Summary
Update the README to be more professional while keeping the project's tongue-in-cheek humour, and elevate Rackula's positioning as a FOSS project. This is the pre-release polish pass before the first CalVer-tagged release ships.
Motivation
The current README was written when Rackula was primarily a homelab tool. The project has since expanded to serve AV techs, IT students, and others. The README also buries self-hosting details (auth config, env vars) that belong in the Self-Hosting Guide, making the page too long and hard to scan.
Additionally, the CalVer cutover (#1802, #1315) and upcoming LXC deployment (#1211) require README updates to accurately represent versioning, badges, and new deployment options.
Changes
Structure & Tone
- Add descriptive subtitle + flavour tagline
- Add Features section with icon-prefixed bullets and a static screenshot (alongside existing GIF)
- Add "Who It's For" use case section
- Add contributing callout with good-first-issue link
- Move "Built With Claude" up as a differentiator
- Condense Acknowledgements to one-liner + link
- Tone: hybrid — professional structure with fun copy (keep personality, make it scannable)
Badges
- Keep License, GitHub Release, and Docker badges (work fine with CalVer)
- Add CalVer badge (signals versioning scheme at a glance)
- Replace coverage / test-ratio / test-time badges with a CI status badge (cleaner hero, less stale-looking)
- Preserve Star History
Deployment
- Add LXC deployment section — Proxmox community-scripts one-liner + manual install option
- Move deployment config details (auth env vars, CORS, cookie settings) to Self-Hosting Guide (link only in README)
- Keep Docker Run and Docker Compose sections
Links & Metadata
- Add GitHub Discussions link
- Add Changelog link (CHANGELOG.md)
- Move Documentation section higher
- Update copyright to
2025–2026 Gareth Evans
Versioning Accuracy
Design Document
See docs/plans/2026-02-27-readme-refresh-design.md (committed on branch).
Acceptance Criteria
Summary
Update the README to be more professional while keeping the project's tongue-in-cheek humour, and elevate Rackula's positioning as a FOSS project. This is the pre-release polish pass before the first CalVer-tagged release ships.
Motivation
The current README was written when Rackula was primarily a homelab tool. The project has since expanded to serve AV techs, IT students, and others. The README also buries self-hosting details (auth config, env vars) that belong in the Self-Hosting Guide, making the page too long and hard to scan.
Additionally, the CalVer cutover (#1802, #1315) and upcoming LXC deployment (#1211) require README updates to accurately represent versioning, badges, and new deployment options.
Changes
Structure & Tone
Badges
Deployment
Links & Metadata
2025–2026 Gareth EvansVersioning Accuracy
v26.6.0etc.)localmode tracking reference (feat: Local authentication mode (username/password) #1117 status)Design Document
See
docs/plans/2026-02-27-readme-refresh-design.md(committed on branch).Acceptance Criteria