Copilot Instructions

Project Overview

This is a personal website and blog (“Operating Intelligence”) built with Quarto, published to vidal.biz on Azure Static Web Apps via GitHub Actions.

Build & Preview

quarto preview       # Local dev server with live reload
quarto render        # Full site build to _site/

Python 3.12 is used via direnv/pyenv (see .envrc). Set QUARTO_PYTHON=$(which python) if Quarto doesn’t find the venv Python.

Architecture

  • _quarto.yml — Site-wide config: navbar, footer, theme (quartz), metadata, Google Analytics, social cards.
  • index.qmd — Landing page with author bio (uses the trestles about template).
  • posts.qmd — Blog listing page. Aggregates content from two sources:
    • Local posts in posts/ (.qmd or .md files in date-prefixed subdirectories)
    • External posts defined in posts/external.yaml (links to articles hosted elsewhere)
  • talks.qmd — Talks listing page with inline metadata (no subdirectories).
  • posts/_metadata.yml — Shared defaults for all posts: freeze: true, banner title blocks, TOC, KaTeX math, citations enabled.
  • _freeze/ — Quarto freeze directory for cached computational output. Committed to git.
  • _extensions/ — Quarto extensions: fontawesome, iconify, academicons.

Content Conventions

Adding a new local blog post

Create a directory posts/YYYY-MM-DD-slug/ containing an index.qmd (or index.md) file with YAML front matter:

---
title: "Post Title"
author: "Cedric Vidal"
date: "YYYY-MM-DD"
categories:
  - Category
tags:
  - tag1
image: "header.webp"
---

Place images in the same directory as the post.

Adding an external blog post

Append an entry to posts/external.yaml:

- path: https://example.com/article
  image: /posts/thumbnails/image.png
  title: "Title"
  description: "Description"
  date: "YYYY-MM-DD"
  categories:
    - Category
  tags:
    - tag

Thumbnail images go in posts/thumbnails/.

Deployment

CI is in .github/workflows/publish-swa.yml. On push to main or PR, GitHub Actions renders with Quarto and deploys to Azure Static Web Apps. PR branches get preview deployments that are cleaned up on close.

Blog Positioning & Structure Guidelines

Purpose

This blog exists to build long-term authority in:

  • Designing intelligent systems
  • Evaluating agentic systems
  • Operating AI in production

The goal is not volume. The goal is durable intellectual positioning.

This blog should compound credibility across: - Founder path - Big tech leadership - Consulting - Research-adjacent audiences

Core Principles

1. Source of Truth

  • The canonical version of every post lives on vidal.biz
  • Other platforms (LinkedIn, Substack, X, dev platforms) are distribution layers
  • Content is written once, adapted for distribution
  • Never write posts that only work if someone clicks away

2. Brand Positioning

The blog must signal:

  • Systems thinking
  • Architectural clarity
  • Evaluation rigor
  • Production realism

Avoid signaling:

  • AI hype
  • Feature evangelism
  • Tool tutorials without framing
  • News commentary without insight

The tone should feel:

  • Calm
  • Structured
  • Technical but clear
  • Durable

3. Creative Independence

When writing blog posts, articles, or any creative content:

  • Do not look at other branches or PRs for inspiration
  • Do not let other work-in-progress influence the content
  • Each piece should reflect original thinking, not derivative of uncommitted work
  • Do research the web for related blog posts or articles to use as references and grounding

This ensures authenticity and prevents cross-contamination of ideas across parallel efforts, while still grounding content in existing published work.

Content Pillars

The blog is structured around four pillars.

Each post must belong to exactly one primary category.

1. Infrastructure

Focus: - How intelligent systems are built and run - Pipelines, deployment, scaling - Distillation workflows - Fine-tuning infra - Cloud architecture - Cost tradeoffs - State, queues, retries, orchestration

Litmus test: > Is this about how to build or operate the system?

If yes → Infrastructure.

Distillation posts default here unless primarily about measurement.

2. Evaluation

Focus: - Measuring agent behavior - Reliability metrics - Propensity vs efficacy - Scenario design - Benchmark critique - Multi-turn evaluation - Failure analysis

Litmus test: > Is this about measuring or validating behavior?

If yes → Evaluation.

Evaluation is epistemology. Infrastructure is mechanics.

3. Systems

Focus: - Architectural reasoning - Component interaction - Feedback loops - State and memory design - Multi-agent coordination - Failure modes across layers - Control theory framing

Litmus test: > Is this about how intelligent components interact over time?

If yes → Systems.

Systems is about structure and emergent behavior.

4. Strategy

Focus: - Ecosystem shifts - Incentive changes - Vendor positioning - Founder implications - Enterprise implications - Market dynamics - Directional thinking

Litmus test: > Is this about what this means, not just how it works?

If yes → Strategy.

Strategy must be technically grounded. Avoid shallow commentary.

Categories vs Tags

Categories

  • Exactly one per post
  • Must be one of:
    • Infrastructure
    • Evaluation
    • Systems
    • Strategy
  • Categories represent intellectual pillars

Tags

  • Granular concepts
  • Multiple allowed
  • Examples:
    • distillation
    • fine-tuning
    • lora
    • llama
    • raft
    • azure
    • openai
    • agents
    • belief-mdp

Rules: - Tags are lowercase - Use hyphen-separated words - Tags describe tools and techniques - Categories describe intellectual lens

What Not To Do

Do not:

  • Create new top-level categories for tools
  • Create categories like “Azure”, “Distillation”, “LoRA”
  • Publish generic AI summaries
  • Publish reactive commentary without insight
  • Publish purely tactical debugging posts

Every post must increase:

  • Authority
  • Coherence
  • Positioning clarity

Homepage Structure

The homepage should communicate in under 10 seconds:

  • Who this is for
  • What intellectual domain is owned
  • What lens is applied

Suggested framing:

Cedric Vidal Operating Intelligence

Writing about building, evaluating, and scaling intelligent systems in production.

Visual Guidelines

  • Reduce visual noise
  • Favor whitespace over gradients
  • Minimize decorative AI artwork
  • Typography over visual intensity
  • Categories visible, tag spam hidden

The site should feel like: - A body of work - Not a content feed

Distribution Strategy

For each post:

  1. Publish canonical version on vidal.biz
  2. Adapt for:
    • LinkedIn (native condensed version)
    • X (thread)
    • Substack (full or adapted)
  3. Link back to canonical source when appropriate

Goal: Maximum reach, preserved ownership.

Quality Filter

Before publishing, ask:

  • Does this increase my authority?
  • Does this clarify my thesis?
  • Does this demonstrate depth?
  • Would a founder or staff engineer learn something non-obvious?

If not, reconsider publishing.

Long-Term Goal

In 3 years, this blog should clearly signal:

“This person understands how intelligent systems are designed, evaluated, and operated at scale.”

Everything published should move toward that outcome.