Hosting, edge compute, databases, and the pipes that hold modern apps together.
89 articles
A practical comparison of Caddy and Nginx for solo developers and small teams: certificate management, performance trade-offs, config ergonomics, and when switching actually pays off.
A measured comparison of Hetzner and OVHcloud for side projects in 2026 — pricing models, bandwidth, hardware, and the trade-offs that actually matter for a solo developer.
A measured look at what swapping Node.js for Bun changes in real production: install speed, native TypeScript, built-in tooling, and the compatibility and observability gaps that still bite.
A practical comparison of Coolify and Dokploy for solo devs running their own deployments in 2026 — architecture, setup, resource use, and which one to pick.
A developer's comparison of Turso (edge SQLite/libSQL) and Neon (serverless Postgres) in 2026 — latency model, branching, cost shape, and lock-in.
Identity, storage, and APIs all assume a human client. We break down where AI agents genuinely break existing infrastructure—auth, memory, API contracts—and the boundary-layer fixes worth building before any rewrite.
A measured comparison of Typesense and Meilisearch for self-hosted search in 2026 — memory model, licensing, features, and which one fits your stack.
A measured look at Bunny.net's pricing, performance, and feature set against Cloudflare, Fastly, and CloudFront — and where its per-GB rates actually win for developers.
A measured look at MinIO in 2026 — what the single-binary S3 server still does well, what the 2025 console changes took away, and when to pick something else.
A practical look at LiteFS, the FUSE-based filesystem that replicates SQLite across regions: how transaction shipping works, the single-writer tax, and when to reach for it over rqlite or libSQL.
Dragonfly speaks the Redis protocol and runs multi-threaded on a single node. We break down the architecture, the compatibility gaps, and when a swap actually pays off.
A practical look at Authentik, the open-source identity provider: what it covers (OIDC, SAML, LDAP, proxy auth), how it runs on Docker, and where small teams hit friction.
A measured comparison of Caddy and Nginx for 2026 — automatic HTTPS, config ergonomics, HTTP/3, performance under load, and which one fits your stack.
A hands-on look at Tailscale, the WireGuard-based mesh VPN. How it handles NAT traversal, MagicDNS, ACLs, and SSH — plus where it costs money and where it doesn't.
A measured look at PocketBase, the Go-based backend that bundles SQLite, a REST API, realtime, auth, and an admin dashboard into a single executable you run with one command.
A measured comparison of Convex and Supabase for developers in 2026 — reactivity by default versus a Postgres database you own, plus lock-in, cost, and which fits your app.
A measured comparison of Porkbun and Cloudflare Registrar for developers: at-cost pricing vs feature breadth, TLD coverage, DNS lock-in, and which one fits your stack.
A practical breakdown of Grafana Cloud versus self-hosting the open-source stack in 2026 — cost crossover, operational burden, data control, and who each option actually fits.
Neon and Supabase both give you Postgres without managing a server, but they solve different problems. We break down branching, scale-to-zero, auth, and pricing to help you choose.
A measured comparison of Clerk and Auth0 for solo and small-team developers in 2026 — pricing models, developer experience, lock-in, and which one fits a side project.
A measured look at Kamal 2 — 37signals' Docker-over-SSH deploy tool. What kamal-proxy changed, where it fits, and where it hands the hard problems back to you.
One cable to drive your monitors, power, ethernet, and peripherals. A no-hype guide to the Thunderbolt and USB-C docks that actually hold up for a laptop dev workflow in 2026.
A hands-on review of Better Auth, the TypeScript-first, self-hosted auth library you run against your own database — covering OAuth, 2FA, organizations, plugins, adapters, and when paying for Clerk is still the smarter call.
A hands-on review of Hetzner Cloud and its bare-metal servers — the price-to-performance math against AWS EC2, the dedicated vCPU lines, the server auction, and the self-hosting stack (Coolify, Dokku) that makes it work. Honest about the tradeoffs.
