Schedule, hints and notices

Everything is released at local midnight in the event’s timezone. Check the result any time with:

advent schedule

2026: Advent 2026 (12 days, Europe/Paris; hints [1, 2] days after a door opens)
  day  1  Tue 2026-12-01  00:00 CET  hints Dec 2, Dec 3
  day  2  Thu 2026-12-03  00:00 CET  hints Dec 4, Dec 5 (default)

When doors open

By default days are consecutive from start. To spread them out, use one of:

every: 2          # a door every 2 days
weekdays: true    # Monday to Friday only (combine with every: 2 for every other workday)

or list each date:

dates: [2026-12-01, 2026-12-03, 2026-12-08, 2026-12-24]

dates needs one date per day, in increasing order, starting with start, and cannot be combined with every or weekdays. With weekdays, start must be a weekday.

unlocked: N opens days 1 to N regardless of the date, with all their hints (the public demo uses it).

When hints appear

A day has one or two hints. Each appears at local midnight a number of days after its door opens (0 means with the door). The event sets the default:

hint_after: [1, 2]

and a hint in meta.yaml can set its own:

hints:
  - text: Look at the second line again.
    after: 0
  - Think about capitals.       # uses the event default

Hints are revealed in order, so a later hint cannot be due sooner; seal refuses that.

Notices

Short announcements shown at the top of the calendar:

notices:
  - text: "Hints arrive at midnight."
  - text: "Day 12's puzzle had a typo; it is fixed now."
    day: 12
  - text: "Last week! Collect your words."
    date: 2026-12-18

A notice with day appears once that day opens, one with date from that date, others from the start. Players can dismiss each one; their browser remembers it. Editing a notice’s text shows it again.