VayuPress Docs
Docs / ADRs

ADR-0115: Website at Root with the Blog under /blog (single-domain)

Status: Accepted
Date: 2026-07-07
Author: @johalputt
Relates to: ADR-0114 (custom website deploy), the business-site modes (VayuOS → Website)

Context

VayuPress could serve either the blog at the root, or a business site at the root with the blog moved to blog.<domain> (a subdomain, needing its own DNS record and TLS certificate). Operators wanted a middle option: a business (or custom) website at the domain root with the blog on the same domain under /blog, without changing any existing post URL and without provisioning a subdomain or extra certificate.

The hard constraint was URL stability: a live blog's posts already live at https://<domain>/<slug> and must keep exactly those URLs — a migration that moved posts under /blog/<slug> would break every existing link, feed item and search-engine result.

Decision

Add a third site mode, business_subpath: the website owns /, the blog homepage moves to /blog (/blog/page/N for pagination), and posts stay at /<slug>.

  • Routing: /blog and /blog/page/{n} render the blog feed; /{slug} is unchanged, so every existing post URL is preserved. In other modes /blog is served as an ordinary slug (so a post actually slugged blog still resolves). /page/N 301-redirects to /blog/page/N in this mode to keep one canonical set.
  • A render-level blog base path (SetBlogBase/BlogBase, default /, /blog in this mode) drives the blog canonical, rel=prev/next, pager and nav-brand URLs so the blog index is correct under /blog while the historic modes stay byte-identical. It is set at boot and on a Website-settings save.
  • The custom-website mode (ADR-0114) reuses this same routing, so a custom site at / also keeps the blog at /blog and posts at /<slug>.

Consequences

  • Positive: a single-domain website + blog with zero change to existing post URLs, and no subdomain, DNS record, or extra TLS certificate. Simpler to operate than the subdomain mode.
  • The mode is explicit and never changed by an update; existing installs keep their current behaviour.
  • Known minor follow-up: the sitemap/RSS homepage entry still lists / regardless of mode (cosmetic — the blog index canonical is already correct via the render blog base); to be folded in later.