Removed old explore implementation

[mike182uk]

ref https://linear.app/ghost/issue/BER-3040

Removed all code associated with the old explore implementation (generating the global static JSON, having accounts follow specific mastodon account etc.)

[coderabbitai]

Walkthrough

This pull request removes the Ghost Explore feature entirely from the codebase. The changes include deletion of the populate-explore-json job directory (containing TypeScript implementation, Dockerfile, docker-compose configuration, and package.json), removal of the corresponding build workflow step, deletion of the GhostExploreService class and its dependency registration, removal of service initialization during app startup, removal of external ActivityPub wiremock stubs used in tests, and elimination of Renovate rules that previously disabled automerging for this job's dependencies.

Estimated code review effort

🎯 4 (Complex) | ⏱️ ~45 minutes

Areas requiring extra attention:

• Verify complete removal of Ghost Explore references: Check that no remaining imports, service calls, or configuration entries reference GhostExploreService or related components outside the deleted files
• Workflow dependencies: Confirm that removing the build-populate-explore-json-job from .github/workflows/build.yml doesn't break any downstream CI/CD logic or create orphaned job dependencies
• Test coverage impact: Review whether removal of external wiremock stubs and associated test steps could affect other integration tests that may have shared or depended on those mocks
• Database migrations or state: Determine if any cleanup is needed for existing data structures, database tables, or cached entries related to the Ghost Explore functionality that was removed
• Documentation updates: Verify that any user-facing or architecture documentation has been updated to reflect the removal of this feature

Pre-merge checks and finishing touches

✅ Passed checks (3 passed)

Check name	Status	Explanation
Title check	✅ Passed	The title clearly summarizes the main change: removal of the old explore implementation, which matches the comprehensive deletion of explore-related code across multiple files.
Description check	✅ Passed	The description is directly related to the changeset, referencing a Linear issue and explaining the removal of old explore implementation code including JSON generation and account-following logic.
Docstring Coverage	✅ Passed	No functions found in the changed files to evaluate docstring coverage. Skipping docstring coverage check.

✨ Finishing touches

• 📝 Generate docstrings

🧪 Generate unit tests (beta)

• Create PR with unit tests
• Post copyable unit tests in a comment
• Commit unit tests in branch mike-ber-3040-clean-up-code-from-old-explore

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📜 Recent review details

Configuration used: CodeRabbit UI

Review profile: CHILL

Plan: Pro

📥 Commits

Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between 01ce8ef and 1fed95e.

⛔ Files ignored due to path filters (1)

• jobs/populate-explore-json/yarn.lock is excluded by !**/yarn.lock, !**/*.lock

📒 Files selected for processing (12)

• .github/renovate.json5 (0 hunks)
• .github/workflows/build.yml (0 hunks)
• features/step_definitions/index.js (0 hunks)
• jobs/populate-explore-json/Dockerfile (0 hunks)
• jobs/populate-explore-json/README.md (0 hunks)
• jobs/populate-explore-json/docker-compose.yml (0 hunks)
• jobs/populate-explore-json/index.ts (0 hunks)
• jobs/populate-explore-json/package.json (0 hunks)
• src/app.ts (0 hunks)
• src/configuration/registrations.ts (0 hunks)
• src/explore/ghost-explore.service.integration.test.ts (0 hunks)
• src/explore/ghost-explore.service.ts (0 hunks)

💤 Files with no reviewable changes (12)

• .github/workflows/build.yml
• jobs/populate-explore-json/docker-compose.yml
• jobs/populate-explore-json/package.json
• features/step_definitions/index.js
• .github/renovate.json5
• src/explore/ghost-explore.service.ts
• src/configuration/registrations.ts
• src/app.ts
• jobs/populate-explore-json/README.md
• jobs/populate-explore-json/index.ts
• src/explore/ghost-explore.service.integration.test.ts
• jobs/populate-explore-json/Dockerfile

⏰ Context from checks skipped due to timeout of 90000ms. You can increase the timeout in your CodeRabbit configuration to a maximum of 15 minutes (900000ms). (1)

• GitHub Check: build / Build Docker Images (linux/amd64, amd64)

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