── css/         # Stylesheets
│   └── images/      # Site images
├── scripts/         # Utility scripts
├── _config.yml      # Jekyll configuration
└── index.html       # Homepage

Tools & Utilities

Link Checker

Check for broken internal links:

python3 scripts/check_internal_links.py

This tool:

• Scans all content for internal links
• Warns about missing wiki-style links (expected for planned content)
• Identifies actual broken links
• Ignores template variables and documentation files

Contributing

We welcome contributions from the ThinkNimble team and the broader community.

For ThinkNimble Team

1. Create a feature branch: git checkout -b feature-name
2. Make your changes
3. Test locally: bundle exec jekyll serve
4. Check links: python3 scripts/check_internal_links.py
5. Submit a pull request

For External Contributors

1. Fork the repository
2. Create your feature branch
3. Make your changes
4. Submit a pull request with a clear description

Content Guidelines

• Follow existing formatting and style conventions
• Include appropriate front matter
• Add AI attribution when applicable
• Use wiki-style links [[Note Title]] to connect ideas
• Test your changes locally before submitting

License

• Code: Apache License 2.0
• Content: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

See LICENSE for details.

Support & Contact

• Website: thinknimble.com
• Email: [email protected]
• GitHub: @thinknimble
• Research Site: research.thinknimble.com

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