https://i4o.dev I design and build calm, durable software — and write about the craft in public. en https://i4o.dev/articles/i-turn-off-ai-when-doing-these-2-things-and-you-should-too https://i4o.dev/articles/i-turn-off-ai-when-doing-these-2-things-and-you-should-too Thu, 30 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMT I use AI every day for work, but I intentionally turn it off for three things: learning, writing, and increasingly, coding. Here's why protecting these activities from AI has become essential to me, and why you might want to do the same. https://i4o.dev/articles/the-1-app-i-cant-live-without-for-learning-and-research https://i4o.dev/articles/the-1-app-i-cant-live-without-for-learning-and-research Tue, 28 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMT How I Use Perplexity AI for Learning & Research in 2025 https://i4o.dev/articles/1-mistake-i-made-when-i-first-started-vibe-coding-and-3-tips-to-fix-it https://i4o.dev/articles/1-mistake-i-made-when-i-first-started-vibe-coding-and-3-tips-to-fix-it Thu, 16 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMT I wasted hours letting AI do the thinking for me. Here are 3 lessons I learned the hard way about vibe coding side projects—so you don't have to. https://i4o.dev/articles/the-single-most-important-thing-i-did-to-grow-as-a-software-engineer https://i4o.dev/articles/the-single-most-important-thing-i-did-to-grow-as-a-software-engineer Tue, 14 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMT The single most important thing I've done to grow my career and learn valuable skills: Just-In-Time Learning https://i4o.dev/articles/the-best-ways-to-get-started-learning-the-go-programming-language https://i4o.dev/articles/the-best-ways-to-get-started-learning-the-go-programming-language Sun, 12 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMT I've been coding a lot in Golang and thought I'll write down which resources I use to learn Golang. https://i4o.dev/articles/3-things-i-am-exploring-in-ai-right-now https://i4o.dev/articles/3-things-i-am-exploring-in-ai-right-now Fri, 10 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMT There are 3 things I am actively thinking about and exploring a lot these days: https://i4o.dev/articles/why-im-starting-to-write-online-again-and-im-taking-it-seriously-this-time https://i4o.dev/articles/why-im-starting-to-write-online-again-and-im-taking-it-seriously-this-time Thu, 09 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMT I'm doing Ship 30 for 30 — a 30-day writing challenge — to push myself to write more and become better at sharing my work. https://i4o.dev/articles/i-stopped-buying-ebooks https://i4o.dev/articles/i-stopped-buying-ebooks Fri, 21 Feb 2025 00:00:00 GMT I love my Kindle, and for years, it was my exclusive reading companion. But lately, I've found myself gravitating back to physical books. It's not just about the feel of paper under my fingers or the satisfying smell of a new book — though I do love these things. It's about ownership. After watching Amazon exercise their control over the devices and content they sell, I've realized that maybe the convenience of digital isn't worth giving up the permanence of physical books. https://i4o.dev/articles/notes-on-aurelius-launch https://i4o.dev/articles/notes-on-aurelius-launch Sun, 20 Oct 2024 00:00:00 GMT I launched Aurelius last week. Here are a some notes on how I launched, how it went, and how I would launch products in the future. https://i4o.dev/articles/automating-my-tmux-workflow-using-smug https://i4o.dev/articles/automating-my-tmux-workflow-using-smug Mon, 14 Oct 2024 00:00:00 GMT I recently automated more of my development workflow — this time for tmux. I used a CLI tool called smug and wrote configurations for automatically setting up my tmux sessions. https://i4o.dev/articles/ambitious-projects https://i4o.dev/articles/ambitious-projects Sat, 12 Oct 2024 00:00:00 GMT This is a small journal entry about a few ambitious projects that inspire me. And also about my anxiety when I