Site Configuration

Full reference for configuring your PitCrew site — using the wizard or editing files directly.

On this page: The Setup Wizard · _config.yml Reference · Data Files · Colors · Features · Navigation · Deployment · Troubleshooting

The Setup Wizard

The wizard is the recommended way to configure your site. It edits _config.yml and all _data/*.yml files through a guided UI — no text editing required.

Access: Visit /wizard/ on your site. It also launches automatically on first visit if startup_wizard: true is set in _config.yml.

What the wizard configures

Step What changes
Team Identity _config.yml → title, description, site.*
Brand Colors _config.yml → theme.colors.*
Features _config.yml → features.* and fundraising.*
Social Links _config.yml → socials.*
Navigation _config.yml → navigation
Team Members _data/team.yml
Mentors _data/mentors.yml
Sponsors _data/sponsors.yml
Awards _data/awards.yml
Events _data/events.yml

Saving progress mid-wizard

The Save Progress button in the footer generates pitcrew-progress.zip at any step. Copy those files into your project to preserve your work. When you return to /wizard/ later, it starts at Step 1 — but all saved data is already loaded.

The “Skip wizard on startup” option

On the final Review step, checking “Skip wizard on startup” sets startup_wizard: false in the downloaded _config.yml. This stops the site from auto-redirecting visitors to /wizard/ once you deploy.

You can always return to /wizard/ manually to make further changes.

_config.yml Reference

Every site setting lives in _config.yml. Changes take effect after restarting Jekyll — no CSS rebuild needed.

Site identity

title: "Your Team Name"
description: "A short description shown in search results and metadata"
url: ""       # leave blank for GitHub Pages root deployment
baseurl: ""   # set to /repo-name if deploying to a subpath

Team configuration

site:
  team_name: "Team Voltage"
  team_number: "12345"
  program: "FTC"          # FTC | FRC | VEX | FLL
  current_season: "2025-2026"
  logo: "/assets/images/logo.png"

socials:
  instagram: "https://instagram.com/yourteam"
  github:    "https://github.com/yourteam"
  youtube:   "https://youtube.com/@yourteam"
  twitter:   "https://twitter.com/yourteam"
  email:     "team@school.edu"

Leave any value blank ("") to hide that link from the site.

Fundraising banner

fundraising:
  enabled: true
  url:  "https://gofundme.com/your-campaign"
  text: "Support Our Team"

Wizard flag

startup_wizard: false   # true = auto-redirect first-time visitors to /wizard/

Colors

Colors are defined once in _config.yml and injected into every page as CSS custom properties. You never need to touch CSS files.

theme:
  colors:
    # Primary — nav bar, buttons, headings
    primary:           "#003974"
    primary_highlight: "#002855"   # hover states, gradient mid
    primary_darkest:   "#001a3d"   # hero gradient end

    # Secondary — accent color, badges, highlights
    secondary:           "#F57E25"
    secondary_highlight: "#d96a1f"

    # Semantic
    success: "#28a745"
    info:    "#17a2b8"
    warning: "#f0b37e"
    danger:  "#dc3545"

    # Sponsor tier card borders
    sponsor_platinum: "#9ca3af"
    sponsor_gold:     "#eab308"
    sponsor_silver:   "#d1d5db"
    sponsor_bronze:   "#92400e"

  dark_mode: true   # true = dark mode on by default for visitors

Tips:

  • Use the wizard’s color step — it shows a live preview as you pick
  • primary_highlight and primary_darkest can be auto-derived by the wizard (10% and 25% darker than primary)
  • Colors update immediately on page reload; no CSS rebuild needed

Features

Toggle any feature on or off. Disabled features are not built and won’t appear in navigation.

features:
  blog:                true   # News/blog feed at /news/
  docs:                true   # Documentation section at /docs/
  cad_viewer:          true   # Interactive 3D CAD model viewer
  circuit_viewer:      true   # Electrical schematic viewer
  code_links:          true   # Links to code repositories
  data_visualizations: true   # Match data charts and graphs
  alumni_auto_archive: true   # Auto-move graduated members to alumni page
  accessibility_toggle: true  # High-contrast / reduced-motion controls
  search:              true   # Site-wide search

