Gutenberg has a curated set of default courses that can be synced into the database by an admin.
Where defaults live
The current default course catalog lives in config/courses.defaults.json. It contains grouped courses built from material sections.
Examples in the current catalog include:
- software architecture tracks in C++ and Python
- introductory C++ and Python
- HPC introduction, OpenMP, and MPI
- Git, Docker, Snakemake, testing, continuous integration, and PyBaMM courses
Syncing default courses
On the courses page, admins can use Sync default courses to compare the current database state with the default catalog.
The review modal shows:
- unchanged courses
- new courses that do not exist in the database yet
- changed courses with field-by-field diffs
Grouped material diffs are shown per group so changes are easier to review than a single large material blob.
Applying changes
The sync workflow is selective. Admins can choose which new or changed courses to apply instead of updating everything at once.
This is useful when:
- the defaults have been edited in Git
- seed data needs to be aligned with the curated defaults
- an existing deployment wants to adopt new default course structure gradually
Seed data and defaults
The seed data is intended to align with the current default course set so that a fresh local database reflects the same public-facing course catalog.
The defaults file is the editorial source for the curated course list, while the seed data keeps local development and demos aligned with that catalog.