thechrisgrey

thechrisgrey.com

Personal website for Christian Perez (@thechrisgrey) | Founder & CEO of Altivum Inc. | Former Green Beret (18D Special Forces Medical Sergeant) | Bronze Star Recipient | Host of The Vector Podcast | Author of "Beyond the Assessment"

https://thechrisgrey.com

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Table of Contents

• Technology Stack
• Features
• Architecture
• AWS Infrastructure
• Getting Started
• Testing
• Environment Variables
• Deployment
• Project Structure
• Key Integrations
• Design System
• License

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Technology Stack

Layer	Technology
Frontend	React 19, TypeScript 5, Vite 5 (Vitest 4, ESLint 10 flat config)
Styling	Tailwind CSS 4 (CSS-first @theme config, Oxide engine)
Routing	React Router 7
CMS	Sanity.io (blog content)
AI Chat	Amazon Bedrock (Claude Haiku 4.5) + RAG
Auth	Amazon Cognito (admin panel)
Hosting	AWS Amplify
CDN/Analytics	Cloudflare Web Analytics
Testing	Vitest + React Testing Library + Cypress
Code Quality	ESLint, strict TypeScript

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Features

Pages

• Home : Scroll-based animations with sticky profile sections
• About : Personal biography and military background
• Altivum Inc : Company showcase and services
• The Vector Podcast : YouTube embeds, Spotify player, collapsible episode list
• Beyond the Assessment : Book information and purchase links
• Blog : Sanity CMS-powered with categories, tags, series, and reading progress
• AI Chat : Full-viewport conversational AI with RAG-enhanced responses
• Claude : AWS certifications and Claude expertise showcase
• AWS : AWS partnership and community builder profile
• Admin : Cognito-authenticated KB management and site health dashboard
• Links : Linktree-style quick links
• Contact : Contact form, speaking topics, downloadable press kit

Technical Highlights

• SEO : JSON-LD structured data, Open Graph, dynamic sitemap, RSS feed
• AI Chat with RAG : Bedrock Knowledge Base retrieval with streaming responses
• Podcast Auto-Sync : YouTube Data API fetches episodes at build time
• Chat Widget : Floating chat widget available across all pages
• Metrics Dashboard : CloudWatch and DynamoDB-backed operational metrics
• Error Boundaries : Page-level error handling with custom fallback UIs
• Accessibility : Focus trapping, keyboard navigation, ARIA labels, skip links
• Performance : Image optimization (Sharp/SVGO), lazy loading, code splitting, manual chunking

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Architecture

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                        FRONTEND (React)                         │
│  ┌──────────┐ ┌──────────┐ ┌──────────┐ ┌──────────┐           │
│  │   Home   │ │  Podcast │ │   Blog   │ │   Chat   │   ...     │
│  └──────────┘ └──────────┘ └──────────┘ └──────────┘           │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
        │               │              │              │
        ▼               ▼              ▼              ▼
┌───────────┐   ┌───────────┐   ┌───────────┐   ┌───────────────┐
│  Amplify  │   │  YouTube  │   │  Sanity   │   │    Bedrock    │
│  Hosting  │   │  Data API │   │    CMS    │   │  + RAG (KB)   │
└───────────┘   └───────────┘   └───────────┘   └───────────────┘
                (build-time)     (runtime)       (Lambda stream)

AI Chat Request Flow

User Message
    │
    ▼
Lambda Function URL (streaming)
    │
    ├──> Bedrock Knowledge Base (retrieve context)
    │         │
    │         ▼
    │    S3 Vectors (autobiography chunks)
    │
    ├──> Bedrock Guardrails (content filtering)
    │
    └──> Bedrock ConverseStream API (Claude Haiku 4.5)
              │
              ▼
         Streaming Response -> Client

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AWS Infrastructure

Service	Resource	Region	Purpose
Amplify	d3du8eg39a9peo	us-east-2	Hosting, CI/CD
Lambda	thechrisgrey-chat-stream	us-east-1	AI chat streaming
Lambda	thechrisgrey-contact-email	us-east-2	Contact form
Lambda	thechrisgrey-newsletter-subscription	us-east-2	Newsletter
Lambda	thechrisgrey-kb-sync	us-east-1	KB auto-sync on S3 changes
Lambda	thechrisgrey-kb-builder	us-east-1	KB admin CRUD operations
Lambda	thechrisgrey-metrics	us-east-1	Metrics collection and reporting
Bedrock KB	ARFYABW8HP	us-east-1	RAG knowledge base
Cognito	User Pool	us-east-1	Admin authentication
S3	thechrisgrey-kb-source	us-east-1	KB source documents
S3	thechrisgrey-vectors	us-east-1	Vector embeddings
DynamoDB	thechrisgrey-chat-ratelimit	us-east-1	Rate limiting (20 req/hr/IP)
Secrets Manager	thechrisgrey/youtube-api-key	us-east-1	YouTube API key
CloudWatch	tcg-AI-chat	us-east-1	Bedrock invocation logs