I ran Pulumi, Terraform, and OpenTofu against the same AWS and Cloudflare stacks for several weeks. Here is how the language model, state handling, provider coverage, and the BSL-versus-open-source split actually shape which one your team should pick in 2026.
I moved three side projects and one production API to Render over two months. Here's the honest take on git-push deploys, managed Postgres, cold starts, and where Render beats Fly.io and Railway — plus the egress and storage costs nobody mentions.
I moved three real workloads across Tigris, Cloudflare R2, and Backblaze B2 to figure out which S3-compatible store actually fits edge apps — egress, latency, and integration compared.
We migrated three production stacks across Caddy 2.8, Traefik v3.1, and nginx Proxy Manager 2.11. Here is where each one earns its keep and where it bites you.
Three lightweight Kubernetes distributions — K3s, MicroK8s, and k0s — compared on memory footprint, default add-ons, HA story, and which team shape each one actually fits. Operational opinions, not synthetic benchmarks.
We deployed the same three-service app to Coolify, Dokku, and CapRover on a $12/mo Hetzner box. Here's the architecture, memory footprint, and ops cost of each self-hosted PaaS in 2026.
Block transferred its Goose agentic AI framework to the Linux Foundation. Here's what vendor-neutral governance means for teams choosing between LangChain, AutoGen, and Goose — and the lock-in risk most teams overlook.
Hands-on Clerk review covering SDK quality, session management, multi-tenancy, webhooks, pricing, and how migration from Auth0 and NextAuth compares in real projects.
We deployed a Go API and Next.js app across Fly.io's edge network, measuring cold starts, regional latency, and DX against Railway, Render, and Heroku — plus WireGuard networking and fly.toml deep-dive.
We migrated 18 Docker containers from Docker Desktop to OrbStack on an M1 Max MacBook Pro — measuring memory, CPU idle, and cold starts. Review of macOS-native architecture, Docker API compat, and real-world dev performance.
We built payment processing, user onboarding, and AI orchestration on Temporal — measuring durability, replay, and SDK learning curve vs Step Functions and job queues. Review of workflow-as-code, deterministic execution, and where durable execution replaces retry logic.
We integrated Turso's libSQL SDK into a TypeScript analytics pipeline with embedded replicas across 3 regions — review of the architecture, replication model, and how it compares to Cloudflare D1, PlanetScale, and vanilla SQLite.
We replaced self-hosted Redis and Kafka with Upstash's serverless offerings, measuring latency from 3 regions vs AWS ElastiCache and Confluent Cloud. Review of Redis REST API, Kafka HTTP bridge, and where per-request pricing wins.
A close read of NVIDIA CUTLASS — the header-only CUDA template library behind a surprising amount of modern AI infrastructure. What it is, how its kernel hierarchy works, where CuTe and the Python DSL fit, and when to reach for it.
A measured look at where AMD ROCm with PyTorch and PyTorch Lightning still has rough edges on the RX 7900 XTX in 2026, and what that means if you are porting CUDA training workloads.
OpenAI swapped ChatGPT's default to GPT-5.5 Instant overnight, claiming faster responses, sharper reasoning, and fewer hallucinations. We grade each claim against independent testing and show developers what to change in their API stack.
OpenAI's Daybreak and Anthropic's Glasswing shipped the same week with matching cybersecurity benchmarks and overlapping enterprise partners. Here's what the convergence signals and how to evaluate either for your AppSec pipeline.
Macchiato's Day 2 release ships a live token sidebar, per-agent cost dashboard, and shortcuts for Claude Code and OpenCode. Here is what changes for developers running multiple AI agents.
We installed Coolify on a $20/month Hetzner VPS and deployed an Astro site, Next.js app, and PostgreSQL instance through its dashboard. Here is how the open-source PaaS compares to Vercel and Netlify on cost, reliability, and developer experience.
We tested OrbStack, Colima, and Rancher Desktop as Docker Desktop replacements on macOS and Linux. Measured RAM usage, startup time, and Docker Compose compatibility to find which alternative actually delivers the same development workflow without the licensing headaches.
