Customizing Hexo: Adding Related Posts & Random Recommendations

365Note (alongside our Chinese edition at 365note.janqi.com) was built using Hexo v6.x.

However, standard static blogs created with Hexo share a common shortcoming: pages often feel static and rigid.

Once an article is compiled and published, the page freezes in time. At the bottom, other than standard “Previous / Next” links, there is virtually no dynamic content discovery. High-quality posts written in the past gradually sink into obscurity, rarely rediscovered even by the author, while readers finishing a post often find nowhere engaging to go next.

To solve this, I recently customized the blog with a thoughtful upgrade: integrating Related Posts and Random Recommendations directly at the bottom of each post, alongside an automated sitemap.xml.

When visitors arrive from search engines, they usually come with a specific query or focused topic in mind. By analyzing post tags, categories, and titles across the site, the recommendation engine dynamically surfaces topically aligned posts for an immersive reading experience.

With the Related Posts module in place, finishing an article immediately presents relevant notes from the same thematic thread. Readers don’t need to bounce back to the homepage or search through category trees—they can seamlessly follow their curiosity with a single click.

For readers, this eliminates tedious navigation; for the blog, it turns isolated articles into an interconnected knowledge web.

Serendipitous Encounters: Breathing Life into the Archives

If related recommendations are a targeted map, Random Recommendations are a delightful mystery box.

The primary limitation of pure static blogs is their rigid predictability. But real thoughts and ideas are alive. With the random recommendation engine injected, every visit or refresh presents a fresh selection of posts at the bottom:

  • Resurfacing a handy development trick jotted down months ago;
  • Stumbling upon a reflective note written over a year ago;
  • Or sparking a smile: “I totally forgot I wrote about this!”

This subtle touch of serendipity instantly washes away the staleness of raw static templates, presenting readers with pleasant discoveries.

Written words shouldn’t turn into forgotten museum pieces once published. Embracing a touch of randomness gives older writings a second chance in the spotlight, turning casual blog reading into a relaxing, scenic walk.

From an analytics standpoint, these recommendations also meaningfully improve internal linking, bounce rates, and overall content visibility.

How AI Drastically Lowers Technical Barriers

Customizing Hexo with swiper-based related and random recommendations would traditionally be a demanding task. It requires understanding frontend styling, Hexo’s internal build lifecycle filters, Node.js scripts, and theme template architectures.

Yet in 2026, with the power of modern AI, these entire modules were cleanly crafted and integrated in minutes. Special thanks to Google’s Gemini AI and the Antigravity IDE coding assistant.

This stands as a prime example of practical AI in action: instead of sifting through fragmented docs and wrestling with edge-case code quirks for days, the desired feature was implemented and verified in minutes.

AI empowers us to focus on the destination, rather than getting bogged down analyzing road signs, shopping for hiking boots, or troubleshooting vehicle engines. It eliminates unnecessary friction, letting creators focus on what truly matters: creating.