The top navigation bar is driven by the navigation list in _config.yml. Order matters — items appear left to right.

navigation:
  - title: Home
    url: /
  - title: About
    url: /about/
  - title: Season
    url: /season/
  - title: Awards
    url: /awards/
  - title: Sponsors
    url: /sponsors/
  - title: Docs
    url: /docs/
  - title: News
    url: /news/

Rules:

  • url must match the page’s permalink exactly, including trailing slash
  • Only include pages that actually exist in your site
  • The wizard’s Navigation step lets you reorder with ▲/▼ buttons

Data Files

All content that changes each season lives in _data/. These are plain YAML files — edit them directly or use the wizard.

_data/team.yml

- name: "Alex Johnson"
  role: "Team Captain"
  grade: 12
  graduation_year: 2026
  bio: "Short bio here."
  image: "/assets/images/alex.jpg"    # omit for placeholder
  skills:
    - Leadership
    - Strategy

_data/mentors.yml

- name: "Dr. Sarah Patel"
  role: "Lead Mentor"
  bio: "Bio here."
  image: "/assets/images/sarah.jpg"
  organization: "TechCorp Inc."

_data/sponsors.yml

- name: "Precision Engineering Co"
  tier: platinum     # platinum | gold | silver | bronze
  logo: "/assets/images/sponsors/precision.png"
  url: "https://precisioneng.example.com"

_data/awards.yml

- name: "Inspire Award"
  event: "State Championship"
  season: "2024-2025"
  description: "Awarded for embodying the FIRST mission."

_data/events.yml

- name: "League Meet 1"
  date: 2026-01-18
  location: "Lincoln High School"
  type: competition    # competition | event | outreach
  description: "Our first qualifying meet."
  url:                 # optional — leave blank if none

_data/alumni.yml

Managed automatically by the alumni archive workflow when alumni_auto_archive: true. You can also add entries manually:

- name: "Jordan Lee"
  role: "Former Build Lead"
  graduation_year: 2025
  seasons:
    - 2024-2025
    - 2023-2024
  now: "Studying Mechanical Engineering at MIT"
  bio: "Bio here."
  image: "/assets/images/jordan.jpg"

Deployment

PitCrew is a static Jekyll site — it builds to plain HTML files that can be hosted anywhere.

  1. Push your repo to GitHub
  2. Go to Settings → Pages
  3. Set source to main branch, / (root) folder
  4. Your site is live at https://yourusername.github.io/repo-name/

If deploying to a subpath (not the root), set baseurl: "/repo-name" in _config.yml.

Local preview

bundle install          # first time only
bundle exec jekyll serve
# → http://localhost:4000

After wizard changes

# 1. Extract pitcrew-config.zip into your project (overwrite existing files)
# 2. Preview
bundle exec jekyll serve
# 3. Deploy
git add _config.yml _data/
git commit -m "Update site configuration"
git push

Troubleshooting

Wizard auto-redirects even after I’m done

Set startup_wizard: false in _config.yml, or check the “Skip wizard on startup” box on the wizard’s Review step before downloading.

Color changes aren’t showing

Colors are injected from _config.yml at build time. Restart jekyll serve after editing the file.

A data file looks wrong after a wizard download

Open the .yml file in a text editor. YAML is sensitive to indentation (2 spaces, no tabs). Check that list items start with - and nested keys are indented correctly.

A page shows 404

Check that the page’s permalink in its front matter matches exactly what’s in _config.yml → navigation or _data/docs_navigation.yml. Include the trailing slash.

Images aren’t loading

Confirm the file exists at the exact path referenced in the YAML (e.g. _data/team.yml → image: /assets/images/photo.jpg). Paths are case-sensitive on Linux hosts.