feat: replace hardcoded navigation with CMS-managed models

Replace static nav/footer links with Wagtail-managed NavigationMenuItem
and SocialMediaLink orderables on SiteSettings. Unpublished pages are
automatically excluded from rendering, fixing the dead-link problem.

- Extend SiteSettings with site_name, tagline, footer_description,
  copyright_text branding fields
- Add NavigationMenuItem orderable (link_page/link_url, show_in_header,
  show_in_footer, sort_order) with automatic live-page filtering
- Add SocialMediaLink orderable with platform icon templates
- New template tags: get_nav_items, get_social_links
- Update nav.html and footer.html to render from CMS data
- Data migration seeds existing hardcoded values for zero-change deploy
- Update seed_e2e_content command for test/dev environments
- 18 new tests covering models, template tags, and rendered output

Closes #32

Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

apps/core/management/commands/seed_e2e_content.py

@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ from wagtail.models import Page, Site
 from apps.authors.models import Author
 from apps.blog.models import AboutPage, ArticleIndexPage, ArticlePage, HomePage, TagMetadata
 from apps.comments.models import Comment
+from apps.core.models import NavigationMenuItem, SiteSettings, SocialMediaLink
 from apps.legal.models import LegalIndexPage, LegalPage
 
 
@@ -139,4 +140,45 @@ class Command(BaseCommand):
         site.is_default_site = True
         site.save()
 
+        # Navigation menu items and social links — always reconcile to
+        # match the pages we just created (the data migration may have
+        # seeded partial items before these pages existed).
+        settings, _ = SiteSettings.objects.get_or_create(site=site)
+        NavigationMenuItem.objects.filter(settings=settings).delete()
+        article_index_page = ArticleIndexPage.objects.child_of(home).filter(slug="articles").first()
+        about_page = AboutPage.objects.child_of(home).filter(slug="about").first()
+        nav_items = [
+            NavigationMenuItem(settings=settings, link_page=home, link_title="Home", sort_order=0),
+        ]
+        if article_index_page:
+            nav_items.append(
+                NavigationMenuItem(
+                    settings=settings, link_page=article_index_page,
+                    link_title="Articles", sort_order=1,
+                )
+            )
+        if about_page:
+            nav_items.append(
+                NavigationMenuItem(
+                    settings=settings, link_page=about_page,
+                    link_title="About", sort_order=2,
+                )
+            )
+        NavigationMenuItem.objects.bulk_create(nav_items)
+
+        SocialMediaLink.objects.filter(settings=settings).delete()
+        SocialMediaLink.objects.bulk_create(
+            [
+                SocialMediaLink(
+                    settings=settings, platform="twitter",
+                    url="https://twitter.com/nohypeai",
+                    label="Twitter (X)", sort_order=0,
+                ),
+                SocialMediaLink(
+                    settings=settings, platform="rss",
+                    url="/feed/", label="RSS Feed", sort_order=1,
+                ),
+            ]
+        )
+
         self.stdout.write(self.style.SUCCESS("Seeded E2E content."))

