WHO IS KYRGYZ? 🇰🇬
A Nation. A Land. A Thousand Stories.
A free, installable web app (PWA) that helps everyone — people in Kyrgyzstan, Kyrgyz abroad and curious visitors — discover Kyrgyzstan's nature, heroes, history, culture and customs. Built with Expo, so iOS and Android apps can follow from the same code.
What's in this version
- FIND OUT: one tap reveals a discovery; never repeats a recent one and shows unseen ones first.
- 30 discoveries in 5 sections (Our Land, Our Heroes, Our History, Our Culture, Our Uniqueness), each with hook, fact, story, "Did you know?", quiz question, related discovery and sources — in Kyrgyz, Russian and English.
- Play & Discover: 6 themed quizzes, a photo-guessing game and "Fact or fiction?". No timers, no penalties.
- My Collection: saved discoveries, cultural cards that unlock as you explore, progress per section. Stored on the device; no account.
- Shareable links for every discovery and quiz (
/discover/manas, /play/history) with share-preview images.
- Offline: after the first visit the whole app works without a connection; photos are cached as you view them.
- Editorial safety: every claim is listed with its source; unverified claims are flagged; drafts are labelled and can be excluded from production builds.
Run it locally
Requires Node.js 22+ (24 recommended).
npm install
npm run web # development server — open the URL it prints
To test the real production build (including install and offline):
npm run build:web
npm run serve:web # http://localhost:4173
Deploy (free static hosting — no server needed)
The build output is a folder of static files (dist/). Any static host works. Choose one:
Netlify (simplest): push this folder to a GitHub repository → in Netlify, Add new site → Import from Git → it reads netlify.toml automatically. Or drag-and-drop the dist/ folder onto app.netlify.com/drop after npm run build:web.
Vercel: import the repository; vercel.json sets the build command, output folder and clean URLs.
Cloudflare Pages: build command npm run build:web, output directory dist, environment variable NODE_VERSION=24.
After the first deploy, set your real address so share previews show images:
EXPO_PUBLIC_SITE_URL=https://your-domain.example
(add it as an environment variable on the host and redeploy).
Production vs preview content
By default the build shows all discoveries, with drafts clearly marked "Awaiting review". To publish only approved, fully fact-checked entries:
EXPO_PUBLIC_CONTENT_MODE=production
Right now no entry is approved yet, so a production build would contain no discoveries — use preview mode until editors approve content.
Install on a phone
- iPhone (Safari): open the site → Share → Add to Home Screen.
- Android (Chrome): open the site → menu ⋮ → Install app (or accept the install prompt).
Editorial workflow
- Edit or add a discovery in
src/content/discoveries/ (one file each) and register it in src/content/library.ts.
npm run validate:content — checks word limits, quiz format, related links and sources, and lists every claim still needing fact-checking.npm run report:content — writes the checklist to docs/content-review.md for editors.- When a native speaker approves a translation, set its
review to { status: 'approved', reviewer: '…', date: 'YYYY-MM-DD' }. When a claim is confirmed, set it to verified and add the source.
npm run make:assets if you added discoveries or changed images (regenerates share images).
Native apps (later)
The app runs in Expo Go today (npm start, scan the QR code). For store builds use EAS: npx eas-cli@latest build -p ios|android. Set EXPO_PUBLIC_SITE_URL so shared links from the apps point to the website.
Credits
Photos from Wikimedia Commons under CC0, public domain, Free Art License and Creative Commons licences — full list on the in-app About page and in assets/images/stories/credits.json. Fonts: Playfair Display and Inter (SIL Open Font License).
