Writing by Ian Monroe on web development, technology, and things I find interesting.
Water freezes at zero and boils at a hundred — the first thing every kid learns about science. Look closer and it dissolves into isotopes, dissolved air, pressure, and a bottle of water that costs more than a house.
A Docker Compose starter kit that takes a spare machine from bare metal to a fully wired self-hosted stack — reverse proxy, SSO, and a menu of apps — in minutes.
A self-hosted, Docker-based streaming hub with a TV-optimized interface — a Roku-style home screen you own end to end.
A meticulously sourced investigation into the National Design Studio that deserves a wider audience than its technical surface will get it.
I thought this picture came out nice, so I'm posting it.
A self-hosted memory server for AI agents, speaking both REST and MCP, that I put together over the Memorial Day weekend.
A little side project for screening junk fees and drip-pricing — a free risk assessment, plus a paid PDF report if you want the details.
A new little open source tool I built for capturing quick notes against any of your Obsidian projects in a single keystroke.
After many years, I've finally updated the software and content for this site.