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Engineering & Architecture.

Architecture decisions are where software projects either become durable systems or expensive rewrites. This hub collects our production notes on data models, multi-tenant applications, security, AI systems, and the trade-offs behind software that has to keep working after launch.

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Engineering

The Sanity + Astro + Cloudflare Stack: A Production Guide for 2026

Sanity for content, Astro for the frontend, Cloudflare for edge hosting. Here's how the stack works, what it costs, and when it's the right call.

WordPress Monthly Maintenance Cost 2026: Where Every Dollar Goes
Engineering

WordPress Monthly Maintenance Cost 2026: Where Every Dollar Goes

A line-item breakdown of WordPress maintenance costs in 2026, from $30 to $1,000+/month. See exactly where your money goes and what you can skip.

Engineering

Vercel Blob: Pricing, Gotchas, and When S3 Is Cheaper

Everything you need to know about Vercel Blob storage -- real pricing math, the filename suffix trap, public vs private blobs, and honest comparisons to S3 and Supabase Storage.

Engineering

Magento to Shopify Migration 2026: A Playbook from 40 Builds

The exact step-by-step process we've refined across 40 Magento to Shopify migrations, including the traps that cost teams weeks of rework.

WordPress vs Next.js 2026: Which Wins By Project Type
Engineering

WordPress vs Next.js 2026: Which Wins By Project Type

An honest, project-by-project breakdown of when WordPress beats Next.js and when it doesn't — with real numbers, costs, and trade-offs from teams who ship both.

WordPress vs Astro, Next.js & Sanity: A Practical Cost Comparison
Engineering

WordPress vs Astro, Next.js & Sanity: A Practical Cost Comparison

I pulled the invoices from 40 real projects across WordPress, Astro, and Next.js + Sanity. Here's what each stack actually costs to build and run in 2026.

Engineering

Next.js Image Optimization: Cost Traps, CWV Wins, and Alternatives

next/image looks free until the Vercel invoice arrives. Here's the real math on image optimization costs, plus self-hosted and third-party alternatives.

WordPress Slow? Real Fixes vs Replatform Decision Tree (2026)
Engineering

WordPress Slow? Real Fixes vs Replatform Decision Tree (2026)

A no-nonsense decision tree for fixing WordPress Core Web Vitals versus replatforming to headless. When to optimize LCP and INP, and when to walk away.

Engineering

Supabase Realtime: Postgres Changes, Broadcast, and Presence

A working tutorial covering all three Supabase Realtime modes with code snippets, gotchas around RLS and connection limits, and when to pick Broadcast over Postgres Changes.

Engineering

Astro Image Optimization: The Near-Free LCP Win in 2025

Astro's built-in image pipeline is the easiest performance win we ship. Here's exactly how <Image />, <Picture />, and getImage() work under the hood.

WordPress Website Cost 2026: True 3-Year TCO vs Modern Stacks
Engineering

WordPress Website Cost 2026: True 3-Year TCO vs Modern Stacks

WordPress is free, but the 3-year total cost of ownership tells a very different story. Here's what you'll actually spend — and what modern alternatives really cost.

Engineering

Make Your Website Visible to ChatGPT, Perplexity & Claude in 2026

A developer's playbook for getting your site crawled, indexed, and cited by ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and Google AI Overviews in 2026.

Engineering

Supabase + Vercel Production Architecture: pgvector & RLS at Scale

How we architected a Supabase + Vercel production system handling 162,000+ vector records with Row Level Security -- and the hard lessons learned along the way.

Engineering

AI Content Pipelines: Real Numbers on Detection, Quality, and Scale

We ran 500+ AI-generated articles through Winston AI, Originality.ai, and GPTZero. Here's what actually passes detection and what doesn't.

Engineering

pgvector + Supabase Semantic Search: 137K Records in Production

Real performance data from running pgvector semantic search on 137,000 records in Supabase. Query times, indexing strategies, and the gotchas nobody warns you about.