apps/core/migrations/0002_sitesettings_copyright_text_and_more.py

@@ -0,0 +1,69 @@
+# Generated by Django 5.2.11 on 2026-03-02 18:39
+
+import django.db.models.deletion
+import modelcluster.fields
+from django.db import migrations, models
+
+
+class Migration(migrations.Migration):
+
+    dependencies = [
+        ('core', '0001_initial'),
+        ('wagtailcore', '0094_alter_page_locale'),
+    ]
+
+    operations = [
+        migrations.AddField(
+            model_name='sitesettings',
+            name='copyright_text',
+            field=models.CharField(default='No Hype AI. All rights reserved.', max_length=200),
+        ),
+        migrations.AddField(
+            model_name='sitesettings',
+            name='footer_description',
+            field=models.TextField(blank=True, default='In-depth reviews and benchmarks of the latest AI coding tools.\nHonest analysis for developers.'),
+        ),
+        migrations.AddField(
+            model_name='sitesettings',
+            name='site_name',
+            field=models.CharField(default='NO HYPE AI', max_length=100),
+        ),
+        migrations.AddField(
+            model_name='sitesettings',
+            name='tagline',
+            field=models.CharField(default='Honest AI tool reviews for developers.', max_length=200),
+        ),
+        migrations.CreateModel(
+            name='NavigationMenuItem',
+            fields=[
+                ('id', models.BigAutoField(auto_created=True, primary_key=True, serialize=False, verbose_name='ID')),
+                ('sort_order', models.IntegerField(blank=True, editable=False, null=True)),
+                ('link_url', models.URLField(blank=True, default='', help_text='External URL (used only when no page is selected).')),
+                ('link_title', models.CharField(blank=True, default='', help_text='Override the display text. If blank, the page title is used.', max_length=100)),
+                ('open_in_new_tab', models.BooleanField(default=False)),
+                ('show_in_header', models.BooleanField(default=True)),
+                ('show_in_footer', models.BooleanField(default=True)),
+                ('link_page', models.ForeignKey(blank=True, help_text='Link to an internal page. If unpublished, the link is hidden automatically.', null=True, on_delete=django.db.models.deletion.SET_NULL, related_name='+', to='wagtailcore.page')),
+                ('settings', modelcluster.fields.ParentalKey(on_delete=django.db.models.deletion.CASCADE, related_name='navigation_items', to='core.sitesettings')),
+            ],
+            options={
+                'ordering': ['sort_order'],
+                'abstract': False,
+            },
+        ),
+        migrations.CreateModel(
+            name='SocialMediaLink',
+            fields=[
+                ('id', models.BigAutoField(auto_created=True, primary_key=True, serialize=False, verbose_name='ID')),
+                ('sort_order', models.IntegerField(blank=True, editable=False, null=True)),
+                ('platform', models.CharField(choices=[('twitter', 'Twitter / X'), ('github', 'GitHub'), ('rss', 'RSS Feed'), ('linkedin', 'LinkedIn'), ('youtube', 'YouTube'), ('mastodon', 'Mastodon'), ('bluesky', 'Bluesky')], max_length=30)),
+                ('url', models.URLField()),
+                ('label', models.CharField(blank=True, default='', help_text='Display label. If blank, the platform name is used.', max_length=100)),
+                ('settings', modelcluster.fields.ParentalKey(on_delete=django.db.models.deletion.CASCADE, related_name='social_links', to='core.sitesettings')),
+            ],
+            options={
+                'ordering': ['sort_order'],
+                'abstract': False,
+            },
+        ),
+    ]

