catch it before it ships.

GitHub already checks every change you send it, but by then the mistake is on its way. This step adds a few checks that run on your computer, at the moment you commit and push. They stop a photo too big for your site, put today's date on the stories you edit, and point out typos while the words are still fresh. You turn them on once, and then you never think about them.

When	What it does	Stops you?
Commit	Refuses a cover image over 1MB	Yes
Commit	Puts today's date in updated-at on the stories you changed	No
Commit	Adds frontmatter to new project-page markdown	No
Push	Lists spelling and grammar issues in what you wrote	No

WhenCommit

What it doesRefuses a cover image over 1MB

Stops you?Yes

WhenCommit

What it doesPuts today's date in updated-at on the stories you changed

Stops you?No

WhenCommit

What it doesAdds frontmatter to new project-page markdown

Stops you?No

WhenPush

What it doesLists spelling and grammar issues in what you wrote

Stops you?No

Only one of them can stop you — the cover check, because a heavy photo slows every page that shows it. Everything else fixes itself or just tells you
Each computer turns them on once — they are not copied when you download your code, so a new laptop needs the command again
GitHub still checks too — these catch things sooner. The checks on your pull requests stay the final word

BUILD.

✓ Success: a story you edited shows today in updated-at.

this is a work in progress

Your copy on your computer — from Get your copy
The tools installed — from Install the tools, including running npm install once

1️⃣ One Command, Once

Open Terminal in your project folder (in GitHub Desktop: Repository → Open in Terminal) and run:

bash

npm run frontmatter:install-hooks

It answers with two ✓ lines, one for commits and one for pushes. That is all. The checks live in your project's scripts folder, so when your copy gets an update, the checks update with it.

2️⃣ Watch a Story Get Its Date

Open any story in public/covers/stories/ and change one word
In GitHub Desktop, write a summary and click Commit
Open the story again. updated-at now shows today, and it went into the same commit

Your site shows that date in the story's bar, and tells search engines the story changed. Before, a robot tried to add it after your change reached GitHub, and GitHub turned it away. Now it travels inside your own commit.

3️⃣ Read Your Spelling Report

Every push now reads only the words you changed and lists anything that looks misspelled, with suggestions. The push goes through either way. GitHub Desktop pushes quietly, so to read the report, push once from Terminal:

bash

git push

  UNPARTY  spellcheck  ·  1 file(s)
  SPELLING.
      12:9     sentance    → sentence

“The best time to catch a typo is before anyone reads it.”
— unparty-app

⚠️ Good to Know

A story with unsaved half-changes is not dated — if part of the story is in the commit and part is not, the date is skipped so the other part stays out. Commit the whole story and it gets its date
No Node, no checks — if your Git app cannot find Node, the checks skip instead of stopping you. Commit from Terminal once to check they run
You can skip them once — in Terminal, git commit --no-verify or git push --no-verify. GitHub still checks the pull request

🧯 If Something Is Off

Commit blocked: oversized cover image — the photo is over 1MB. Shrink it as in Your first cover, then commit again
updated-at did not change — the hooks are not on this computer yet, or the story had other unsaved changes. Run the command again, then commit the whole story
No spelling report — GitHub Desktop hides it. Push from Terminal, or run npm run spellcheck. If Terminal shows nothing either, run the install command again

🤖 Ask Your LLM

prompt

My push printed this spelling report: [paste it]. Which are
real mistakes, and which are names or words I should add to
.cspell-words.txt?

My commit says a cover is over 1MB. Here is the file name and
size: [paste it]. Walk me through shrinking it on [Mac/Windows].

✅ You Are Done When

npm run frontmatter:install-hooks printed two ✓ lines
A story you edited and committed shows today in updated-at
A push from Terminal printed a spelling report

That is the whole curriculum's quiet helper. Every story, cover and article from here on gets checked the moment you make it.

“Set it once. Trust it every time.”
— unparty-app