Articles

Notes on backend engineering, AI, and self-hosted infrastructure.

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  Aug 1, 2026 · 15 min read

  Using Pi-hole Without Pinning My Whole Network to One DNS Server

  I put Pi-hole in my router, and my little Proxmox server became the thing the whole house depended on. Here is how a WireGuard VPN turned ad blocking into a switch I can turn on and off per device.

  • Pi-hole
  • WireGuard
  • Proxmox
  • DNS
  • Homelab
  • Self-Hosting
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  Aug 1, 2026 · 16 min read

  How git cherry-pick Rescued a Hotfix I Branched From the Wrong Place

  I cut a hotfix branch from develop instead of master, then production needed only that fix. How cherry-pick works, the commands that saved the release, and how to avoid the mistake.

  • Git
  • Version Control
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  Jul 10, 2026 · 20 min read

  The Hidden "firstOrCreate()" Case-Sensitivity Trap in Laravel

  Laravel's firstOrCreate() returned the wrong record due to MySQL's case-insensitive collation. Learn how collations work and 5 production-ready fixes.

  • Laravel
  • MySQL
  • Eloquent
  • Database Collation
  • Debugging
  • Backend