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README.md

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+# DEMOS Website
+
+This repository contains the source code for the [DEMOS website](https://democratizing-models.github.io/).
+
+DEMOS — **Democratizing Models** — develops and supports an open ecosystem for the exchange, preservation, and reuse of scientific models across disciplines.
+
+The website is built with [MkDocs](https://www.mkdocs.org/) using the [Material for MkDocs](https://squidfunk.github.io/mkdocs-material/) theme. Dependencies and development tasks are managed with [Pixi](https://pixi.sh/).
+
+## Repository structure
+
+```text
+.
+├── .github/workflows/   # CI and GitHub Pages deployment
+├── docs/                # Website content and assets
+├── mkdocs.yml           # MkDocs configuration
+├── pixi.toml            # Dependencies and development tasks
+└── pixi.lock            # Locked development environment
+```
+
+The website is available in English and German. The language configuration, navigation, theme, plugins, and other site-wide settings are defined in `mkdocs.yml`.
+
+## Local development
+
+### Prerequisites
+
+Install [Pixi](https://pixi.sh/).
+
+All other dependencies are installed automatically from `pixi.toml` and `pixi.lock`.
+
+### Serve the website locally
+
+```bash
+pixi run serve
+```
+
+The development server is available at:
+
+```text
+http://localhost:8000
+```
+
+Changes to the documentation are automatically picked up by MkDocs.
+
+### Build the website
+
+```bash
+pixi run build
+```
+
+The generated static website is written to `site/`.
+
+### Validate the website
+
+To perform the same build and link checks used in CI:
+
+```bash
+pixi run build-check
+```
+
+This performs a strict MkDocs build and checks links in the generated website.
+
+## Contributing
+
+Website content lives in `docs/`.
+
+For ordinary content changes:
+
+1. create a branch,
+2. edit or add the corresponding Markdown files,
+3. run `pixi run serve` to inspect the result locally,
+4. run `pixi run build-check` before submitting the changes,
+5. open a pull request against `main`.
+
+Pull requests are built and validated by GitHub Actions, but the public website is deployed only after changes have been merged into `main`.
+
+## Deployment
+
+The website is hosted using GitHub Pages.
+
+The GitHub Actions workflow in `.github/workflows/docs.yml` validates pull requests targeting `main` and pushes to `main`. Deployment to GitHub Pages is performed only for pushes to the `main` branch.
+
+## License
+
+This repository is distributed under the [MIT License](LICENSE.md).