9 min read
Local-First Architecture for Solo Apps When CRDTs Help and When They Hurt
Local-first cut my note app's perceived latency to zero across 3 devices
The Lab · Written in the open
Lab.
Working notes from the studio. The tools I build, the workflows I keep, the mistakes I paid for.
469 entries · latest 2026-10-22
9 min read
Shopify Metafields Done Right Three Patterns From Production
Typed metafield definitions catch bad data before it reaches your theme
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Pricing a Digital Product as a Solo Studio
Three-question framework: floor, ceiling, anchor before any product ships
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Why I Stopped Reaching for Redis on Solo Projects
Six Redis use cases replaced with SQLite, Postgres, and Edge KV
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The Stripe Webhook Patterns I Use to Avoid Lost Events
Signature verification on the edge blocks forged payloads before they hit my logic
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Form UX in 2026 Native HTML Validation Is Finally Enough
Removed a 12 KB validation library across 3 surfaces using native HTML
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Managing Design Tokens Across 14 Projects Without a Tool
One tokens.json source feeds 14 projects with zero infrastructure
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Edge Functions vs Serverless for Solo Projects A Practical Comparison
Edge wins for cookie gating, redirects, AB tests at sub-20ms cold starts
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The Liquid Patterns That Cut My Theme Build Time in Half
Schema fragments cut section files by 40 lines each
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The Claude Code Features I Started Using This Month
1M context Opus replaced my manual file-pasting ritual entirely
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The DuckDB Pattern When SQLite Is Not Enough but Postgres Is Overkill
DuckDB scans 10M rows in under a second on a laptop
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GitHub Actions Crons That Actually Stay Green
7 daily crons, 2 starvation incidents that triggered the rewrite