From c92d5e561174bbaac9953f66b8a089aa554d7453 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Spencer Brower <6729162+sbrow@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Sun, 2 Aug 2026 15:47:39 -0400
Subject: [PATCH] chore: Added diagnostic checks for common template mistakes.

---
 DIAGNOSTIC_TODOS.yaml | 196 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 TODOS.md              |   6 +-
 2 files changed, 198 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)
 create mode 100644 DIAGNOSTIC_TODOS.yaml

diff --git a/DIAGNOSTIC_TODOS.yaml b/DIAGNOSTIC_TODOS.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..05e9b5b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/DIAGNOSTIC_TODOS.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,196 @@
+name: Missing 2nd closing brace
+input: |
+  <menu>
+    <a class="goto-top opacity-0" href="#">{{> icons/chevron_up}</a>
+    {{#params.social}}
+    <a href="{{url}}" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer me" title="{{name}}">{{>* icon}}</a>
+    {{/params.social}}
+  </menu>
+  <p>Proudly built with <a href="https://github.com/sbrow/thor/">Thor</a> and <a
+
+expected: Somthing that points to the opening and lack of close.
+actual: |
+  [ERROR] --- [383:load_partials()] unexpected {{/params.social}}
+     --> /home/spencer/github.com/sbrow.github.io/layouts/partials/footer.html:6:5
+    |
+  4 |     {{#params.social}}
+  5 |     <a href="{{url}}" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer me" title="{{name}}">{{>* icon}}</a>
+  6 |     {{/params.social}}
+    |     ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+  7 |   </menu>
+  8 |   <p>Proudly built with <a href="https://github.com/sbrow/thor/">Thor</a> and <a
+---
+name: Missing 2nd opening brace
+input: |
+  <menu>
+    <a class="goto-top opacity-0" href="#">{> icons/chevron_up}}</a>
+    {{#params.social}}
+    <a href="{{url}}" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer me" title="{{name}}">{{>* icon}}</a>
+    {{/params.social}}
+  </menu>
+  <p>Proudly built with <a href="https://github.com/sbrow/thor/">Thor</a> and <a
+expected: Somthing that shows the whole block, and points out the missing opening brace
+actual: Nothing. The page compiles with no warnings or errors
+---
+name: Invalid timezone
+input: |
+  {
+    "date": {
+      "timezone": "America/New_Yorkside"
+    }
+  }
+expected: "Did you mean 'America/New_York'? pointing to line+col no in the config"
+actual: |
+  [WARN ] --- [148:init_site()] unable to load timezone 'America/New_Yorkside'
+---
+name: Mismatched section tags
+input: |
+  <footer>
+    <menu>
+      <a class="goto-top opacity-0" href="#">{{> icons/chevron_up}}</a>
+      {{#params.ocial}}
+      <a href="{{url}}" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer me" title="{{name}}">{{>* icon}}</a>
+      {{/params.social}}
+    </menu>
+    <p>Proudly built with <a href="https://github.com/sbrow/thor/">Thor</a> and <a
+        href="https://edwardtufte.github.io/tufte-css/">Tufte CSS</a>
+    </p>
+    <p><small>&copy;</small> {{now | format "2006" }} {{params.author.name}}</p>
+  </footer>
+expected: Mostly the same, but with rust style markers at the opening and close
+actual: |
+  [ERROR] --- [383:load_partials()] expected {{/params.ocial}}, got {{/params.social}}
+   --> /home/spencer/github.com/sbrow.github.io/layouts/partials/footer.html:6:5
+    |
+  4 |     {{#params.ocial}}
+  5 |     <a href="{{url}}" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer me" title="{{name}}">{{>* icon}}</a>
+  6 |     {{/params.social}}
+    |     ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+  7 |   </menu>
+  8 |   <p>Proudly built with <a href="https://github.com/sbrow/thor/">Thor</a> and <a
+---
+name: Missing closing section
+input: |
+  <footer>
+    <menu>
+      <a class="goto-top opacity-0" href="#">{{> icons/chevron_up}}</a>
+      {{#params.social}}
+      <a href="{{url}}" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer me" title="{{name}}">{{>* icon}}</a>
+      <!-- {{/params.social}} -->
+    </menu>
+    <p>Proudly built with <a href="https://github.com/sbrow/thor/">Thor</a> and <a
+        href="https://edwardtufte.github.io/tufte-css/">Tufte CSS</a>
+    </p>
+    <p><small>&copy;</small> {{now | format "2006" }} {{params.author.name}}</p>
+  </footer>
+expected: "Missing closing tag '{{/params.social}}' ...opened <here> ... expected close <here>"
+actual: Nothing. The page compiles with no warnings or errors
+---
+name: empty tag
+input: |
+  <footer>
+    <menu>
+      <a class="goto-top opacity-0" href="#">{{> icons/chevron_up}}</a>
+      {{#params.social}}
+      <a href="{{url}}" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer me" title="{{name}}">{{>* icon}}</a>
+      {{/params.social}}
+    </menu>
+    <p>Proudly built with <a href="https://github.com/sbrow/thor/">Thor</a> and <a
+        href="https://edwardtufte.github.io/tufte-css/">Tufte CSS</a>
+    </p>
+    <p><small>&copy;</small> {{}} {{params.author.name}}</p>
+  </footer>
+expected: "Found an empty tag at <line:col>"
+actual: |
+  [WARN ] --- [920:warn_unknown_key()] unknown key ''