Engineering

WebRTC vs WebSocket: A Decision Framework for Real-Time Apps

Concrete decision framework comparing peer-to-peer video/voice/data channels against full-duplex messaging, with server load patterns and example architectures.

Engineering

We Built Our Own Blog Pipeline with Claude, GPT-4o & Winston AI

Your agency blog sits empty because hiring writers burns budget and outsourcing delivers robotic SEO slop. We built a different path.

WordPress Security Costs vs Jamstack's Zero Attack Surface in 2026
Engineering

WordPress Security Costs vs Jamstack's Zero Attack Surface in 2026

WordPress security runs $600-$3,000/year before breach costs. Jamstack eliminates the attack surface entirely. Here's the real math.

Engineering

WordPress Security Costs vs Jamstack's Zero Attack Surface in 2026

WordPress sites spend $600-$3,000/year on security and still get hacked. Jamstack's static architecture eliminates the attack surface entirely. Here's the real math.

Engineering

Cloudinary Alternatives: An Honest Pricing and DX Comparison

Cloudinary's own blog says there's no real alternative. We disagree. Here's our agency take on six options we've actually shipped with.

Vercel Cron Jobs: Setup, Security, Limits, and Pitfalls
Engineering

Vercel Cron Jobs: Setup, Security, Limits, and Pitfalls

A hands-on guide to configuring Vercel Cron Jobs -- from vercel.json setup and CRON_SECRET security to plan limits and silent-failure traps.

Custom Web Development Pricing Tiers 2026: What Each Level Delivers
Engineering

Custom Web Development Pricing Tiers 2026: What Each Level Delivers

A breakdown of 2026 custom web development pricing tiers, from $3k brochure sites to $200k+ enterprise platforms, and exactly what you get at each level.

Not Another Sunday: Building a 137K-Listing Coffee Directory
Engineering

Not Another Sunday: Building a 137K-Listing Coffee Directory

How I built a global specialty coffee, pub and restaurant directory that ranks 137K venues by quality instead of popularity -- and the indexation call that made it work.

Jamstack Architecture Guide 2026: How It Actually Works
Engineering

Jamstack Architecture Guide 2026: How It Actually Works

Jamstack has evolved from static-site buzzword to the default way we build the web. Here's what the architecture really looks like in 2026.

bdManagedIT: Rebuilding an MSP Site from WordPress to Astro + Sanity
Engineering

bdManagedIT: Rebuilding an MSP Site from WordPress to Astro + Sanity

How I rebuilt a Georgia MSP's plugin-bloated WordPress site on Astro, Sanity, and Netlify -- zero JS, 95+ PageSpeed, and built for Google and AI search.

Building Florida Massage Elite: A Self-Running Therapist Directory
Engineering

Building Florida Massage Elite: A Self-Running Therapist Directory

How I built a verified massage therapist directory for Florida that runs itself -- self-serve onboarding, Stripe Identity, and programmatic SEO in 5 weeks.

Hire a Claude Code Developer in 2026: Rates, Red Flags & More
Engineering

Hire a Claude Code Developer in 2026: Rates, Red Flags & More

Finding a real Claude Code developer means finding someone who can drive an AI agent through production codebases -- here's how to hire the right one.

Claude Code vs Cursor for Agencies: A Workflow Architecture Guide
Engineering

Claude Code vs Cursor for Agencies: A Workflow Architecture Guide

For agencies juggling 10+ client projects, the real difference between Claude Code and Cursor isn't autocomplete speed -- it's workflow architecture.

10 Best Claude Code Agencies in 2026 (Ranked by Work Shipped)
Engineering

10 Best Claude Code Agencies in 2026 (Ranked by Work Shipped)

Claude Code agencies are a new category in 2026. We ranked the top 10 by client work shipped, GitHub footprint, and published engineering content.

Claude Code Subagents: Our Production Workflow for Ship-Safe Deploys
Engineering

Claude Code Subagents: Our Production Workflow for Ship-Safe Deploys

How we wired up Claude Code subagents, hooks, and skills to catch SEO regressions, CWV failures, and broken links before every deploy. Real configs included.

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