Check Local Site Links

Check all links and anchors on the LOCAL development server (http://localhost:4000) using lychee link checker.

Prerequisites

1. lychee must be installed:

   brew install lychee
   

2. LOCAL Jekyll server must be running:

   bundle exec jekyll serve
   

   The server should be accessible at http://localhost:4000

URLs to check

Main pages (index)

1. http://localhost:4000/ (English)
2. http://localhost:4000/ru/ (Russian)
3. http://localhost:4000/ua/ (Ukrainian)
4. http://localhost:4000/es/ (Spanish)

Instructions

1. Check if lychee is installed:

   which lychee || echo "lychee not found - install with: brew install lychee"
   

2. Check if LOCAL server is running:

   curl -s -o /dev/null -w "%{http_code}" http://localhost:4000/ || echo "LOCAL server not running - start with: bundle exec jekyll serve"
   

3. Run lychee for each page with anchor fragment checking enabled:

   lychee --include-fragments --exclude "ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/vies" --exclude "bit.ly" "URL" 2>&1
   

   The --exclude flags skip:

   • EU VIES VAT validation page (uses JavaScript routing - false positive)
   • bit.ly links (tested separately in /tests-prod-test-bitly-links to avoid inflating Bitly analytics)

4. Run all 4 checks in parallel using the Task tool for efficiency, or run sequentially:

   # Example for one page:
   lychee --include-fragments --exclude "ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/vies" --exclude "bit.ly" "http://localhost:4000/ru/" 2>&1
   

5. Parse the output for each page:

   • Total links checked
   • OK links (✅)
   • Errors (❌) - broken links or missing anchors
   • Excluded (👻) - mailto links, etc.
   • Redirects (🔀)

Known Exclusions

Some links may show errors but are false positives:

• JavaScript-based anchors (e.g., https://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/vies/#/vat-validation) - these use client-side routing and cannot be validated by lychee
• Rate-limited sites - some external sites may temporarily block requests

Output Format

Summary Table

## LOCAL Site Link Check Results

| Page | Total | OK | Redirects | Excluded | Errors | Status |
|------|-------|-----|-----------|----------|--------|--------|
| EN Index (/) | 150 | 138 | 10 | 2 | 0 | ✅ |
| RU Index (/ru/) | 171 | 158 | 10 | 3 | 0 | ✅ |
| UA Index (/ua/) | 165 | 152 | 10 | 3 | 0 | ✅ |
| ES Index (/es/) | 150 | 138 | 10 | 2 | 0 | ✅ |

Note: Total = OK + Redirects + Excluded + Errors

Errors Report (if any)

## ❌ Errors Found

### RU Index (/ru/)
1. [ERROR] http://localhost:4000/ru/#broken-anchor | Cannot find fragment
2. [ERROR] https://broken-link.com | Network error

### Action Required
- Fix broken links listed above
- For anchor errors: verify the target section exists on the page

Final Status

End with a clear summary:

## Final Status

✅ **ALL LOCAL LINKS VALID** - All 4 pages passed (X total links, Y anchors verified)

OR

## Final Status

❌ **LOCAL ISSUES FOUND** - X broken link(s) across Y page(s)

Action required: Fix the errors listed above before deploying.

Important Notes

• --include-fragments enables anchor/fragment checking (critical for internal navigation)
• lychee downloads full HTML to verify anchors exist on pages
• Exit code 0 = all OK, exit code 2 = errors found
• Some JavaScript-rendered anchors cannot be validated (known limitation)
• External sites may rate-limit or block requests - retry if needed
• LOCAL server must be running at http://localhost:4000 before running this check
• Important: Use localhost (not 127.0.0.1) to match Jekyll's generated URLs and get accurate link counts
• Use this to validate changes BEFORE deploying to PROD