+   --> /home/spencer/github.com/sbrow.github.io/layouts/partials/footer.html:1:1
+    |
+  1 | <footer>
+    | ^
+  2 |   <menu>
+  3 |     <a class="goto-top opacity-0" href="#">{{> icons/chevron_up}}</a>
+    |
+---
+name: Missing pipe arguement
+input: |
+  <footer>
+    <menu>
+      <a class="goto-top opacity-0" href="#">{{> icons/chevron_up}}</a>
+      {{#params.social}}
+      <a href="{{url}}" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer me" title="{{name}}">{{>* icon}}</a>
+      {{/params.social}}
+    </menu>
+    <p>Proudly built with <a href="https://github.com/sbrow/thor/">Thor</a> and <a
+        href="https://edwardtufte.github.io/tufte-css/">Tufte CSS</a>
+    </p>
+    <p><small>&copy;</small> {{now | group_by }} {{params.author.name}}</p>
+  </footer>
+expected: "Missing filter argument <pointing to exact location>"
+actual: |
+  [ERROR] --- [152:render_template()] group_by expects 1 argument, got 0
+   --> /home/spencer/github.com/sbrow.github.io/layouts/partials/footer.html:1:1
+    |
+  1 | <footer>
+    | ^
+  2 |   <menu>
+  3 |     <a class="goto-top opacity-0" href="#">{{> icons/chevron_up}}</a>
+    |
+---
+name: Double dot access
+input: |
+  <footer>
+    <menu>
+      <a class="goto-top opacity-0" href="#">{{> icons/chevron_up}}</a>
+      {{#params.social}}
+      <a href="{{url}}" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer me" title="{{name}}">{{>* icon}}</a>
+      {{/params.social}}
+    </menu>
+    <p>Proudly built with <a href="https://github.com/sbrow/thor/">Thor</a> and <a
+        href="https://edwardtufte.github.io/tufte-css/">Tufte CSS</a>
+    </p>
+    <p><small>&copy;</small> {{now | format "2006" }} {{params..name}}</p>
+  </footer>
+expected: Error "Invalid access key"
+actual: Nothing. The page compiles with no warnings or errors
+---
+name: Too many opening braces
+input: |
+  <footer>
+    <menu>
+      <a class="goto-top opacity-0" href="#">{{> icons/chevron_up}}</a>
+      {{#params.social}}
+      <a href="{{url}}" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer me" title="{{name}}">{{>* icon}}</a>
+      {{/params.social}}
+    </menu>
+    <p>Proudly built with <a href="https://github.com/sbrow/thor/">Thor</a> and <a
+        href="https://edwardtufte.github.io/tufte-css/">Tufte CSS</a>
+    </p>
+    <p><small>&copy;</small> {{{{now | format "2006" }}} {{params.author.name}}</p>
+  </footer>
+expected: "Too many opening braces <point to location>"
+actual: |
+  [WARN ] --- [920:warn_unknown_key()] unknown key '{now'
+   --> /home/spencer/github.com/sbrow.github.io/layouts/partials/footer.html:1:1
+    |
+  1 | <footer>
+    | ^ did you mean 'now'?
+  2 |   <menu>
+  3 |     <a class="goto-top opacity-0" href="#">{{> icons/chevron_up}}</a>
+    |
+---
+name: Too many closing braces
+input: |
+  <footer>
+    <menu>
+      <a class="goto-top opacity-0" href="#">{{> icons/chevron_up}}</a>
+      {{#params.social}}
+      <a href="{{url}}" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer me" title="{{name}}">{{>* icon}}</a>
+      {{/params.social}}
+    </menu>
+    <p>Proudly built with <a href="https://github.com/sbrow/thor/">Thor</a> and <a
+        href="https://edwardtufte.github.io/tufte-css/">Tufte CSS</a>
+    </p>
+    <p><small>&copy;</small> {{now | format "2006" }}}} {{params.author.name}}</p>
+  </footer>
+expected: "Too many closing braces <Point to location>"
+actual: Nothing. The page compiles with no warnings or errors
diff --git a/TODOS.md b/TODOS.md
index db9eca8..c550a47 100644
--- a/TODOS.md
+++ b/TODOS.md
@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@
 - Polish existing features before moving on to new ones.
 - [ ] Improve diagnostics
   - [x] keep track of every error and don't report them more than once.
+  - [ ] make sure the frontmatter parser has good diagnostics.
+  - [ ] fix the diagnostics in [DIAGNOSTIC TODOS](./DIAGNOSTIC_TODOS.yaml)
   - [ ] All Diagnostics should show:
     - [ ] *What* went wrong
     - [ ] *where* (in the file)
@@ -14,9 +16,6 @@
   - [ ] better diagnostics for syntax errors in treesitter.
   - [ ] Ensure diagnostics for MAX_CONTEXT_DEPTH are good.
   - [ ] improve matching weights message.
-  - [ ] show a proper diagnostic for timezones
-    - currently "unable to load timezone 'America/New_Yorkskie'"
-    - want rust style diagnostic and better message, maybe "unknown timezone 'America/New_Yorkskie'"
   - [ ] Test menu diagnostics
   - [ ] Honestly, Test **all** diagnostics
   - [ ] Need to be careful about diagnostics across module boundaries.
@@ -157,7 +156,6 @@ main :: proc () {
   - sets `-minify`
 - [ ] Mustache diagnostics
   - [ ] Partial invocation stack in diagnostics: when an error fires inside a partial, show "invoked from" chain through `{{> name}}` calls. Currently warnings inside partials point at the partial (correct file) but don't show the invocation site.
-  - [ ] Could be better error message when missing a closing (or opening) brace
   - [x] Error message doesn't show position of faulty pipe name correctly.
   - [ ] `render_template` (`render.odin`) blanks the *entire page* to `""` on any
         mustache render error and only `log.errorf`s it — a single bad tag/pipe