apps/core/migrations/0003_seed_navigation_data.py

@@ -0,0 +1,112 @@
+# Generated by Django 5.2.11 on 2026-03-02 18:39
+
+from django.db import migrations
+
+
+def seed_navigation_data(apps, schema_editor):
+    Site = apps.get_model("wagtailcore", "Site")
+    SiteSettings = apps.get_model("core", "SiteSettings")
+    NavigationMenuItem = apps.get_model("core", "NavigationMenuItem")
+    SocialMediaLink = apps.get_model("core", "SocialMediaLink")
+    Page = apps.get_model("wagtailcore", "Page")
+
+    for site in Site.objects.all():
+        settings, _ = SiteSettings.objects.get_or_create(site=site)
+
+        # Only seed if no nav items exist yet
+        if NavigationMenuItem.objects.filter(settings=settings).exists():
+            continue
+
+        root_page = site.root_page
+        if not root_page:
+            continue
+
+        # Find pages by slug under the site root using tree path
+        home_page = root_page
+        # In Wagtail's treebeard, direct children share the root's path prefix
+        articles_page = Page.objects.filter(
+            depth=root_page.depth + 1,
+            path__startswith=root_page.path,
+            slug__startswith="articles",
+        ).first()
+        about_page = Page.objects.filter(
+            depth=root_page.depth + 1,
+            path__startswith=root_page.path,
+            slug__startswith="about",
+        ).first()
+
+        nav_items = []
+        if home_page:
+            nav_items.append(
+                NavigationMenuItem(
+                    settings=settings,
+                    link_page=home_page,
+                    link_title="Home",
+                    show_in_header=True,
+                    show_in_footer=True,
+                    sort_order=0,
+                )
+            )
+        if articles_page:
+            nav_items.append(
+                NavigationMenuItem(
+                    settings=settings,
+                    link_page=articles_page,
+                    link_title="Articles",
+                    show_in_header=True,
+                    show_in_footer=True,
+                    sort_order=1,
+                )
+            )
+        if about_page:
+            nav_items.append(
+                NavigationMenuItem(
+                    settings=settings,
+                    link_page=about_page,
+                    link_title="About",
+                    show_in_header=True,
+                    show_in_footer=True,
+                    sort_order=2,
+                )
+            )
+        NavigationMenuItem.objects.bulk_create(nav_items)
+
+        # Social links
+        if not SocialMediaLink.objects.filter(settings=settings).exists():
+            SocialMediaLink.objects.bulk_create(
+                [
+                    SocialMediaLink(
+                        settings=settings,
+                        platform="twitter",
+                        url="https://twitter.com/nohypeai",
+                        label="Twitter (X)",
+                        sort_order=0,
+                    ),
+                    SocialMediaLink(
+                        settings=settings,
+                        platform="rss",
+                        url="/feed/",
+                        label="RSS Feed",
+                        sort_order=1,
+                    ),
+                ]
+            )
+
+
+def reverse_seed(apps, schema_editor):
+    NavigationMenuItem = apps.get_model("core", "NavigationMenuItem")
+    SocialMediaLink = apps.get_model("core", "SocialMediaLink")
+    NavigationMenuItem.objects.all().delete()
+    SocialMediaLink.objects.all().delete()
+
+
+class Migration(migrations.Migration):
+
+    dependencies = [
+        ('core', '0002_sitesettings_copyright_text_and_more'),
+        ('wagtailcore', '0094_alter_page_locale'),
+    ]
+
+    operations = [
+        migrations.RunPython(seed_navigation_data, reverse_seed),
+    ]

apps/core/models.py

@@ -1,10 +1,24 @@
 from django.db import models
 from django.db.models import SET_NULL
+from modelcluster.fields import ParentalKey
+from modelcluster.models import ClusterableModel
+from wagtail.admin.panels import FieldPanel, InlinePanel, MultiFieldPanel
 from wagtail.contrib.settings.models import BaseSiteSetting, register_setting
+from wagtail.models import Orderable
+
+SOCIAL_ICON_CHOICES = [
+    ("twitter", "Twitter / X"),
+    ("github", "GitHub"),
+    ("rss", "RSS Feed"),
+    ("linkedin", "LinkedIn"),
+    ("youtube", "YouTube"),
+    ("mastodon", "Mastodon"),
+    ("bluesky", "Bluesky"),
+]
 
