Open Source
Articles related to open source.
Your identity isn't your username
Your handle is a label; your identity is a key you own. atproto splits who you are from what you're called, so you can rename freely, prove who you are with a domain you control, and carry one identity across the apps you use. Part of 'Apps as Views, Not Vaults': the things you make are yours; apps are just the viewers.
Who actually owns your network?
Every time I moved a community to a new platform, the exit cost members and history. Platforms come and go; the lock-in architecture underneath is why. Part of 'Apps as Views, Not Vaults': the things you make are yours; apps are just the viewers.
Outsource your GitHub CI to a VPS: cheaper, faster, and a free backup server too
Self-hosted GitHub Actions runners on a small Hetzner VPS cut my CI wall-clock from ~12 minutes to ~3 minutes for about half the price of the GitHub-hosted minutes I was burning. Here's the full setup.
Make links to your blog render the custom "View publication" card + CTA
Short guide. The mechanism is simpler than it looks, and it doesn't involve any /.well-known file or DNS TXT record.
ATmosphere Conf 2026: the internet built for people, not platforms
370 people in Vancouver, 500 online, all working on the same question: what does the internet look like when users own their data? Highlights from the AT Protocol community conference.
AI slop is drowning communities. Verifiable track records can fix it.
AI-generated junk content is flooding every community platform. Traditional moderation can't keep up. Portable, cross-platform contribution history is a structural fix that addresses the root cause.
Barazo: community forums where members own their data
I'm building an open source forum platform on the AT Protocol. Members log in with their Bluesky account, posts live on their own data server, and reputation follows them across communities.
BigTech independence update: cleaning house for local AI
Three months after my original BigTech independence article, here's what changed and why I'm building infrastructure for local AI.
A practical guide to building your own antifragile tech stack
Seven principles for evaluating technology choices, reducing vendor lock-in, and building a more resilient digital setup. The decision-making framework behind the tools.
Start building Anti-Fragile communities, your community deserves it
Over 20 years building communities around open-source platforms, I've watched a pattern repeat. Communities feel invincible until the moment they collapse. Learn how to build anti-fragile communities that gain strength from change instead of breaking under stress.
How I reduced my BigTech dependencies in 2025 (and why you should too)
A detailed guide on moving away from vendor lock-in and Big Tech subscriptions to build a more robust, privacy-friendly, and antifragile tech setup using open source alternatives.
Often Confused Commerce Terms
Let's set the record straight about some often mixed up terms in commerce