We compared PlanetScale, Neon, and Supabase on cold start latency, pricing at scale, branching workflows, and ORM compatibility. Here is how the three leading serverless database platforms stack up — and which one fits your application architecture.
SST Ion rewrites the Serverless Stack framework, compiling TypeScript to Terraform and Pulumi outputs. We migrated a production API from SST v2 to Ion and measured cold start performance, deployment speed, and the live Lambda debugger in practice.
We deployed a globally distributed app on Turso's libSQL-based edge database and measured query latency across 5 regions. Here is how its primary-replica architecture performs against Cloudflare D1 and traditional Postgres — and where the SQLite limitations actually matter.
Cloudflare D1 brings transactional SQLite to the edge with zero cold starts and read replication across Cloudflare's global network. A detailed review of the architecture, the Workers integration, and where D1 fits in the serverless database landscape.
Fly.io and Railway both promise to eliminate infrastructure complexity, but they approach deployment from fundamentally different philosophies. A detailed comparison of regions, pricing, developer experience, and which workloads each platform handles best.
Neon rearchitects PostgreSQL to separate storage from compute, offering serverless scaling, database branching, and a generous free tier. A hands-on look at where it shines and where traditional Postgres still wins.
SST Ion reimagines infrastructure-as-code by embedding AWS resource definitions directly into application code, with live Lambda debugging and a Terraform-compatible deployment engine. A review of the developer experience, the Pulumi migration, and where Ion fits in 2026.
Supabase Edge Functions bring Deno-powered serverless compute to the Supabase ecosystem, with tight integration into the database, auth, and storage layers. A review of the runtime, the developer experience, and where it fits versus Cloudflare Workers and AWS Lambda.
Why Promise.race leaks model calls and billing in AI agents, and how a single-owner pattern with AbortSignal, deadline budgets, and jittered retries fixes it.
Temporal's durable execution engine crossed 3,000 paying customers as teams building long-running LLM agents swap DIY retry code for crash-proof workflows. We break down what durable execution buys you and where it costs you.
MinIO's MemKV offloads transformer KV cache to persistent memory tiers so agentic AI pipelines reload attention state instead of recomputing it. We break down the recompute tax, MinIO's 95% utilization claim, and when reload actually beats recompute.
AI agents return 200s and exit cleanly while hallucinating, degrading under rate limits, and overrunning budgets. Here are the four silent failure modes and a minimal monitor that catches them in production.
HTTP's request-response model was never built for AI agents that run for minutes or hours. Here is why connections drop mid-task and how Ably's durable sessions keep messages, state, and reconnects intact.
Observability platforms now let you ask questions of logs, metrics, and traces in natural language. Here's how the translation layer works, what it genuinely helps with, and where it breaks.
A detailed look at Caddy's automatic TLS, Caddyfile syntax, and reverse proxy setup — and where it falls short compared to Nginx.
How Apple Silicon's unified memory architecture makes the Mac Mini a practical local inference node — benchmarks, real costs, setup with Ollama and MLX, and honest tradeoffs versus cloud GPUs.
How Nix flakes and devShells replace Docker for local dev: what works, where it hurts, and whether the learning curve is worth it for your team.
Python dominates ML development but struggles in production serving. The Rust sidecar pattern splits responsibilities: Python handles models, Rust owns the hot path. Here's the mechanics.
A grounded comparison of SendGrid, Mailgun, and Resend across pricing, developer experience, deliverability, and fit — for developers picking a transactional email API in 2026.
SigNoz unifies logs, traces, and metrics on ClickHouse and OpenTelemetry. Here is what it actually costs, where it shines, and where self-hosting bites back.
Most LLM inference waste is a scheduling problem, not a hardware one. Continuous batching, KV-cache management, speculative decoding, and model routing cut energy and cost per token without new silicon.
Temporal Cloud now lets you run durable workflows on AWS Lambda with zero infrastructure management. Here's what changed, what the tradeoffs are, and whether it fits your workload.
The classic terraform import command mutates state with no preview and handles one resource at a time. Here is how config-driven import blocks, generated configuration, and helper tooling change that calculus.
