Who he is: live Wikipedia bio (auto-refreshed every 15-min crawl tick) + article link

- lib/bio.js: refreshBio() pulls the article intro via the Wikipedia API
  (exintro, descriptive UA) and upserts the bio cache; getBio() reads it
  with a short accurate static fallback. Page loads NEVER hit Wikipedia.
- crawl route: refreshBio() runs on every 15-min tick (over daily) —
  best-effort, a wiki hiccup can't fail the news crawl.
- /api/bio: read-only route.
- page.js: WhoBox renders the live text + 'Full article on Wikipedia' link
  + SOURCE: WIKIPEDIA · UPDATED <date> line.
- tests/bio-test.mjs: fallback + live-refresh + offline degradation.

app/api/bio/route.js

@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+import { NextResponse } from "next/server";
+
+// The live "Who he is" bio. READ-ONLY: it returns the cached copy that the
+// crawl tick refreshes from Wikipedia (lib/bio.js). A page load never calls
+// Wikipedia — so this is fast and a wiki outage can't break the front page
+// (getBio() falls back to a short static blurb).
+export const dynamic = "force-dynamic";
+
+export async function GET() {
+  try {
+    const { getBio } = await import("../../../lib/bio");
+    const bio = await getBio();
+    return NextResponse.json({ ok: true, ...bio });
+  } catch (e) {
+    return NextResponse.json({ ok: false, error: String((e && e.message) || e) }, { status: 500 });
+  }
+}

app/api/crawl/route.js

@@ -14,7 +14,19 @@ export async function POST(req) {
   try {
     const { crawlOnce } = await import("../../../lib/crawl");
     const crawl = await crawlOnce();
-    return NextResponse.json({ ok: true, crawl });
+
+    // Refresh the live "Who he is" bio from Wikipedia on the same tick
+    // (well over "daily"). Best-effort: a Wikipedia hiccup must never
+    // make the crawl report a failure or lose the news it already gathered.
+    let bio = null;
+    try {
+      const { refreshBio } = await import("../../../lib/bio");
+      bio = await refreshBio();
+    } catch (e) {
+      bio = { ok: false, error: String((e && e.message) || e).slice(0, 120) };
+    }
+
+    return NextResponse.json({ ok: true, crawl, bio });
   } catch (e) {
     return NextResponse.json({ ok: false, error: String((e && e.message) || e) }, { status: 500 });
   }

app/globals.css

@@ -705,6 +705,20 @@ footer.site .disc { max-width: 640px; margin: 0 auto 10px; line-height: 1.5; }
 .navbtn.board:hover { background: var(--gold-2); box-shadow: var(--glow); }
 .navbtn.board.active { background: var(--gold-2); box-shadow: var(--glow); }
 
+/* "Full article on Wikipedia" link in the Who-he-is box */
+.wholink {
+  color: var(--gold);
+  font-family: var(--font-mono);
+  font-size: 12px;
+  font-weight: 700;
+  letter-spacing: 0.06em;
+  text-transform: uppercase;
+  text-decoration: none;
+  border-bottom: 1px solid var(--gold-dim);
+  padding-bottom: 1px;
+}
+.wholink:hover { color: var(--gold-2); border-bottom-color: var(--gold); box-shadow: var(--glow-soft); }
+
 /* In Pictures */
 .photoscroll {
   display: grid;

app/page.js

@@ -39,6 +39,47 @@ function Brand() {
   );
 }
 
+// The live "Who he is" box. Text comes from /api/bio (the crawl tick caches
+// it from the Wikipedia article, so it's current; the box links straight to
+// the article). Until the first bio lands, a short accurate default shows.
+function WhoBox({ bio }) {
+  const text = bio && bio.text;
+  const updated =
+    bio && bio.updatedAt
+      ? new Date(bio.updatedAt).toLocaleDateString("en-PH", { month: "long", day: "numeric", year: "numeric" })
+      : null;
+  return (
+    <div className="panel railcard">
+      <div className="ph">Who he is</div>
+      <div style={{ padding: 14, color: "var(--muted)", fontSize: 15, fontWeight: 500, lineHeight: 1.55 }}>
+        {text ? (
+          <>
+            {text}
+            <div style={{ marginTop: 12 }}>
+              <a
+                className="wholink"
+                href={bio.url}
+                target="_blank"
+                rel="noopener noreferrer"
+              >
+                Full article on Wikipedia ↗
+              </a>
+            </div>
+          </>
+        ) : (
+          <span>
+            <b style={{ color: "var(--text)" }}>Paolo Benigno &quot;Bam&quot; Aguirre Aquino IV</b> — senator of
+            the Philippines, and the first gamer to reach the chamber.
+          </span>
+        )}
+      </div>
+      <div className="whosrc" style={{ padding: "0 14px 12px", fontFamily: "var(--font-mono)", fontSize: 10.5, color: "var(--faint)", letterSpacing: "0.04em" }}>
+        SOURCE: WIKIPEDIA{updated ? ` · UPDATED ${updated.toUpperCase()}` : ""}
+      </div>
+    </div>
+  );
+}
+
 export default function Home() {
   const [view, setView] = useState("front"); // front | <catKey> | board
   const [edition, setEdition] = useState(null);
@@ -46,6 +87,7 @@ export default function Home() {
   const [stats, setStats] = useState(null);
   const [boardPosts, setBoardPosts] = useState(null);
   const [boardCount, setBoardCount] = useState(0);
+  const [bio, setBio] = useState(null); // live "Who he is" (cached from Wikipedia)
   const [reading, setReading] = useState(null); // story in the drawer
   const [toast, setToast] = useState("");
   const toastTimer = useRef(null);
@@ -85,9 +127,20 @@ export default function Home() {
     }
   }
 