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Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Node.js 20.x (see .nvmrc)
• npm
• AWS CLI (for deployment)

Installation

git clone https://github.com/thechrisgrey/thechrisgrey.git
cd thechrisgrey
npm install

Development

npm run dev             # Start dev server at http://localhost:5173
npm run build           # Full production build
npm run preview         # Preview production build
npm run lint            # Run ESLint

Build Pipeline

The production build runs these steps in sequence:

validate-env -> podcast-episodes -> lint -> tsc -> vite build -> sitemap -> rss

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Testing

Framework	Scope	Command
Vitest	Unit + Integration	npm test
Vitest	Watch mode	npm run test:watch
Vitest	Coverage report	npm run test:coverage
Cypress	E2E (headless)	npm run cy:run
Cypress	E2E (interactive)	npm run cy:open
node:test	Lambda unit + contract	npm run test:lambda

The test suite includes unit tests for components, hooks, and utilities; integration tests for page-level behavior; and end-to-end tests covering navigation, chat, blog, and contact flows.

Live-API contract tests (opt-in)

Critical external boundaries — Cognito admin auth, the live Sanity client, Bedrock KB retrieval, and the Bedrock guardrail — are also covered by opt-in contract tests that exercise the real services (green mocks alone can drift from reality). They skip cleanly during npm run test:lambda and CI, and only run when their flag + AWS/Sanity credentials are present:

COGNITO_CONTRACT_TESTS=1 COGNITO_CLIENT_ID=… COGNITO_TEST_EMAIL=… COGNITO_TEST_PASSWORD=… \
  node --test lambda/shared/__tests__/cognito-contract.test.mjs
SANITY_CONTRACT_TESTS=1      node --test lambda/chat-stream/__tests__/sanity-contract.test.mjs
KB_RETRIEVE_CONTRACT_TESTS=1 node --test lambda/chat-stream/__tests__/kb-retrieve-contract.test.mjs
BEDROCK_CONTRACT_TESTS=1     node --test lambda/blueprint/__tests__/guardrail-contract.test.mjs

See .env.example for the full list of flags and required permissions. Run these before a release (or on a scheduled job) to catch response-shape/schema drift that unit mocks can't.

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Environment Variables

Set in AWS Amplify console or in a local .env file:

Variable	Description	Required
VITE_CHAT_ENDPOINT	Lambda Function URL for AI chat	Yes
VITE_CONTACT_ENDPOINT	Lambda Function URL for contact form	Yes
VITE_NEWSLETTER_ENDPOINT	Lambda Function URL for newsletter	Yes
VITE_COGNITO_USER_POOL_ID	Cognito User Pool ID (admin auth)	Yes
VITE_COGNITO_CLIENT_ID	Cognito App Client ID	Yes
VITE_KB_BUILDER_ENDPOINT	Lambda Function URL for KB admin	Yes
VITE_CHAT_SIGNING_KEY	HMAC signing key for chat requests	Yes
VITE_METRICS_ENDPOINT	Lambda Function URL for metrics	Yes
YOUTUBE_API_KEY	YouTube Data API v3 key (build-time only)	Yes

VITE_ prefixed variables are bundled into the frontend. YOUTUBE_API_KEY is only used during the build step.

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Deployment

Automatic (Recommended)

Push to main triggers automatic Amplify deployment:

git push origin main

Manual Rebuild

aws amplify start-job \
  --app-id d3du8eg39a9peo \
  --branch-name main \
  --job-type RELEASE \
  --region us-east-2

Lambda Deployment

Each Lambda function is deployed independently via a single verified script. The script installs from the lockfile, dereferences the lambda-shared symlink into the bundle, and verifies the entire module graph resolves before upload — so a deploy can no longer ship a Lambda that crashes on cold start.

# Verify the bundle builds and resolves, without uploading:
npm run deploy:lambda -- chat-stream --dry-run

# Deploy for real:
npm run deploy:lambda -- chat-stream

Works for any Lambda under lambda/ (e.g. chat-stream, blueprint, kb-builder, metrics, kb-sync, mcp-server). Pass --region <r> to override the default (us-east-1). Do not hand-build function.zip — the manual zip glob omits the sibling modules each handler imports and produces a broken artifact.

