diff --git a/components/NoteMeta/NoteMeta.tsx b/components/NoteMeta/NoteMeta.tsx
index 281ad445..6c48ee87 100644
--- a/components/NoteMeta/NoteMeta.tsx
+++ b/components/NoteMeta/NoteMeta.tsx
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ import NoteTitle from "../NoteTitle";
 import { DateIcon, TagIcon, EditIcon, ViewsIcon } from "../Icons";
 import { styled } from "../../lib/styles/stitches.config";
 import * as config from "../../lib/config";
-import type { NoteType } from "../../types";
+import type { NoteFrontMatter } from "../../types";
 
 const Wrapper = styled("div", {
   display: "inline-flex",
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ const Tag = styled("span", {
   },
 });
 
-export type NoteMetaProps = Pick<NoteType["frontMatter"], "slug" | "date" | "title" | "htmlTitle" | "tags">;
+export type NoteMetaProps = Pick<NoteFrontMatter, "slug" | "date" | "title" | "htmlTitle" | "tags">;
 
 const NoteMeta = ({ slug, date, title, htmlTitle, tags = [] }: NoteMetaProps) => (
   <>
diff --git a/components/NoteTitle/NoteTitle.tsx b/components/NoteTitle/NoteTitle.tsx
index 7ef33d7b..c2150797 100644
--- a/components/NoteTitle/NoteTitle.tsx
+++ b/components/NoteTitle/NoteTitle.tsx
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 import NextLink from "next/link";
 import { styled } from "../../lib/styles/stitches.config";
 import type { ComponentProps } from "react";
-import type { NoteType } from "../../types";
+import type { NoteFrontMatter } from "../../types";
 
 const Title = styled("h1", {
   margin: "0.3em 0 0.5em -1px", // misaligned left margin, super nitpicky
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ const Link = styled("a", {
   textDecoration: "none",
 });
 
-export type NoteTitleProps = Pick<NoteType["frontMatter"], "slug" | "htmlTitle"> & ComponentProps<typeof Title>;
+export type NoteTitleProps = Pick<NoteFrontMatter, "slug" | "htmlTitle"> & ComponentProps<typeof Title>;
 
 const NoteTitle = ({ slug, htmlTitle, ...rest }: NoteTitleProps) => (
   <Title {...rest}>
diff --git a/components/NotesList/NotesList.tsx b/components/NotesList/NotesList.tsx
index 30ddad7f..8b5676ce 100644
--- a/components/NotesList/NotesList.tsx
+++ b/components/NotesList/NotesList.tsx
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 import Link from "../Link";
 import Time from "../Time";
 import { styled } from "../../lib/styles/stitches.config";
-import type { NoteType } from "../../types";
+import type { NoteFrontMatter } from "../../types";
 
 const Section = styled("section", {
   fontSize: "1.1em",
@@ -54,13 +54,13 @@ const PostDate = styled(Time, {
 });
 
 export type NotesListProps = {
-  notesByYear: Record<string, NoteType["frontMatter"][]>;
+  notesByYear: Record<string, NoteFrontMatter[]>;
 };
 
 const NotesList = ({ notesByYear }: NotesListProps) => {
   const sections = [];
 
-  Object.entries(notesByYear).forEach(([year, notes]: [string, NoteType["frontMatter"][]]) => {
+  Object.entries(notesByYear).forEach(([year, notes]: [string, NoteFrontMatter[]]) => {
     sections.push(
       <Section key={year}>
         <Year>{year}</Year>
diff --git a/components/RepositoryCard/RepositoryCard.tsx b/components/RepositoryCard/RepositoryCard.tsx
index 90129775..dfda6da8 100644
--- a/components/RepositoryCard/RepositoryCard.tsx
+++ b/components/RepositoryCard/RepositoryCard.tsx
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ import RelativeTime from "../RelativeTime";
 import { StarOcticon, ForkOcticon } from "../Icons";
 import { commafy } from "../../lib/helpers/format-number";
 import { styled } from "../../lib/styles/stitches.config";
-import type { RepositoryType } from "../../types";
+import type { Repository } from "../../types";
 
 const Wrapper = styled("div", {
   width: "100%",
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ const LanguageCircle = styled("span", {
   verticalAlign: "text-top",
 });
 