+  async function loadBio() {
+    try {
+      const r = await fetch("/api/bio", { cache: "no-store", signal: AbortSignal.timeout(10000) });
+      const j = await r.json();
+      if (j.ok && j.text) setBio(j);
+    } catch {
+      /* bio box shows the static fallback if this fails */
+    }
+  }
+
   useEffect(() => {
     loadFeed();
     loadBoard();
+    loadBio();
     return () => clearTimeout(toastTimer.current);
     // eslint-disable-next-line react-hooks/exhaustive-deps
   }, []);
@@ -321,18 +374,7 @@ export default function Home() {
                   </div>
                 </div>
 
-                <div className="panel railcard">
+                <WhoBox bio={bio} />
-                  <div className="ph">Who he is</div>
-                  <div style={{ padding: 14, color: "var(--muted)", fontSize: 15, fontWeight: 500, lineHeight: 1.5 }}>
-                    <b style={{ color: "var(--text)" }}>Francis "Bam" Tan Aquino IV</b> — Senator for
-                    Pampanga. The first gamer to reach the Philippine Senate: a runner-up in the
-                    2025 <b style={{ color: "var(--gold)" }}>PalaPinas</b> esports championship, and
-                    a legislator who has made the fight for <b style={{ color: "var(--gold)" }}>college
-                    students, scholarships, and fair electricity</b> his signature. This desk follows
-                    the wire for every story that bears his name — from verified Philippine and
-                    international news outlets only.
-                  </div>
-                </div>
               </div>
             </div>
 

lib/bio.js

@@ -0,0 +1,83 @@
+// BidaAngMamamayan — live "Who he is" bio, sourced from the Wikipedia article.
+//
+// The front page's "Who he is" box used to be a hard-coded paragraph (which
+// drifted: it said "Francis 'Bam' Tan Aquino IV" and hand-picked a couple of
+// facts). Daniel (2026-09-16): source it from the LIVE Wikipedia article,
+// link to it, and keep it updated daily.
+//
+// How it stays fresh without slowing page loads:
+//   * refreshBio() is called by the crawl tick (scripts/cron-crawl every 15
+//     min). It fetches the article's intro via the Wikipedia API and upserts
+//     a single doc in the `bio` collection. That is well over "daily".
+//   * getBio() (used by /api/bio on page load) only READS that cached doc —
+//     it never calls Wikipedia, so a page load costs zero external requests
+//     and a Wikipedia outage can't break the site.
+//   * If the cache is empty or stale-but-unrefreshable, getBio() falls back to
+//     a short, accurate static blurb so the box is never blank.
+//
+// Wikipedia API: action=query, prop=extracts, exintro, explaintext,
+// titles="Bam Aquino", redirects=1. Requires a descriptive User-Agent
+// (Wikipedia blocks the default Node UA).
+
+import { getCollections } from "./db.js";
+
+const ARTICLE_TITLE = "Bam Aquino";
+const WIKI_API = "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/api.php";
+const WIKI_LINK = "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bam_Aquino";
+const UA = "BamaDeskBot/1.0 (bidaangmamamayan.com; contact danieldiaz@boyemma.com)";
+
+// Fallback blurb — used ONLY when the live cache is unavailable. Kept short
+// and accurate; it is a last resort, not the normal path.
+const FALLBACK_TEXT =
+  'Paolo Benigno "Bam" Aguirre Aquino IV is a Filipino politician and media ' +
+  "personality who has served as a senator of the Philippines since 2025. He " +
+  "is the first gamer to reach the Philippine Senate — a runner-up in the " +
+  "2025 PalaPinas esports championship — and has made the fight for college " +
+  "students, scholarships, and fair electricity his legislative signature.";
+
+export async function refreshBio() {
+  const { bio } = await getCollections();
+  const params = new URLSearchParams({
+    action: "query",
+    prop: "extracts",
+    exintro: "1",
+    explaintext: "1",
+    titles: ARTICLE_TITLE,
+    format: "json",
+    redirects: "1",
+  });
+  const res = await fetch(`${WIKI_API}?${params}`, {
+    headers: { "User-Agent": UA, Accept: "application/json" },
+    signal: AbortSignal.timeout(15000),
+  });
+  if (!res.ok) throw new Error(`wiki ${res.status}`);
+  const j = await res.json();
+  const page = j && j.query && j.query.pages
+    ? Object.values(j.query.pages)[0]
+    : null;
+  const text = (page && page.extract ? page.extract : "").trim();
+  if (!text) throw new Error("empty intro");
+  // Keep only the lead section (first few paragraphs) — the box is a blurb,
+  // not the whole article. The full text is one click away via the link.
+  const paragraphs = text.split(/\n\n+/).map((p) => p.trim()).filter(Boolean);
+  const lead = paragraphs.slice(0, 3).join(" ");
+  await bio.updateOne(
+    { _id: "primary" },
+    { $set: { _id: "primary", text: lead, full: text, url: WIKI_LINK, updatedAt: new Date() } },
+    { upsert: true }
+  );
+  return { ok: true, text: lead, updatedAt: new Date() };
+}
+
+export async function getBio() {
+  try {
+    const { bio } = await getCollections();
+    const row = await bio.findOne({ _id: "primary" });
+    if (row && row.text) {
+      return { ok: true, text: row.text, url: row.url || WIKI_LINK, updatedAt: row.updatedAt || null, source: "Wikipedia" };
+    }
+  } catch {
+    /* fall through to the static blurb */
+  }
+  return { ok: true, text: FALLBACK_TEXT, url: WIKI_LINK, updatedAt: null, source: "fallback" };
+}