think about my own ambitious project ideas. https://i4o.dev/articles/the-final-countdown https://i4o.dev/articles/the-final-countdown Wed, 02 Oct 2024 00:00:00 GMT Reflecting on regrets and wins of 2024. Reviving projects, learning new things, and setting personal challenges for the year's final stretch. A self-reminder to push harder. https://i4o.dev/articles/oapi-codegen-with-chi-router https://i4o.dev/articles/oapi-codegen-with-chi-router Fri, 27 Sep 2024 00:00:00 GMT In this post, I'll talk about how I'm building a RESTful API by generating Go code from an OpenAPI specification. https://i4o.dev/articles/are-local-first-apps-the-future https://i4o.dev/articles/are-local-first-apps-the-future Wed, 21 Aug 2024 00:00:00 GMT While I don't think local-first is a one-size-fits-all way to build apps, I think they'll become ubiquitous. And a lot more developers are going to build local-first features into their apps. https://i4o.dev/articles/moving-a-little-bit-away-from-js-land https://i4o.dev/articles/moving-a-little-bit-away-from-js-land Mon, 12 Aug 2024 00:00:00 GMT For my entire professional career I've only worked in the JavaScript ecosystem. It was great — for the most part — but recently I've been kinda looking for something different. https://i4o.dev/articles/remix-is-great-for-local-first-apps https://i4o.dev/articles/remix-is-great-for-local-first-apps Thu, 08 Aug 2024 00:00:00 GMT There's a lot to love about Remix. But what I've found recently is Remix is a great choice for local-first apps. https://i4o.dev/articles/reviving-aurelius https://i4o.dev/articles/reviving-aurelius Mon, 05 Aug 2024 00:00:00 GMT After a long time of not working on side projects, I started to miss it again a few weeks back. This came almost right after realizing that all my side projects were dead. So the first step was to revive my favorite project. https://i4o.dev/articles/all-my-side-projects-are-dead https://i4o.dev/articles/all-my-side-projects-are-dead Mon, 06 May 2024 00:00:00 GMT I haven't updated any of my projects in a while and I also stopped using most of them. Some of them are still useful but it's fine to move on from projects that are no longer needed. https://i4o.dev/articles/just-use-a-server https://i4o.dev/articles/just-use-a-server Thu, 02 May 2024 00:00:00 GMT The server vs serverless argument is seemingly never ending but I haven't changed my stance. Just use a server. It's not that hard. https://i4o.dev/articles/the-ephemeral-nature-of-closed-source-software https://i4o.dev/articles/the-ephemeral-nature-of-closed-source-software Thu, 29 Feb 2024 00:00:00 GMT An app that I was using everyday is shutting down. With nowhere to import the data I exported from this app, I'm thinking about the ephemeral nature of closed-source software and how open-source can mostly mitigate this problem. https://i4o.dev/articles/linear-for-personal-productivity https://i4o.dev/articles/linear-for-personal-productivity Fri, 19 Jan 2024 00:00:00 GMT Will a beloved project management software built for teams, work for personal use? https://i4o.dev/articles/how-i-choose-books https://i4o.dev/articles/how-i-choose-books Fri, 12 Jan 2024 00:00:00 GMT After I finish a book, here are the things I consider when choosing what to read next https://i4o.dev/articles/hello-2024 https://i4o.dev/articles/hello-2024 Fri, 05 Jan 2024 00:00:00 GMT Here are my 2024 goals for level up as a software engineer https://i4o.dev/articles/on-cocoon https://i4o.dev/articles/on-cocoon Tue, 10 Oct 2023 00:00:00 GMT I recently played a 3D puzzle platformer called Cocoon. I was so awestruck by its beautify and game design, I decided to write about it. https://i4o.dev/articles/vim-adventures-final-part https://i4o.dev/articles/vim-adventures-final-part Mon, 09 Oct 2023 00:00:00 GMT After over 10 months of using the Neovim, I've decided to move back to WebStorm and RustRover. Here's why. https://i4o.dev/articles/using-planetscale-with-prisma-and-remix https://i4o.dev/articles/using-planetscale-with-prisma-and-remix Tue, 28 Mar 2023 