Running Adobe ColdFusion on ARM: An Adventure in Unsupported Territory
I tried to move Adobe ColdFusion to AWS Graviton. ColdFusion worked. The connector didn’t. Then CommandBox made the whole problem disappear.
Code Monkey
Personal website for David Byers, a seaasoned ColdFusion developer with a soft spot for clean code, practical software advice, and the occasional well-earned rant about legacy systems.
Latest posts
Building a Slack-Backed Support Chat in ColdFusion - Part 9: The Complete Reference Implementation
Because Reading About It Is Nice. Running It Is Better.
Building a Slack-Backed Support Chat in ColdFusion - Part 8: Building for Failure
Because Production Doesn’t Care That It Worked on Your Laptop
Building a Slack-Backed Support Chat in ColdFusion - Part 7: Turning Slack Events into Customer Conversations
Because a Message Isn’t Really a Conversation Until Your Application Says It Is
Building a Slack-Backed Support Chat in ColdFusion - Part 6: Receiving Slack Events and Verifying Requests
Because Accepting Random HTTP Requests at Face Value Is Poor Career Planning
IMO: Four Things Adobe Could Do Tomorrow That Would Make ColdFusion Stronger
Adobe has done a commendable job modernizing ColdFusion. The next challenge isn’t the language... it’s growing the community around it.
Building a Slack-Backed Support Chat in ColdFusion Part 4: Getting Slack Ready Before You Write Any Code
Everything You Need Before Writing a Single Line of CFML
IMO: AI Is a Pencil. Learn How to Hold It.
Before you dismiss AI, remember what they said about calculators, word processors, and ColdFusion.
IMO: Why “Welcome to the Modern World.” Might Be the Most Unhelpful Thing You Can Say to a Developer
A blunt take on why calling older tech obsolete is condescending, and why experience with legacy tools still matters in software development.
Building a Slack-Backed Support Chat in ColdFusion - Part 2: Why I Used Server-Sent Events Instead of WebSockets
Because Sometimes the Boring Solution Wins
Building a Slack-Backed Support Chat in ColdFusion - Part 1: Why I Let My Users Talk to Slack Instead of Building an Admin Console
Because writing your own chat administration interface sounded like a good idea right up until it didn’t.
ColdFusion AI Cheat Sheet
A quick reference for the core ColdFusion AI concepts, when to use them, and what to watch for.
AI 101 - Episode 7. Adding Guardrails to ColdFusion AI: Keeping the Robot Out of Trouble
How to validate, block, redact, and safely fail AI inputs and outputs before your helpful assistant becomes a compliance incident with a loading spinner.
AI 101 - Episode 3. Giving Your ColdFusion AI a Memory: Sessions, Preferences, Windows, and the Joy of Not Becoming a Gossip Appliance
How to move beyond stateless AI calls by giving your ColdFusion assistant short-term memory, user-specific context, and preferences without accidentally turning it into a cross-user gossip appliance.
AI 101 - Episode 6. Adding RAG to ColdFusion AI: Giving the Robot an Open-Book Test
RAG lets your ColdFusion AI assistant answer from your own documents instead of guessing, while still respecting permissions, freshness, source quality, and the basic rule that the robot only reads what ColdFusion allows.
AI 101 - Episode 5. Adding MCP to ColdFusion AI: Giving the Robot a Passport
MCP lets your ColdFusion AI assistant connect to external tools, prompts, and resources through a standard protocol, without pretending the robot should be trusted with every system it can reach.
AI 101 - Episode 4. Giving Your ColdFusion AI Tools: Letting the Robot Use Your CFCs Without Handing It a Flamethrower
Letting your AI assistant call real ColdFusion application logic through carefully constrained CFC tools, while keeping validation, authorization, and production safety exactly where they belong: in your code.
AI 101 - Episode 2. ColdFusion AI Hello World: Making the Robot Say Something Useful
A hands-on first step into ColdFusion AI, using ChatModel() to send a prompt, get a response, and understand where simple stateless AI calls fit before things get complicated.
AI 101 - Episode 1. For ColdFusion Developers: Before We Write the First Line of Code
A practical, jargon-light introduction to what LLMs are, what they are not, and how ColdFusion developers can start using AI without mistaking the robot for the application.
Building a Slack-Backed Support Chat in ColdFusion Part 3: Designing the Conversation Data Model
Every Chat Message Needs a Home
Building a Slack-Backed Support Chat in ColdFusion - Part 5: Posting ColdFusion Messages into Slack Threads
Your First Conversation with Slack