Running Gitea Locally with OpenTofu
A pinned Gitea 1.27 on OrbStack's Kubernetes, provisioned end to end with OpenTofu: Gateway API instead of Ingress, and a CI runner that reaches the host Docker daemon without Docker-in-Docker.
Blog
Notes from production
Practical writing on AWS, automation, and keeping platforms calm under load.
All articles
No fluff - just lessons from real engagements.
Decommissioning the Landing Zone Accelerator and Control Tower, Twelve Days Later
Taking a full LZA and Control Tower deployment back out again: why the order is forced, the CloudFormation deadlock nobody documents, and what the sweep costs.
Deploying AWS LZA v1.16.2 with the Container (ECS) Pipeline - Part 3: Day 2 with the MCP Server
Wiring AWS Labs' lza-mcp-server into the container deployment from Part 2, then pointing its diagnosis tool at a real failure to see whether it finds the issue.
Deploying AWS LZA v1.16.2 with the Container (ECS) Pipeline - Part 2: Fifteen Runs to Exit Code 0
The deployment report. A Control Tower landing zone I had to build by hand because the account failed the prerequisites, fourteen failed SSM automation runs, and the guardrail that LZA created, attached to itself, and then got locked out.
Deploying AWS LZA v1.16.2 with the Container (ECS) Pipeline - Part 1: What I Researched First
Before standing up a fresh AWS Landing Zone Accelerator v1.16.2 environment on the ECS container pipeline instead of CodePipeline, I spent a morning on the release notes, the container/ folder in the repo, and the lza-universal-configuration v1.3.1 release. Here is what that research turned up.
Migrating my site from Hugo to Next.js on AWS Amplify
How I moved manuel-vogel.de to vogel-johnson.com: Next.js on Amplify SSR, a CDK-built lead pipeline with DynamoDB and SES, and a 301 cutover that didn't break my SEO.
How to build production-ready software assisted with AI tools
How to properly use AI tools and a framework around it to build production-ready software in a spec-driven way.
Advanced GitLab CI features in v19
A tour from job grouping to dynamic child pipelines, and a look at the experimental functions feature, every example run on a real GitLab 19 instance.
Running GitLab Locally with OpenTofu
The 2024 hand-run GitLab-on-OrbStack setup, now codified in OpenTofu: GitLab 19, the modern runner token flow, and one `task up`.
Notes from production
Occasional, no-fluff writing on AWS, DevOps, and running platforms that stay up. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
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