https://russ.dev/posts Essays and project write-ups by Russell Bloxwich on software architecture, AI-assisted development, local-first apps, and homelab. en-NZ Wed, 15 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://russ.dev/posts/on-device-models https://russ.dev/posts/on-device-models Benchmarking small language models to run on a phone: why accuracy plateaus at 3-4B, why RAG hurt, and how a deterministic calculator beat the LLM. Wed, 15 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT On-Device AI LLM Evaluation AI Agents TypeScript Software Architecture https://russ.dev/posts/gratin https://russ.dev/posts/gratin How I built Gratin, a cross-platform recipe app with no server that can read your data: one React core, Tauri and Capacitor shells, and CRDT sync. Wed, 15 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT Local-First CRDTs Privacy React Software Architecture https://russ.dev/posts/parser-poc https://russ.dev/posts/parser-poc Rewriting a slow, paid ANTLR SQL parser in two days, 3-20x faster on real customer SQL, using a Ralph Wiggum loop and a corpus of production queries. Sat, 09 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT TypeScript AI-Assisted Development Software Architecture Developer Tools https://russ.dev/posts/parallel-cutover https://russ.dev/posts/parallel-cutover A year migrating a frontend off Firestore with dual writes, feature-flagged reads, and SSE for real-time, plus where the abstraction boundary should live. Sat, 09 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT Database Migration Software Architecture React TypeScript https://russ.dev/posts/react-performance https://russ.dev/posts/react-performance Fixing a slow React app: why memoization is a bandaid, how Redux selectors and a whole workspace in memory caused it, and what actually worked. Sat, 09 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT React Frontend Performance State Management TypeScript https://russ.dev/posts/greenkeeper https://russ.dev/posts/greenkeeper Greenkeeper is a local Go daemon that watches your GitHub PRs and runs your AI CLI in a git worktree when CI fails, conflicts appear, or reviews stall. Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT Go Developer Tools AI Agents AI-Assisted Development https://russ.dev/posts/cursor-roi https://russ.dev/posts/cursor-roi A sortable React dashboard comparing every Cursor model on price, cache economics, Arena scores, and speed, refreshed from upstream data on a schedule. Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT React Developer Tools AI-Assisted Development Data Visualization https://russ.dev/posts/clipboard-inspector https://russ.dev/posts/clipboard-inspector A web tool that reveals every MIME type on your clipboard, edits each in Monaco, and copies a faithful ClipboardItem back, with rich previews. Mon, 13 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT React Web Platform APIs Developer Tools TypeScript https://russ.dev/posts/registry-pattern https://russ.dev/posts/registry-pattern The registry pattern: a typed lookup table of handlers behind one interface for notifications and AI tool calls, and why it isn't the service locator. Wed, 17 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMT TypeScript Design Patterns Software Architecture AI Agents https://russ.dev/posts/anon https://russ.dev/posts/anon Anonymous all-hands Q&A over WebRTC with no server and no logs, plus an in-browser AI that rewrites your question so your writing style can't out you. Sun, 14 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMT React Privacy On-Device AI Web Platform APIs https://russ.dev/posts/frontend-architecture https://russ.dev/posts/frontend-architecture Applying controller-service-repository thinking to React: view models, state management as a data-access layer, and why feature isolation is a lie. Sun, 14 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMT React Software Architecture Frontend Performance State Management Design Patterns https://russ.dev/posts/interface-driven-development https://russ.dev/posts/interface-driven-development Ship AI-generated code without regret by hiding it behind interfaces: contracts, dependency injection, and why the old Java patterns were right all along. Mon, 08 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMT TypeScript AI-Assisted Development Design Patterns Dependency Injection Software Architecture https://russ.dev/posts/local-first https://russ.dev/posts/local-first Local-first vs offline-first vs cloud: who owns your data, why Evolu and CRDTs make local-first practical, and the Paprika problem waiting to strand you. Mon, 08 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMT Local-First CRDTs Privacy Software Architecture https://russ.dev/posts/neverthrow https://russ.dev/posts/neverthrow Typed error handling in TypeScript with neverthrow: three ways to structure errors across layers, a namespace pattern, and exhaustive switch safety. Mon, 08 