Portable Image Role Selection

July 31, 2026

Added a reusable Abbey command for assigning project photographs to configured content roles.

Tags: Abbey Root • Abbey Framework • Developer Toolkit

Portable Image Role Selection

Summary

Abbey can now select a photograph for a project-defined content role without hard-coding a particular website, content model, or directory layout.

The first adopter is:

abbey plant hero <slug>

It lists the eligible photographs in a plant workspace, identifies the current hero, accepts a numbered selection, and updates the canonical photos.hero value in facts.yaml.

Accomplishments

• Added the generic abbey image select workflow.

• Added project-owned image-role configuration.

• Added abbey plant hero as a thin Plant Model wrapper.

• Preserved generated Astro content as output rather than a competing source of truth.

• Excluded XMP sidecars and unsupported files from selection.

• Added interactive cancellation and safe non-interactive operation.

• Proved the command works from an external Abbey project.

• Added 46 focused regression assertions.

• Fixed an abbey end crash exposed when completing the session on a branch without a configured upstream.

Lessons Learned

The smallest useful version does not need thumbnails or contact sheets. Filename selection is enough to validate the reusable architecture, safe YAML update, and cross-project behavior before adding another dependency.

The final session check also exposed a small lifecycle bug: remote-status counters must be initialized even when a branch has no upstream. The existing Abbey End regression suite now confirms that path completes normally.

Next Steps

• Use the command during normal plant-page maintenance.
• Revisit contact sheets only if filename selection proves meaningfully limiting.