lib/db.js

@@ -48,5 +48,7 @@ export async function getCollections() {
     board: db.collection("board"),
     // Rate-limit counters (board spam control).
     rate: db.collection("rate"),
+    // Live "Who he is" bio cached from Wikipedia (lib/bio.js).
+    bio: db.collection("bio"),
   };
 }

tests/bio-test.mjs

@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+// lib/bio.js — live Wikipedia "Who he is" cache.
+//   refreshBio() pulls the article intro from the Wikipedia API and upserts the
+//     `bio` doc; getBio() reads it (falling back to the static blurb).
+// Runs against a scratch Mongo. Needs network (Wikipedia) for refreshBio.
+//   RUN: MONGODB_URI=mongodb://127.0.0.1:27099/bama node tests/bio-test.mjs
+import { MongoClient } from "mongodb";
+
+// bio.js -> db.js reads BAMA_DB_NAME at module load, so set it BEFORE the
+// dynamic import of ../lib/bio.js. Use a dedicated scratch db for this test.
+process.env.BAMA_DB_NAME = process.env.BAMA_DB_NAME || "bama_bio_test";
+const uri = process.env.MONGODB_URI || "mongodb://127.0.0.1:27099/bama";
+const mc = new MongoClient(uri, { serverSelectionTimeoutMS: 8000 });
+await mc.connect();
+const db = mc.db(process.env.BAMA_DB_NAME);
+await db.collection("bio").deleteMany({});
+
+let fails = 0;
+const check = (name, cond, detail = "") => {
+  console.log(`  ${cond ? "ok  " : "FAIL"} ${name}${detail ? "  — " + detail : ""}`);
+  if (!cond) fails++;
+};
+
+// 1. getBio before any refresh -> static fallback, still has a link
+const { getBio, refreshBio } = await import("../lib/bio.js");
+let bio = await getBio();
+check("getBio falls back to text when cache empty", bio.ok === true && typeof bio.text === "string" && bio.text.length > 40, JSON.stringify(bio.text).slice(0, 60));
+check("fallback still carries the Wikipedia link", /wikipedia\.org\/wiki\/Bam_Aquino/.test(bio.url || ""), bio.url);
+check("fallback source flagged", bio.source === "fallback", bio.source);
+
+// 2. refreshBio pulls the live article (needs network)
+console.log("refreshing from Wikipedia...");
+try {
+  const r = await refreshBio();
+  check("refreshBio ok", r.ok === true);
+  check("refreshed text mentions the senator", /Aquino/i.test(r.text || ""), JSON.stringify(r.text).slice(0, 70));
+  // now getBio should serve the cached live copy
+  bio = await getBio();
+  check("getBio now serves cached live copy", bio.source === "Wikipedia", bio.source);
+  check("cached copy has updated date", bio.updatedAt instanceof Date || typeof bio.updatedAt === "object", String(bio.updatedAt));
+} catch (e) {
+  // No network (e.g. offline CI) -> refresh throws; getBio must still fall back.
+  console.log("  (network refresh failed: " + (e && e.message) + " — verifying graceful fallback)");
+  bio = await getBio();
+  check("offline: getBio still returns the fallback blurb", bio.ok === true && bio.source === "fallback", bio.source);
+}
+
+await db.collection("bio").deleteMany({});
+await mc.close();
+console.log(fails ? `\n${fails} FAILED` : "\nall passed");
+process.exit(fails ? 1 : 0);