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMT TypeScript Error Handling Design Patterns Software Architecture https://russ.dev/posts/layered-architecture https://russ.dev/posts/layered-architecture Controllers, services, and repositories in TypeScript: hexagonal architecture, why I use classes over functions, and the late-binding trap to avoid. Mon, 08 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMT TypeScript Software Architecture Dependency Injection Design Patterns https://russ.dev/posts/monorepo https://russ.dev/posts/monorepo How I run one monorepo for every side project: shared Pulumi infra, a 15-line SPA deploy, why I avoid Vercel, and why I keep coming back to AWS. Fri, 05 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMT Monorepo AWS Infrastructure as Code TypeScript https://russ.dev/posts/cursor-wrapped https://russ.dev/posts/cursor-wrapped A Spotify Wrapped-style dashboard for your Cursor usage: tokens, costs, favourite models, streaks, and shareable cards, built in a weekend with AI. Fri, 05 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMT React AI-Assisted Development Data Visualization Developer Tools https://russ.dev/posts/santa https://russ.dev/posts/santa Building a Secret Santa organiser with exclusion constraints and shareable links: from JWT-in-URL assignments to a Lambda and DynamoDB backend. Fri, 05 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMT React AWS AI-Assisted Development TypeScript https://russ.dev/posts/spoticover https://russ.dev/posts/spoticover Generating Spotify playlist covers with constrained randomness: colour-harmony rules, seeded generation, and one-try Spotify OAuth built mostly with AI. Fri, 05 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMT React Web Platform APIs AI-Assisted Development TypeScript https://russ.dev/posts/homelab-2025 https://russ.dev/posts/homelab-2025 Losing 50TB to a RaidZ1 mistake, rebuilding on RaidZ2, and expanding to two nodes: hard-won homelab lessons in ZFS redundancy and failure modes. Fri, 05 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMT Homelab ZFS / Storage Kubernetes https://russ.dev/posts/terrible25 https://russ.dev/posts/terrible25 Running TerribleHack 2025 solo for the first time: print disasters, 17 gloriously terrible projects, and a denim trophy the winners tear apart. Sat, 01 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMT Hackathon Hardware / Maker Career & Craft https://russ.dev/posts/ethglobal-nyc https://russ.dev/posts/ethglobal-nyc Flying to ETHGlobal NYC after winning Web3NZ: building HouseHodl, a trustless shared-expenses app, why cross-chain broke, and napping on the venue floor. Fri, 01 Aug 2025 00:00:00 GMT Web3 DeFi Solidity Hackathon https://russ.dev/posts/loanmarket https://russ.dev/posts/loanmarket How a team of Web3 first-timers built LoanMarket in 18 hours, sharing one KYC verification across lenders with verifiable credentials, and won best overall. Sat, 01 Mar 2025 00:00:00 GMT Web3 Solidity React Hackathon https://russ.dev/posts/terrible24 https://russ.dev/posts/terrible24 Co-organising TerribleHack 2024 as Zac hands over the reins: destroy-your-project challenges, ice-cutlery dinners, and what makes a great maker event. Fri, 01 Nov 2024 00:00:00 GMT Hackathon Hardware / Maker Career & Craft https://russ.dev/posts/rent-racket https://russ.dev/posts/rent-racket Designing Rent Racket, a political landlord-satire card game, at Kiwijam '24: fast paper prototyping, tuning the rules, and laser-cutting the final set. Fri, 01 Nov 2024 00:00:00 GMT Game Dev Hackathon Hardware / Maker https://russ.dev/posts/truenas https://russ.dev/posts/truenas Migrating a homelab from Unraid and Docker to TrueNAS Scale and Kubernetes: multiple storage classes, ZFS redundancy, GPU passthrough, and K3s in nspawn. Sat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 GMT Homelab Kubernetes ZFS / Storage https://russ.dev/posts/mixer-mayhem https://russ.dev/posts/mixer-mayhem Building a crowd-controlled robotic bartender at TerribleHack 2023: peristaltic pumps, a WebSocket god-client deploy pattern, and a force-push disaster. Wed, 01 Nov 2023 00:00:00 GMT Hardware / Maker AWS Web Platform APIs Hackathon https://russ.dev/posts/infranz https://russ.dev/posts/infranz Building InfraNZ at GovHack 2023: a 3D GIS map of Auckland's hidden public infrastructure with DeckGL, council open data, and a Rust outage API. Sun, 20 Aug 2023 00:00:00 GMT React Open Data / GIS Rust Hackathon https://russ.dev/posts/bustle https://russ.dev/posts/bustle Bustle, a GovHack 2022 concept: a loyalty and gamification layer for Auckland public transport, mapping congestion and carbon with open transit data. Thu, 01 Sep 2022 00:00:00 GMT React Open Data / GIS Hackathon https://russ.dev/posts/cnctattoo https://russ.dev/posts/cnctattoo Turning a 3D printer into a CNC tattoo machine at the first Terrible Ideas Hackathon: G-code, arm-probing failures, and spring-loading a tattoo gun. Fri, 01 Jul 2022 00:00:00 GMT Hardware / Maker Hackathon Python