How I Over-Engineered My Book
A developer describes their process of writing a book using software engineering workflows, including Git, Markdown, and CI/CD pipelines. By treating prose as code, the author utilized IDE-based linting and automated testing to manage the writing and editing process.
Why it matters
This reflects a growing trend of 'content as code,' where technical professionals apply DevOps methodologies to creative writing and documentation projects.
I didn’t set out to do this. Most people start a writing project by firing up Word or Google Docs, and I started down that same path. I even tried some purpose-built authoring tools, but every tool felt inferior to the ones I used as a developer every day. I did “the only reasonable” thing and threw all of them out, writing the whole book on Git, Markdown, and a CI build pipeline. If you’ve read how I over-engineered my home network — twice — none of this will surprise you.
I’ve been making websites for decades, so the leap was short: the same tools that build websites could build books, no last-minute magic-trick reveal required to abracadabra a standard Word doc into a full-blown book. There were missteps, 2 but in the end, I would not have written Open and Async any other way. Here’s how:
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