-export type RepositoryCardProps = RepositoryType & {
+export type RepositoryCardProps = Repository & {
   className?: string;
 };
 
diff --git a/lib/config/constants.ts b/lib/config/constants.ts
index abd83e82..14fa4f72 100644
--- a/lib/config/constants.ts
+++ b/lib/config/constants.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,6 @@
 // Next.js constants (not needed in frontend)
+
+// directory containing .mdx files relative to project root
 export const NOTES_DIR = "./notes";
 
 // normalize the timestamp saved when building/deploying (see next.config.js) and fall back to right now:
diff --git a/lib/helpers/parse-notes.ts b/lib/helpers/parse-notes.ts
index e10bd840..943bcffb 100644
--- a/lib/helpers/parse-notes.ts
+++ b/lib/helpers/parse-notes.ts
@@ -19,20 +19,27 @@ import remarkGfm from "remark-gfm";
 import rehypeSlug from "rehype-slug";
 import rehypePrism from "rehype-prism-plus";
 
-import type { NoteType } from "../../types";
+import type { Note, NoteFrontMatter } from "../../types";
+
+const ABSOLUTE_NOTES_DIR = path.join(process.cwd(), NOTES_DIR);
 
 // returns all .mdx files in NOTES_DIR (without .mdx extension)
 export const getNoteSlugs = async (): Promise<string[]> => {
   // get all files in NOTES_DIR
-  const files = await fs.readdir(path.join(process.cwd(), NOTES_DIR));
+  const files = await fs.readdir(ABSOLUTE_NOTES_DIR);
 
   // narrow to only the .mdx files and strip the .mdx extension
   return files.filter((file) => /\.mdx$/.test(file)).map((noteFile) => noteFile.replace(/\.mdx$/, ""));
 };
 
 // returns front matter and/or *raw* markdown contents of a given slug
-export const getNoteData = async (slug: string): Promise<Omit<NoteType, "source"> & { content: string }> => {
-  const fullPath = path.join(process.cwd(), NOTES_DIR, `${slug}.mdx`);
+export const getNoteData = async (
+  slug: string
+): Promise<{
+  frontMatter: NoteFrontMatter;
+  content: string;
+}> => {
+  const fullPath = path.join(ABSOLUTE_NOTES_DIR, `${slug}.mdx`);
   const rawContent = await fs.readFile(fullPath, "utf8");
   const { data, content } = matter(rawContent);
 
@@ -52,7 +59,7 @@ export const getNoteData = async (slug: string): Promise<Omit<NoteType, "source"
   // return both the parsed YAML front matter (with a few amendments) and the raw, unparsed markdown content
   return {
     frontMatter: {
-      ...(data as Omit<NoteType["frontMatter"], "slug" | "title" | "htmlTitle" | "permalink" | "date" | "readingMins">),
+      ...(data as Partial<NoteFrontMatter>),
       // zero markdown title:
       title: removeMarkdown(data.title),
       // parsed markdown title:
@@ -67,7 +74,7 @@ export const getNoteData = async (slug: string): Promise<Omit<NoteType, "source"
 };
 
 // fully parses MDX into JS and returns *everything* about a note
-export const getNote = async (slug: string): Promise<NoteType> => {
+export const getNote = async (slug: string): Promise<Note> => {
   const { frontMatter, content } = await getNoteData(slug);
   const source = await serialize(content, {
     parseFrontmatter: false,
@@ -99,7 +106,7 @@ export const getNote = async (slug: string): Promise<NoteType> => {
 };
 
 // returns the front matter of ALL notes, sorted reverse chronologically
-export const getAllNotes = async (): Promise<NoteType["frontMatter"][]> => {
+export const getAllNotes = async (): Promise<NoteFrontMatter[]> => {
   const slugs = await getNoteSlugs();
 
   // for each slug, query its front matter
@@ -108,9 +115,7 @@ export const getAllNotes = async (): Promise<NoteType["frontMatter"][]> => {
   });
 