00:00:00 GMT In this post, I'll walkthrough how I combine three of my favorite technologies - Remix, Prisma, and Planetscale - to build fullstack applications https://i4o.dev/articles/npm-package-stack-2023 https://i4o.dev/articles/npm-package-stack-2023 Wed, 22 Mar 2023 00:00:00 GMT If you're building a shared library or publishing a library to NPM, then this stack will save you so much time and effort. https://i4o.dev/articles/vim-adventures-part-2 https://i4o.dev/articles/vim-adventures-part-2 Mon, 06 Feb 2023 00:00:00 GMT After over 6 months of using the IdeaVim plugin with WebStorm and learning Vim keybindings, I've finally made the move to Neovim, full time. https://i4o.dev/articles/i-built-a-component-library https://i4o.dev/articles/i-built-a-component-library Fri, 13 Jan 2023 00:00:00 GMT I built my own React UI component library. It's called Catalyst UI. Here's why I decided to do it in 2023, when there are plenty of other options. https://i4o.dev/articles/hello-2023 https://i4o.dev/articles/hello-2023 Thu, 05 Jan 2023 00:00:00 GMT I have a few things I want to accomplish in 2023. Here are the ones that are related to software and development. https://i4o.dev/articles/why-i-like-remix https://i4o.dev/articles/why-i-like-remix Thu, 28 Jul 2022 00:00:00 GMT I've completely switched to using Remix for my projects. Here's why. https://i4o.dev/articles/is-github-copilot-bad https://i4o.dev/articles/is-github-copilot-bad Mon, 25 Jul 2022 00:00:00 GMT I've been using GitHub Copilot, since it became generally available a month ago. Here's my experience using it for the past month. https://i4o.dev/articles/diving-deeper-into-remix-stacks https://i4o.dev/articles/diving-deeper-into-remix-stacks Mon, 27 Jun 2022 00:00:00 GMT I recently updated my Remix Stack, called Synthwave Stack. Here are some of the choices I made and why I made them. https://i4o.dev/articles/vim-adventures https://i4o.dev/articles/vim-adventures Thu, 23 Jun 2022 00:00:00 GMT I decided that it's time I put in some effort and learn Vim. Here's how it went. https://i4o.dev/articles/forget-git-stash-and-use-git-worktrees-instead https://i4o.dev/articles/forget-git-stash-and-use-git-worktrees-instead Mon, 20 Jun 2022 00:00:00 GMT Git worktree is a feature that lets you check out more than one branch at a time. They've been such a gamechanger for my git workflow. https://i4o.dev/articles/learning-go-and-saving-rust-for-later https://i4o.dev/articles/learning-go-and-saving-rust-for-later Wed, 15 Jun 2022 00:00:00 GMT A while ago, I wrote about how I'm learning Rust. I've actually stopped and chose to learn Go instead. https://i4o.dev/articles/writing-layouts-for-time-parse-in-go https://i4o.dev/articles/writing-layouts-for-time-parse-in-go Tue, 10 May 2022 00:00:00 GMT I had a bit of a hard time wrapping my head around parsing date and time in Go. Here's how I made sense of it. https://i4o.dev/articles/learning-typescript-by-building-stuff https://i4o.dev/articles/learning-typescript-by-building-stuff Mon, 02 May 2022 00:00:00 GMT Building projects that you would actually use is the best way to learn new things in software https://i4o.dev/articles/running-on-fumes https://i4o.dev/articles/running-on-fumes Thu, 21 Apr 2022 00:00:00 GMT I think I'm burnt out https://i4o.dev/articles/using-planetscale-in-a-next-js-app-with-prisma https://i4o.dev/articles/using-planetscale-in-a-next-js-app-with-prisma Tue, 12 Apr 2022 00:00:00 GMT In this article, I explain how to set up a database on Planetscale and how to connect a Next.js app to the database using Prisma. https://i4o.dev/articles/exploring-remix-stacks https://i4o.dev/articles/exploring-remix-stacks Fri, 08 Apr 2022 00:00:00 GMT With Remix Stacks, you can get a Remix application fully-configured and ready to deploy with one command! https://i4o.dev/articles/setting-up-a-terminal-you-will-love-to-use https://i4o.dev/articles/setting-up-a-terminal-you-will-love-to-use Mon, 10 Jan 2022 00:00:00 GMT In this post, I'll walk you through how I set up my Linux terminal workflow with