My blog

My creative outlet is a reflection of the experiences I've encountered—whether in learning, facing setbacks, or achieving success—as a software developer.

Case Study - Building Dotted

Aug 13th, 2024

5 min read

I developed an AI mobile app aimed at making it easy to generate travel itineraries. Having zero experience in mobile and AI development, it was quite a challenge. In this case study, I want to share the process of how I was able to build Dotted.

Regain Access to Hetzner VPS From a New Machine

Jul 13th, 2024

7 min read

I recently bought a new laptop and had already factory reset my old one to resell. In doing so, I lost all access to my Hetzner VPS since it was configured to disallow root access entirely and only allow user access via SSH since passwords were turned off. I was able to regain access by following these steps.

Catching Up with Artificial Intelligence and Life

Jul 3rd, 2024

5 min read

It's been a few months since I last checked in and wrote a post. During that time, I was head down working on my mobile AI app, Dotted, but progressing slowly. Recently, I finally had the chance to visit the US for a new college graduate in our family. The reunion was absolutely pleasant and a much needed break away from the monotony.

Common Errors for New Flutter Developers: Tips and Fixes

May 16th, 2024

9 min read

As a new Flutter developer, I came across these errors that often left me scratching my head and frustrated. I compiled a list of common errors and fixes for them for me to reference back to. I will continue to update this list as I encounter more issues.

Adding RSS Feed Content and Fixing Markdown Image Paths in Astro

May 4th, 2024

9 min read

I recently added an RSS feed to my website and wanted to cross-post my writings from my blog to other platforms like dev.to. Following the official docs was fine, however, there was one issue if you were using relative paths in your markdown for your image assets. The images were not correctly pointing to the URL where it was hosted. I did find a way to fix this in this post.

How Docker Breathes New Life into My Workflow

Apr 30th, 2024

7 min read

If there's one thing I wish I had learned earlier in my career, it would be to use Docker. Docker has been such a blast to work with that I've been using it daily in my work. It's easy to get started with all the available offerings they have, and the learning curve gradually increases, which makes it an exciting challenge to master.

Registering for Apple and Google Developer Accounts

Apr 23rd, 2024

3 min read

Last week I said I was going to form an LLC but decided not to. I finally took the plunge into mobile development and signed up for Apple and Google Developer Accounts under my name. I believe the web is still the most accessible platform there is out there but something about developing for mobile is appealing.

Diving Head First into the Startup Unknowns

Apr 18th, 2024

3 min read

This year, I'm going to try to launch projects that will hopefully generate income. It's always been a dream of mine to pursue exciting ideas that I'm passionate about. In doing so, there are so many raised questions about what I need to do.

Keep Astro Content Collection Types in Sync on Git Commit

Apr 17th, 2024

2 min read

Sometimes you may find your .astro type definitions out of sync of your content configuration file. I don't know why this happens but I wanted to fix this since I want to rely on Typescript whenever I'm accessing properties from my collections. The fix is relatively simple by utilizing Husky.

Fix Missing 404 Pages for Coolify Static Site Deployments

Apr 15th, 2024

6 min read

Every time I went to a non-existent URL, it would redirect me to the home page. I couldn't see my 404 page unless I went to /404 directly! Thankfully, I was able to find a solution after tinkering with Docker and Nginx. If you're in this situation, then this solution might be for you.

Configure a Contact Form Email Server with Resend for Your Website

Apr 13th, 2024

13 min read

This tutorial covers how to hook up your front-end contact form to a back-end email server using Resend. You can apply the concepts discussed in this post to any front-end or back-end framework. If you're using a form provider like FormSpree or FormSubmit and want to move away from them, then this blog post is for you.

Highlight Table of Content Items Using Intersection Observer

Apr 5th, 2024

6 min read

After creating my Table of Contents for my blog, I needed a way to let the readers know which part of it they are viewing. By adding text decorations to the Table of Content links, I'm able to give a visual indicator by using the Web API Intersection Observer.

Use Husky and Node to Unstage Draft Blog Posts From Git

Mar 21st, 2024

9 min read

I had a problem where my draft blog posts were being committed to my GitHub repository. This might seem like an insignificant issue, but I didn't want a work-in-progress to be publicly viewable. So that's where I came up with a solution to use Husky and a Node script to prevent that.

Creating Custom Table of Contents for Astro Content Collections

Mar 13th, 2024

6 min read

There isn't a well-documented source on how you can create a custom Table of Contents from your markdown with the Astro Content Collection API. The 'remark-toc' plugin does the job but offers little control over where you can place it. In this post, I'll show you how I created my ToC for my blog.

Enabling Developer Mode on iOS 17.3.1

Mar 7th, 2024

2 min read

If you have trouble finding the Developer Mode settings on your iPhone, I may have the fix for you. The official documentation was outdated and other users' comments around the internet echoed what the docs said.

Adding GitHub Pull Request Preview Deployments with Coolify

Mar 5th, 2024

12 min read

Pull Request Preview Deployments are a neat feature where you receive a shareable link so you can showcase a feature before merging it into production. In this post, I'll show you how you can set up your Coolify to create those magical Pull Request Preview Deploys just like Netlify.

Self-hosting Your Website with Coolify v4: A Step-by-Step Guide

Mar 1st, 2024

13 min read

Ever wondered how you can self-host your own websites and web apps without the need for services like Netlify, Vercel, and the like? I am venturing down that path and I want to share what I learned. In this tutorial, I will explain what I did to host a static website using Cloudflare, Hetzner, and Coolify.

My Content Creation In Its Infancy

Feb 22nd, 2024

3 min read

Embarking on something new can be both frightening and exciting. In my case, it's a mix of both. Creating content involves putting myself out there for the world to see. I'm starting small with the hope that it will blossom into a consistent flow of creativity. In this post, I share my thoughts on the reasons behind the existence of this blog.