The Book of Life: How Embeddings and Footnotes Work in The Secret Book of Walt is a software-maintenance manual for the interactive critical edition.
The document describes a three-layer rendering architecture. Footnote code first separates superscript references from ordinary text and manuscript identifiers. An emphasis layer then converts italic and bold markers. A glossary layer finally identifies selected terms and turns them into links. Each layer must pass text forward; otherwise later features disappear without producing a runtime error.
The manual identifies the edition’s source Markdown, generated JSON, build scripts, React components, footnote utilities, and architectural reference files. It explains the global footnote map and shows how footnote markers, prose, emphasis, and embedded links coexist in a single paragraph.
This work is distinct from the retrieval-node registry also titled The Book of Life. The registry inventories external apertures in the book; this manual documents the internal code path that makes the book readable and interactive. Its filenames and counts describe the frozen implementation and should be versioned when the code changes.