A technical walkthrough of optimizing matrix multiplication in Swift on Apple Silicon — loop reordering, cache blocking, SIMD, multithreading, and GPU offload — and why matmul throughput sets your LLM training speed.
ECONNRESET in Node.js usually traces to an idle connection closed by a load balancer or proxy while your keep-alive pool still holds it. Here is how to find the real cause and fix it.
A review of mikeroyal's Self-Hosting Guide, the GitHub resource for running local LLMs, WireGuard VPNs, Home Assistant, and private cloud on your own hardware — plus where self-hosting saves money and where it doesn't.
PyPI's catalog is growing faster than ever. Here's how the surge affects supply-chain risk, dependency bloat, and what to use when you audit your tree.
A measured look at Immich, the open-source self-hosted photo platform with mobile apps and on-device ML, covering deployment, AI features, and the tradeoffs of running it yourself.
A measured review of Supabase — the open-source Firebase alternative built on dedicated Postgres with auth, storage, realtime, and pgvector. What holds up for AI backends, what doesn't, and where pricing and the realtime engine bite.
Coolify is an open-source PaaS you self-host for around $6/month. We tested its 280+ one-click services and where it beats Vercel/Heroku — and where it doesn't.
We read through the rk3562deb project that converts cheap RK3562 Android tablets into Debian Linux machines. Here's what works, what doesn't, and which dev workflows actually fit.
A new poll shows roughly 70% of Americans don't want AI data centers built nearby. Here's how the resulting permitting drag will hit inference pricing, region availability, and your architecture decisions.
Mozilla told UK regulators VPNs are essential privacy infrastructure, not threats to be neutered. Here's why developers rely on VPNs more than they realize, and what changes if Ofcom listens to the other side.
Why npm keeps getting hit with malicious packages, what makes Node's registry uniquely exposed, and a practical defense stack (Socket, Snyk, lockfile audits, --ignore-scripts) for teams shipping JavaScript at scale.
A developer-focused comparison of domain registrars: API access, DNS management, WHOIS privacy, and honest renewal pricing. Stop overpaying for domains you bought years ago and forgot about.
A hands-on look at running Bun-based JavaScript apps on Cloudflare Workers — cold starts, free tier limits, the node:* compat story, and when Workers beats a VPS for developer side projects.
A practical head-to-head between Supabase and Firebase for indie developers building in 2026. Covers Postgres vs Firestore, authentication, realtime subscriptions, pricing cliffs, and when open-source ownership beats vendor convenience.
We deployed the same Next.js app + Postgres database to Fly.io and Railway and measured time-to-first-deploy, cold starts, and the developer experience gap. Railway won on speed; Fly.io won on global reach. Here's the breakdown.
We deployed the same Next.js e-commerce site to both platforms and measured cold starts, build times, and edge latency. Vercel was faster — but Netlify's platform features caught up in one critical area.
A hands-on review of paperless-ngx, the open-source self-hosted DMS. We cover the Docker stack, OCR pipeline, REST API, AI workflow integration, and where Whoosh search hits its limits.
A hands-on review of Gitleaks for catching hardcoded secrets in Git history. Covers the CLI, pre-commit hooks, CI integration, and how it stacks up against GitGuardian for teams that don't want to pay per developer.
play.pickuma.com now has eleven games. After the first two, the bottleneck was no longer game logic — it was the chrome around each game. Here's the design system that made the next nine fast.
Stop at 7.77 and Eagle Run are live at play.pickuma.com. A 250-line vanilla canvas game and a one-button time-sense test, both shipped in a day. The stack, the tradeoffs, the things that worked.
A malicious Obsidian community plugin delivered the Phantom Pulse RAT to developer vaults. Here is the attack chain and how to audit plugins in Obsidian, VS Code, and Cursor.
A 2026 audit of free-tier developer services: which hosting, database, CI/CD, and observability platforms still let you ship a side project for $0, where the hidden cliffs are, and when paying actually costs less than working around limits.
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