 
 @register_setting
-class SiteSettings(BaseSiteSetting):
+class SiteSettings(ClusterableModel, BaseSiteSetting):
     default_og_image = models.ForeignKey(
         "wagtailimages.Image",
         null=True,
@@ -19,3 +33,140 @@ class SiteSettings(BaseSiteSetting):
         on_delete=SET_NULL,
         related_name="+",
     )
+
+    # Branding
+    site_name = models.CharField(max_length=100, default="NO HYPE AI")
+    tagline = models.CharField(
+        max_length=200,
+        default="Honest AI tool reviews for developers.",
+    )
+    footer_description = models.TextField(
+        default="In-depth reviews and benchmarks of the latest AI coding tools.\nHonest analysis for developers.",
+        blank=True,
+    )
+    copyright_text = models.CharField(
+        max_length=200,
+        default="No Hype AI. All rights reserved.",
+    )
+
+    panels = [
+        MultiFieldPanel(
+            [
+                FieldPanel("site_name"),
+                FieldPanel("tagline"),
+                FieldPanel("footer_description"),
+                FieldPanel("copyright_text"),
+            ],
+            heading="Branding",
+        ),
+        MultiFieldPanel(
+            [
+                FieldPanel("default_og_image"),
+                FieldPanel("privacy_policy_page"),
+            ],
+            heading="SEO & Legal",
+        ),
+        InlinePanel("navigation_items", label="Navigation Menu Items"),
+        InlinePanel("social_links", label="Social Media Links"),
+    ]
+
+
+class NavigationMenuItem(Orderable):
+    settings = ParentalKey(
+        SiteSettings,
+        on_delete=models.CASCADE,
+        related_name="navigation_items",
+    )
+    link_page = models.ForeignKey(
+        "wagtailcore.Page",
+        null=True,
+        blank=True,
+        on_delete=SET_NULL,
+        related_name="+",
+        help_text="Link to an internal page. If unpublished, the link is hidden automatically.",
+    )
+    link_url = models.URLField(
+        blank=True,
+        default="",
+        help_text="External URL (used only when no page is selected).",
+    )
+    link_title = models.CharField(
+        max_length=100,
+        blank=True,
+        default="",
+        help_text="Override the display text. If blank, the page title is used.",
+    )
+    open_in_new_tab = models.BooleanField(default=False)
+    show_in_header = models.BooleanField(default=True)
+    show_in_footer = models.BooleanField(default=True)
+
+    panels = [
+        FieldPanel("link_page"),
+        FieldPanel("link_url"),
+        FieldPanel("link_title"),
+        FieldPanel("open_in_new_tab"),
+        FieldPanel("show_in_header"),
+        FieldPanel("show_in_footer"),
+    ]
+
+    @property
+    def title(self):
+        if self.link_title:
+            return self.link_title
+        if self.link_page:
+            return self.link_page.title
+        return ""
+
+    @property
+    def url(self):
+        if self.link_page:
+            return self.link_page.url
+        return self.link_url
+
+    @property
+    def is_live(self):
+        """Return False if linked to an unpublished/non-live page."""
+        if self.link_page_id:
+            return self.link_page.live
+        return bool(self.link_url)
+
+    class Meta(Orderable.Meta):
+        pass
+
+
+class SocialMediaLink(Orderable):
+    settings = ParentalKey(
+        SiteSettings,
+        on_delete=models.CASCADE,
+        related_name="social_links",
+    )
+    platform = models.CharField(
+        max_length=30,
+        choices=SOCIAL_ICON_CHOICES,
+    )
+    url = models.URLField()
+    label = models.CharField(
+        max_length=100,
+        blank=True,
+        default="",
+        help_text="Display label. If blank, the platform name is used.",
+    )
+
+    panels = [
+        FieldPanel("platform"),
+        FieldPanel("url"),
+        FieldPanel("label"),
+    ]
+
+    @property
+    def display_label(self):
+        if self.label:
+            return self.label
+        return dict(SOCIAL_ICON_CHOICES).get(self.platform, self.platform)
+
+    @property
+    def icon_template(self):
+        return f"components/icons/{self.platform}.html"
+
+    class Meta(Orderable.Meta):
+        pass

apps/core/templatetags/core_tags.py

@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ from django.utils.safestring import mark_safe
 from wagtail.models import Site
 
 from apps.blog.models import TagMetadata
+from apps.core.models import SiteSettings
 from apps.legal.models import LegalPage
 
 register = template.Library()
@@ -20,6 +21,31 @@ def get_legal_pages(context):
     return pages
 