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Project Structure

thechrisgrey/
├── public/                          # Static assets (served as-is)
│   ├── assets/documents/            # Downloadable PDFs
│   ├── press-kit/                   # Press materials + archive
│   ├── .well-known/security.txt
│   ├── robots.txt
│   ├── og.png                       # Open Graph image
│   └── favicon.png
│
├── src/
│   ├── components/
│   │   ├── admin/                   # Admin panel (login, KB entries, site health)
│   │   ├── chat/                    # AI chat (message, input, suggestions, widget)
│   │   ├── ui/                      # Base UI (Button, FormInput, IconButton)
│   │   ├── Navigation.tsx
│   │   ├── Footer.tsx
│   │   ├── SEO.tsx                  # Meta tags + JSON-LD
│   │   ├── ErrorBoundary.tsx
│   │   ├── ErrorFallbacks.tsx
│   │   ├── EpisodeCard.tsx
│   │   ├── NewsletterForm.tsx
│   │   ├── ReadingProgressBar.tsx
│   │   └── ...
│   │
│   ├── pages/                       # Route-level page components
│   │   ├── Home.tsx, About.tsx, Altivum.tsx, Podcast.tsx
│   │   ├── BeyondTheAssessment.tsx, Blog.tsx, BlogPost.tsx
│   │   ├── Chat.tsx, Claude.tsx, AWS.tsx, Admin.tsx
│   │   ├── Contact.tsx, Links.tsx, Privacy.tsx
│   │   └── NotFound.tsx
│   │
│   ├── hooks/                       # Custom React hooks
│   │   ├── useAuth.ts               # Cognito authentication
│   │   ├── useChatEngine.ts         # Chat state and streaming
│   │   ├── useFocusTrap.ts          # Modal focus management
│   │   ├── useKbAdmin.ts            # KB admin operations
│   │   ├── usePageContext.ts        # Page-level context for chat
│   │   ├── useSessionStorage.ts     # Typed sessionStorage with Date revival
│   │   └── useSiteHealth.ts         # Site health monitoring
│   │
│   ├── sanity/                      # Sanity CMS client, queries, types, cache
│   ├── utils/                       # Typography, schemas, validators, web vitals
│   ├── constants/                   # Social links
│   ├── types/                       # TypeScript interfaces
│   ├── data/                        # Podcast episode data (generated + fallback)
│   ├── assets/                      # Optimized images (Vite processed)
│   │
│   ├── __tests__/
│   │   ├── integration/             # Page-level integration tests
│   │   └── setup.ts
│   │
│   ├── App.tsx                      # Routes, layout, error boundaries
│   ├── main.tsx                     # Entry point
│   └── index.css                    # Tailwind directives
│
├── lambda/
│   ├── shared/                      # Shared utilities (auth, rate limiting, response)
│   ├── chat-stream/                 # Bedrock streaming Lambda
│   ├── kb-sync/                     # Knowledge Base auto-sync
│   ├── kb-builder/                  # KB admin CRUD
│   └── metrics/                     # Metrics collection
│
├── scripts/
│   ├── validate-env.js              # Build-time env validation
│   ├── generate-podcast-episodes.js # YouTube API fetch
│   ├── generate-sitemap.js          # Sitemap from Sanity
│   └── generate-rss.js             # RSS feed from Sanity
│
├── cypress/                         # E2E tests
│   ├── e2e/                         # Test specs
│   ├── fixtures/                    # Test data
│   └── support/                     # Custom commands
│
├── docs/                            # Internal documentation and plans
├── .github/workflows/ci.yml        # GitHub Actions CI
├── amplify.yml                      # Amplify build config
├── tailwind.config.js
├── vite.config.ts
├── vitest.config.ts
├── cypress.config.ts
└── tsconfig.json

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Key Integrations

Sanity CMS (Blog)

• Project ID: k5950b3w | Dataset: production
• Content includes blog posts with categories, tags, series, and Portable Text rich content
• Client-side caching via postCache.ts with Date revival

YouTube Data API (Podcast)

Episodes are fetched at build time from the @AltivumPress channel.

1. generate-podcast-episodes.js runs during the build step
2. Fetches channel, uploads playlist, and video details
3. Generates src/data/generatedEpisodes.json
4. Falls back to static data if the API is unavailable

Amazon Bedrock (AI Chat)

• Model: Claude Haiku 4.5 (us.anthropic.claude-haiku-4-5-20251001-v1:0)
• Knowledge Base: ARFYABW8HP (autobiography chunks)
• Guardrail: 5kofhp46ssob (content filtering)
• Rate Limit: 20 requests/hour per IP (DynamoDB-backed)
• Streaming responses via Lambda Function URL with RAG retrieval (5 chunks per query)

Cloudflare Web Analytics

Privacy-friendly, cookie-free analytics with no personal data collection.

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Design System

Color Palette

Name	Hex	Usage
altivum-dark	#0A0F1C	Backgrounds
altivum-navy	#1A2332	Cards, nav
altivum-blue	#2E4A6B	Accents
altivum-slate	#4A5A73	Borders, muted
altivum-silver	#9BA6B8	Body text
altivum-gold	#C5A572	Highlights, CTAs

Typography

SF Pro Display with system font fallbacks. Ultra-light weight (200) throughout. Defined in src/utils/typography.ts.

Animations

• animate-fade-in : Hero entrance (1.2s)
• animate-nav-fade-in : Nav delayed entrance (0.8s, 2s delay)
• shimmer : Background shimmer effect
• widget-open : Chat widget expansion (250ms)

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License

Copyright 2026 Christian Perez. All rights reserved.

For inquiries, use the contact form or email via the website.