very little effort and how you can do the same. https://i4o.dev/articles/my-tech-stack-has-changed-for-2022 https://i4o.dev/articles/my-tech-stack-has-changed-for-2022 Thu, 06 Jan 2022 00:00:00 GMT This year, I've updated my tech stack for building web applications. https://i4o.dev/articles/writing-an-interpreter-in-rust https://i4o.dev/articles/writing-an-interpreter-in-rust Tue, 04 Jan 2022 00:00:00 GMT How does the compiler/interpreter know how many variables there are, how to allocate memory, and what to do about that silly mistake you made? How do you design a programming language from scratch(-ish)? https://i4o.dev/articles/technologies-i-want-to-learn-in-2022 https://i4o.dev/articles/technologies-i-want-to-learn-in-2022 Mon, 03 Jan 2022 00:00:00 GMT There are plenty of web technologies to learn and use in 2022. Here are my goals for learning web and related technologies this year. https://i4o.dev/articles/overcoming-anxiety-and-launching-early https://i4o.dev/articles/overcoming-anxiety-and-launching-early Mon, 25 Oct 2021 00:00:00 GMT I'm having trouble launching stuff https://i4o.dev/articles/rusts-ownership-model-a-primer https://i4o.dev/articles/rusts-ownership-model-a-primer Tue, 12 Oct 2021 00:00:00 GMT Rust's Ownership model is a difficult concept for many newcomers to the language. In this article I attempt to explain the concept. https://i4o.dev/articles/metawork https://i4o.dev/articles/metawork Mon, 27 Sep 2021 00:00:00 GMT What do I do before I start a project? https://i4o.dev/articles/how-do-you-write-software-for-space https://i4o.dev/articles/how-do-you-write-software-for-space Sun, 26 Sep 2021 00:00:00 GMT I was curious about how software is written for space travel. Here are a series of stories answering the questions I had about the process, testing, conventions and more about software for space. https://i4o.dev/articles/how-to-add-stripe-subscriptions-to-your-next-js-application https://i4o.dev/articles/how-to-add-stripe-subscriptions-to-your-next-js-application Sun, 26 Sep 2021 00:00:00 GMT In this article, I show how we can add Stripe subscriptions to a Next.js application. https://i4o.dev/articles/javascripts-temporal-api-fixes-problems-with-the-date-api https://i4o.dev/articles/javascripts-temporal-api-fixes-problems-with-the-date-api Mon, 20 Sep 2021 00:00:00 GMT I recently heard about the Temporal API and how it fixes issues with the current date implementation in JavaScript. In this article I talk about Temporal API and its features, comparing it to Date. https://i4o.dev/articles/learning-by-building-breakable-toys https://i4o.dev/articles/learning-by-building-breakable-toys Wed, 15 Sep 2021 00:00:00 GMT Building breakable toys is one of the best way I know, to learn a new programming language or technology. In this article I write about the features of a breakable toy. https://i4o.dev/articles/the-ongoing-climb-to-be-a-writer https://i4o.dev/articles/the-ongoing-climb-to-be-a-writer Tue, 14 Sep 2021 00:00:00 GMT The story of why and how I'm on the path to becoming a writer. https://i4o.dev/articles/learning-rust-as-a-javascript-developer https://i4o.dev/articles/learning-rust-as-a-javascript-developer Thu, 09 Sep 2021 00:00:00 GMT I recently decided to learn the Rust programming language. This is an introductory post on why I decided to learn Rust and how I'm going about it. https://i4o.dev/articles/serving-a-next-js-application-over-https-in-localhost https://i4o.dev/articles/serving-a-next-js-application-over-https-in-localhost Mon, 06 Sep 2021 00:00:00 GMT I recently set up a Next.js application to be served over HTTPS in localhost using mkcert. This is how I did it in under 5 minutes. https://i4o.dev/articles/my-linux-web-development-workflow https://i4o.dev/articles/my-linux-web-development-workflow Sat, 04 Sep 2021 00:00:00 GMT In this article, I write about all the tools and applications I use on Linux every day to build web applications and be productive. https://i4o.dev/articles/all-the-things-you-can-do-with-javascript-optional-chaining