 
+@register.simple_tag(takes_context=True)
+def get_nav_items(context, location="header"):
+    request = context.get("request")
+    site = Site.find_for_request(request) if request else None
+    settings = SiteSettings.for_site(site) if site else None
+    if not settings:
+        return []
+    items = settings.navigation_items.all()
+    if location == "header":
+        items = items.filter(show_in_header=True)
+    elif location == "footer":
+        items = items.filter(show_in_footer=True)
+    return [item for item in items if item.is_live]
+
+
+@register.simple_tag(takes_context=True)
+def get_social_links(context):
+    request = context.get("request")
+    site = Site.find_for_request(request) if request else None
+    settings = SiteSettings.for_site(site) if site else None
+    if not settings:
+        return []
+    return list(settings.social_links.all())
+
+
 @register.simple_tag
 @register.filter
 def get_tag_css(tag):

apps/core/tests/test_navigation.py

@@ -0,0 +1,191 @@
+import pytest
+from wagtail.models import Site
+
+from apps.blog.models import AboutPage, ArticleIndexPage
+from apps.core.models import NavigationMenuItem, SiteSettings, SocialMediaLink
+
+
+@pytest.fixture
+def site_with_nav(home_page):
+    """Create SiteSettings with nav items and social links for testing."""
+    site = Site.objects.get(is_default_site=True)
+    settings, _ = SiteSettings.objects.get_or_create(site=site)
+
+    # Clear any items seeded by the data migration
+    settings.navigation_items.all().delete()
+    settings.social_links.all().delete()
+
+    # Create article index and about page
+    article_index = ArticleIndexPage(title="Articles", slug="articles")
+    home_page.add_child(instance=article_index)
+    article_index.save_revision().publish()
+
+    about = AboutPage(
+        title="About",
+        slug="about",
+        mission_statement="Test mission",
+        body="<p>About page</p>",
+    )
+    home_page.add_child(instance=about)
+    about.save_revision().publish()
+
+    # Create nav items
+    NavigationMenuItem.objects.create(
+        settings=settings,
+        link_page=home_page,
+        link_title="Home",
+        show_in_header=True,
+        show_in_footer=True,
+        sort_order=0,
+    )
+    NavigationMenuItem.objects.create(
+        settings=settings,
+        link_page=article_index,
+        link_title="Articles",
+        show_in_header=True,
+        show_in_footer=True,
+        sort_order=1,
+    )
+    NavigationMenuItem.objects.create(
+        settings=settings,
+        link_page=about,
+        link_title="About",
+        show_in_header=True,
+        show_in_footer=False,
+        sort_order=2,
+    )
+
+    # Social links
+    SocialMediaLink.objects.create(
+        settings=settings,
+        platform="twitter",
+        url="https://twitter.com/nohypeai",
+        label="Twitter (X)",
+        sort_order=0,
+    )
+    SocialMediaLink.objects.create(
+        settings=settings,
+        platform="rss",
+        url="/feed/",
+        label="RSS Feed",
+        sort_order=1,
+    )
+
+    return settings
+
+
+@pytest.mark.django_db
+class TestNavigationMenuItem:
+    def test_live_page_is_rendered(self, site_with_nav):
+        items = [i for i in site_with_nav.navigation_items.all() if i.is_live]
+        assert len(items) == 3
+
+    def test_unpublished_page_excluded(self, site_with_nav):
+        about_item = site_with_nav.navigation_items.get(link_title="About")
+        about_item.link_page.unpublish()
+        items = [i for i in site_with_nav.navigation_items.all() if i.is_live]
+        assert len(items) == 2
+        assert all(i.link_title != "About" for i in items)
+
+    def test_external_url_item(self, site_with_nav):
+        NavigationMenuItem.objects.create(
+            settings=site_with_nav,
+            link_url="https://example.com",
+            link_title="External",
+            sort_order=10,
+        )
+        item = site_with_nav.navigation_items.get(link_title="External")