   // sort the results by date
-  const sorted = data.sort((note1: NoteType["frontMatter"], note2: NoteType["frontMatter"]) =>
-    note1.date > note2.date ? -1 : 1
-  );
+  const sorted = data.sort((note1, note2) => (note1.date > note2.date ? -1 : 1));
 
   return sorted;
 };
diff --git a/pages/notes/[slug].tsx b/pages/notes/[slug].tsx
index d38ef5e0..be07741d 100644
--- a/pages/notes/[slug].tsx
+++ b/pages/notes/[slug].tsx
@@ -10,9 +10,9 @@ import { getNote, getNoteSlugs } from "../../lib/helpers/parse-notes";
 import * as config from "../../lib/config";
 import { articleJsonLd } from "../../lib/config/seo";
 import type { GetStaticProps, GetStaticPaths } from "next";
-import type { NoteType } from "../../types";
+import type { Note, NoteFrontMatter } from "../../types";
 
-const Note = ({ frontMatter, source }: NoteType) => {
+const Note = ({ frontMatter, source }: Note) => {
   return (
     <>
       <NextSeo
@@ -74,7 +74,7 @@ const Note = ({ frontMatter, source }: NoteType) => {
   );
 };
 
-export const getStaticProps: GetStaticProps = async ({ params }: { params: Pick<NoteType["frontMatter"], "slug"> }) => {
+export const getStaticProps: GetStaticProps = async ({ params }: { params: Pick<NoteFrontMatter, "slug"> }) => {
   const { frontMatter, source } = await getNote(params.slug);
 
   return {
diff --git a/pages/projects.tsx b/pages/projects.tsx
index af27fced..a9188d5f 100644
--- a/pages/projects.tsx
+++ b/pages/projects.tsx
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ import { OctocatOcticon } from "../components/Icons";
 import { styled } from "../lib/styles/stitches.config";
 import { authorSocial } from "../lib/config";
 import type { GetStaticProps } from "next";
-import type { RepositoryType } from "../types";
+import type { Repository } from "../types";
 
 const Wrapper = styled("div", {
   display: "flex",
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ const Projects = ({ repos }) => (
 
     <Content>
       <Wrapper>
-        {repos.map((repo: RepositoryType) => (
+        {repos.map((repo: Repository) => (
           <Card key={repo.name} {...repo} />
         ))}
       </Wrapper>
@@ -111,7 +111,7 @@ export const getStaticProps: GetStaticProps = async () => {
     }
   );
 
-  const repos: RepositoryType[] = user.repositories.edges.map(({ node: repo }) => ({
+  const repos: Repository[] = user.repositories.edges.map(({ node: repo }) => ({
     name: repo.name,
     url: repo.url,
     description: repo.description,
diff --git a/types/note.d.ts b/types/note.d.ts
index 090a894b..6e9fe923 100644
--- a/types/note.d.ts
+++ b/types/note.d.ts
@@ -1,18 +1,21 @@
 import type { MDXRemoteSerializeResult } from "next-mdx-remote";
 
-export type NoteType = {
-  frontMatter: {
-    slug: string;
-    permalink: string;
-    date: string;
-    title: string;
-    htmlTitle?: string;
-    description?: string;
-    image?: string;
-    tags?: string[];
-    readingMins?: number;
-    noComments?: boolean;
-  };
+export type NoteFrontMatter = {
+  slug: string;
+  permalink: string;
+  date: string;
+  title: string;
+  htmlTitle?: string;
+  description?: string;
+  image?: string;
+  tags?: string[];
+  readingMins?: number;
+  noComments?: boolean;
+};
+
+export type Note = {
+  // yaml metadata
+  frontMatter: NoteFrontMatter;
 
   // the final, compiled JSX by next-mdx-remote; see lib/helpers/parse-notes.ts
   source: MDXRemoteSerializeResult;
diff --git a/types/repository.d.ts b/types/repository.d.ts
index 03f8c86a..ca8d5ceb 100644
--- a/types/repository.d.ts
+++ b/types/repository.d.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-export type RepositoryType = {
+export type Repository = {
   name: string;
   url: string;
   description?: string;