Blog Archive
How and Why I Built My Own RAG Stack
How I built retrieval I control over my own site: hybrid vector + BM25 search fused by rank, an LLM-as-judge reranker, and a cache that still streams.
I Let a Random Number Generator Find My Bugs
A seeded PRNG, a reference model, and six thousand requests later: how Deterministic Simulation Testing found a cache bug my unit tests never would have.
Why Your Frontend Needs a Safety Net - Part 2
TanStack Query is a powerful tool. Used without discipline, it quietly makes your backend hate you.
Building an AI Assistant as an Apollo Federation Subgraph
Instead of bolting an AI chat widget onto the side of an app, make it a proper Apollo Federation subgraph — sharing auth context, schema types, and a single API URL with the rest of your services.
Object Reference Stability in React
Learn how unstable object and function references cause unnecessary React re-renders, and how to fix them using useMemo, useCallback, useEffectEvent, and the React Compiler.
Beyond the Convenience - Rethinking Optional Chaining for Cleaner Code
A candid exploration of the optional chaining operator—its convenience, hidden risks, and how thoughtful design leads to cleaner, safer code.
Vibe Coding How AI Supercharged My Productivity (Without Burning My Wallet)
Discover how I leveraged local AI tools like Ollama, Lovable, and Claude Code to streamline code migration and boost productivity—all while keeping costs and privacy concerns in check.