+        assert item.is_live is True
+        assert item.url == "https://example.com"
+        assert item.title == "External"
+
+    def test_title_falls_back_to_page_title(self, site_with_nav):
+        item = site_with_nav.navigation_items.get(sort_order=0)
+        item.link_title = ""
+        item.save()
+        assert item.title == item.link_page.title
+
+    def test_header_footer_filtering(self, site_with_nav):
+        header_items = site_with_nav.navigation_items.filter(show_in_header=True)
+        footer_items = site_with_nav.navigation_items.filter(show_in_footer=True)
+        assert header_items.count() == 3
+        assert footer_items.count() == 2  # About excluded from footer
+
+    def test_sort_order_respected(self, site_with_nav):
+        items = list(site_with_nav.navigation_items.all().order_by("sort_order"))
+        assert [i.link_title for i in items] == ["Home", "Articles", "About"]
+
+
+@pytest.mark.django_db
+class TestSocialMediaLink:
+    def test_display_label_from_field(self, site_with_nav):
+        link = site_with_nav.social_links.get(platform="twitter")
+        assert link.display_label == "Twitter (X)"
+
+    def test_display_label_fallback(self, site_with_nav):
+        link = site_with_nav.social_links.get(platform="twitter")
+        link.label = ""
+        assert link.display_label == "Twitter / X"
+
+    def test_icon_template_path(self, site_with_nav):
+        link = site_with_nav.social_links.get(platform="rss")
+        assert link.icon_template == "components/icons/rss.html"
+
+    def test_ordering(self, site_with_nav):
+        links = list(site_with_nav.social_links.all().order_by("sort_order"))
+        assert [link.platform for link in links] == ["twitter", "rss"]
+
+
+@pytest.mark.django_db
+class TestSiteSettingsDefaults:
+    def test_default_site_name(self, home_page):
+        site = Site.objects.get(is_default_site=True)
+        settings, _ = SiteSettings.objects.get_or_create(site=site)
+        assert settings.site_name == "NO HYPE AI"
+
+    def test_default_copyright(self, home_page):
+        site = Site.objects.get(is_default_site=True)
+        settings, _ = SiteSettings.objects.get_or_create(site=site)
+        assert settings.copyright_text == "No Hype AI. All rights reserved."
+
+    def test_default_tagline(self, home_page):
+        site = Site.objects.get(is_default_site=True)
+        settings, _ = SiteSettings.objects.get_or_create(site=site)
+        assert settings.tagline == "Honest AI tool reviews for developers."
+
+
+@pytest.mark.django_db
+class TestNavRendering:
+    def test_header_shows_nav_items(self, client, site_with_nav):
+        resp = client.get("/")
+        content = resp.content.decode()
+        assert "Home" in content
+        assert "Articles" in content
+        assert "About" in content
+
+    def test_unpublished_page_not_in_header(self, client, site_with_nav):
+        about_item = site_with_nav.navigation_items.get(link_title="About")
+        about_item.link_page.unpublish()
+        resp = client.get("/")
+        content = resp.content.decode()
+        # About should not appear as a nav link (but might appear elsewhere on page)
+        assert 'href="/about/"' not in content
+
+    def test_footer_shows_nav_items(self, client, site_with_nav):
+        resp = client.get("/")
+        content = resp.content.decode()
+        # Footer should have social links
+        assert "Twitter (X)" in content
+        assert "RSS Feed" in content
+
+    def test_footer_shows_branding(self, client, site_with_nav):
+        site_with_nav.site_name = "TEST SITE"
+        site_with_nav.save()
+        resp = client.get("/")
+        content = resp.content.decode()
+        assert "TEST SITE" in content
+
+    def test_footer_shows_copyright(self, client, site_with_nav):
+        resp = client.get("/")
+        content = resp.content.decode()
+        assert "No Hype AI. All rights reserved." in content