/building-blog

Building a Blog (Next.js + Sanity)

Overview

Universal workflow for adding a blog to a Next.js site backed by Sanity CMS. Targets a corporate blog: SEO-first, i18n-ready, performance-budgeted, accessibility-compliant.

SKILL.md is the orchestrator. The spec lives in the two reference files.

Files

• blog-technical-requirements.md — §0 intake questionnaire (30+ questions) → §1 Project Profile → §2–§20 universal spec → checklist. Edit only §0 answers and §1 per project.
• blog-image-style-guide.md — universal template for AI-generated hero imagery via Gemini 3 Pro Image (Nano Banana Pro). Intake questions on top, aesthetic skeleton in the middle, three example slots at the bottom.

Workflow

Step 1 — Scan the host project (before asking anything)

Read what's already there. Pre-filling answers from detected values is much better than asking the user. Look for:

• package.json — Next.js version, next-intl, Sanity packages, Tailwind, framer-motion
• next.config.{ts,js,mjs} — existing images.formats, i18n config
• src/messages/**, src/i18n/**, messages/** — current locale set
• src/app/[locale]/** or app/[locale]/** — routing pattern
• tailwind.config.*, globals.css, design-system files — tokens, fonts
• CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md, GEMINI.md — project conventions and approved overrides
• Existing sanity-studio/ or studio/ folder
• app/layout.{tsx,jsx} — fonts, analytics, motion config
• public/brand/**, public/logo* — publisher logo
• sitemap.ts, robots.ts — existing routes
• .env* files — names of already-set env vars (do not log secret values)

Record findings as a brief "Detected" list before the questionnaire.

Step 2 — Run the intake questionnaire

Open blog-technical-requirements.md and walk through §0.

• Claude Code: use AskUserQuestion. Group related questions into single calls (max 4 per call). Pre-fill recommended answers from the scan.
• Codex / CLIs without an interactive picker: list questions numerically in plain text, ask the user to answer in batches of 5–10. Show recommended answers from the scan.
• Headless / non-interactive: apply universal defaults to whatever the prompt did not explicitly cover; list every assumption.

Write the answers into §1 "Project Profile" (in a project-local copy under docs/blog/, not in the universal source).

Step 3 — Produce the high-level plan

Use the plan template at the end of §0. One page. Phases, locked-in scope, out-of-scope items, open decisions. Wait for explicit user approval. Do not start coding.

Step 4 — Implement against the spec

Follow §2–§20 in order. §19 (Pass/Fail Checklist) is the definition of done. The image style guide drives §20 if AI-generated hero images are in scope.

When NOT to use this skill

• Static / MDX-only blogs (no CMS) — different stack, different patterns
• High-velocity news publishers — sitemap chunking and editor tooling become primary concerns
• Documentation sites — use a docs framework instead
• Marketing landing pages that aren't really a blog

Source

Maintained at BuildShipGrowRepeat/nextjs-sanity-blog-skill. MIT licensed.