Writing

Practical notes from building product surfaces that need to last.

Field notes from building Pean, browser tools, backend systems, and fast product surfaces. The focus is practical judgment: clear UX, durable architecture, SEO, performance, and shipping decisions.

FrontendMay 19, 2026

Next.js API Routes in 2026: Route Handlers, Server Actions, and When to Use Each

A practical guide to API routes in modern Next.js: what changed with the App Router, when to use Route Handlers, when Server Actions are enough, and how to avoid building the wrong abstraction.

Product EngineeringMay 17, 2026

Custom Web App vs No-Code: When to Build Instead of Assemble

A practical guide for founders and small teams on when no-code is enough, when it starts to break down, and when custom web app development becomes the better choice.

Product EngineeringMay 12, 2026

How to Scope a Custom MVP Before Hiring a Developer

A practical guide for founders and small teams on turning a product idea into a focused, buildable MVP scope before starting custom development.

FrontendMay 6, 2026

Server Actions vs API Routes in Next.js: the rules I actually use

A practical guide to choosing between Server Actions and API Routes in Next.js App Router. Learn when to use Server Actions, when to use Route Handlers, and how to structure mutations, forms, validation, auth, and external API calls.

Product EngineeringMay 4, 2026

How I think about building products as a developer, not just features

A practical breakdown of how I approach product-minded development: thinking about real users, systems, performance, failure states, and long-term quality instead of only shipping isolated features.

Product LabApr 25, 2026

Why I built Crowra as a side-panel SEO and AI readiness inspector

A practical product and engineering breakdown of Crowra: a Chrome side-panel extension for auditing SEO, technical health, schema, links, accessibility, and AI / GEO readiness without leaving the page you are reviewing.

EngineeringApr 24, 2026

How I designed a sync architecture for a real Expo app with NestJS and PostgreSQL

A practical breakdown of the sync architecture I use for a real Expo app: capturing GPS places on mobile, sending reliable writes through NestJS, storing them in PostgreSQL, and rendering them later in a Next.js web platform.

FrontendApr 19, 2026

Server vs Client Components in Next.js: the rules I actually use

After building with the App Router for a while, I stopped thinking in terms of 'server good, client bad'. These are the practical rules I use to decide where each component should live.

Product LabApr 10, 2026

How I designed one-tap offline place saving for Apple Watch and iPhone

Pean was never meant to be just another map app. I wanted a faster way to save private places exactly when they matter — from your wrist, without signal, and without friction. Here's the UX and product thinking behind it.

Product LabApr 7, 2026

Why Google Maps is not enough for saving personal places

I tried using Google Maps to save personal locations — fishing spots, hidden viewpoints, random discoveries. It didn't work the way I needed. Here's why and what I built instead.

Product LabApr 5, 2026

How Pean started: a private map app for saving places, fishing spots, and personal discoveries

Pean is a private map app for saving places, organizing fishing spots and personal discoveries, and sharing locations with friends on your terms. This is the story behind the product.

FrontendApr 4, 2026

What actually makes a frontend feel fast in 2026

Fast-feeling frontends are built with streaming, optimistic UI, layout stability, careful media loading, and metrics that reflect interaction quality instead of just raw network speed.

FrontendApr 3, 2026

CSS animations without Framer Motion: what I learned

I removed Framer Motion from my personal site and replaced everything with native CSS. Here's how I did it, what was hard, and what I got in return.