Hello, world — why this site exists
A personal site, built from scratch: Payload CMS, Next.js, Postgres on Railway, media on Cloudflare R2. Here’s the thinking.
Every system I respect has one thing in common: someone owns it completely. This site is mine — the stack, the data, the words.
The stack
Payload CMS embedded in Next.js, talking to Postgres on Railway. Images live in Cloudflare R2. Cloudflare fronts the whole thing — DNS, proxy, and Turnstile keeping bots off the door. Analytics is Microsoft Clarity, and only if you say yes to it.
What to expect
Writing about systems: architecture decisions, operational lessons, and occasional opinions held loosely. Delete this post from the admin panel whenever you’re ready to write your own first one.