11 posts
A file called NUL, a router called aux.py and a symlink that only exists on Linux: three files that slipped into Dogwalk without resistance and broke git status on every NTFS clone. The root cause is almost always the same — .gitignore does not override a file that is already tracked.
The second brain got a brand-new theming system: a ThemeProvider with design tokens, CSP-compliant anti-flash, and per-project palettes. Along the way, the email service quietly broke because the Resend domain was wrong — and invites started arriving again.
Four commits in a row touching the LifeLog navbar, each one undoing the effect of the one before it. Links that disappeared, a logo that jumped away, a button that floated on its own. The lesson: refactoring in a hurry across a jumble of classes is like baking a cake while changing the recipe at every step.
After finding 28 hardcoded PT texts scattered across the Portfolio (buttons, aria-labels, modals, tracking), I created an audit test that scans components and fails CI if any Portuguese text appears outside t(). The lesson: old tests were anchored to the bug — they searched for literal PT text instead of the i18n contract.
The Capivara Dashboard had 994 lines and was impossible to maintain. Refactored to 262 (-74%), the initial bundle dropped from 668 kB to 238 kB (-64%) with React Router + lazy loading. The lesson: a giant component isn't a feature — it's disguised technical debt.
Broken Pix BR Code, focus trap stealing keyboard input, scroll jumping sections — a deep audit fixed everything at once.
Systematized LifeLog's animations: stagger on timeline cards, scroll shadow on navbar, micro-interactions on tags/pills/search, and a single easing curve for everything.
Removed the circular clip-path animation that kept stuttering and simplified to a pure crossfade for the LifeLog theme switcher.
TagCloud, shared PostLayout, Fuse.js-powered FilterBar, and theme fixes — a full day of housekeeping on the blog's foundation.
Under the hood of an 83% frontend refactoring: Ghost Components, silent schema drift, the two-systemd war, the phantom Umami proxy, and other pains that don't fit in a changelog.
Exploring the portfolio rebuild — lessons learned, challenges and discoveries.