https://i4o.dev/articles/all-the-things-you-can-do-with-javascript-optional-chaining Sat, 28 Aug 2021 00:00:00 GMT In this article, I talk about optional chaining and all the things that we can do with it apart from reading nested object properties. https://i4o.dev/articles/rapid-web-development-with-next-js-chakraui-and-mongodb https://i4o.dev/articles/rapid-web-development-with-next-js-chakraui-and-mongodb Fri, 27 Aug 2021 00:00:00 GMT Next.js when combined with Chakra UI and MongoDB is a great way to build powerful web applications while moving fast and has a good developer experience. https://i4o.dev/articles/supercharging-data-fetching-in-react-with-swr https://i4o.dev/articles/supercharging-data-fetching-in-react-with-swr Wed, 25 Aug 2021 00:00:00 GMT The default way to fetch data in React applications is good. There is a better way and is super fun to use. It's called SWR. https://i4o.dev/articles/creating-a-lightweight-widget-in-preact https://i4o.dev/articles/creating-a-lightweight-widget-in-preact Wed, 28 Jul 2021 00:00:00 GMT In this article, I talk about building a Preact widget, why I chose Preact, and the configuration required to set it all up. https://i4o.dev/articles/running-node-js-natively-in-the-browser https://i4o.dev/articles/running-node-js-natively-in-the-browser Wed, 16 Jun 2021 00:00:00 GMT WebContainer is a new technology that lets us run Node.js natively in the browser. Built in webassembly, it's blazing fast, secure by default and enables seamless debugging in the Chrome DevTools. https://i4o.dev/articles/getting-started-in-terraform https://i4o.dev/articles/getting-started-in-terraform Sun, 13 Jun 2021 00:00:00 GMT A complete Terraform tutorial covering fundamental topics like infrastructure as code, terraform providers, state, terraform plan and terraform apply. https://i4o.dev/articles/production-grade-aws-architecture-part-1-services https://i4o.dev/articles/production-grade-aws-architecture-part-1-services Sat, 10 Oct 2020 00:00:00 GMT Amazon Web Services is one of the largest cloud service providers in the world. Thousands of software companies around the world have hosted their products on AWS. Netflix, Twitch, Airbnb, and Lyft use AWS to serve millions of customers worldwide. https://i4o.dev/articles/getting-started-with-tailwindcss https://i4o.dev/articles/getting-started-with-tailwindcss Tue, 22 Sep 2020 00:00:00 GMT Tailwind works by exposing a ton of CSS utility classes. But that line doesn't even begin to cover how powerful it makes you as a web developer. https://i4o.dev/articles/production-grade-aws-architecture-part-4-networking https://i4o.dev/articles/production-grade-aws-architecture-part-4-networking Tue, 05 May 2020 00:00:00 GMT Networking in AWS spans multiple services. Each has its own set of features that provides an incredible level of flexibility for your needs. https://i4o.dev/articles/signs-of-entropy-in-your-codebase-that-shouldnt-be-ignored https://i4o.dev/articles/signs-of-entropy-in-your-codebase-that-shouldnt-be-ignored Wed, 29 Apr 2020 00:00:00 GMT Do you know what I think the coolest law of physics is? It's the second law of thermodynamics — entropy. In this article, I talk about entropy in software and how to mitigate it. https://i4o.dev/articles/production-grade-aws-architecture-part-3-monoliths-vs-microservices https://i4o.dev/articles/production-grade-aws-architecture-part-3-monoliths-vs-microservices Fri, 24 Apr 2020 00:00:00 GMT When you build your software, should you go for monolithic or microservices architecture? This is one of the hottest arguments in developer circles. There are advocates for either side and the argument is never-ending. https://i4o.dev/articles/production-grade-aws-architecture-part-2-first-steps https://i4o.dev/articles/production-grade-aws-architecture-part-2-first-steps Thu, 23 Apr 2020 00:00:00 GMT In this article, I'll walk you through the first steps that I did after creating the AWS account. Some of these steps may seem unnecessary but they are good practices to follow when using AWS.