THE GUIDE LIBRARY.
Practical notes, series, and how-tos from the guides desk — paced for builders who ship. Filter by difficulty; sort by when we published or how long it takes to read.
published
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HTTPS and the Caddy edge
How we moved from HTTP on a raw EC2 IP to https://kitepdf.pro—why Caddy replaced nginx for TLS, what changed in CORS and auth URLs, and how the deploy workflow toggles automatic HTTPS.
Deploying on real AWS
Why KitePDF runs on one EC2 host with Compose, how Terraform, SSM, Neon, and GitHub Actions fit together, and what breaks in production.
KitePDF system architecture
Design choices behind KitePDF: trust boundaries, Better Auth with JWT and JWKS, authorization, and the async processing plane.
About this series
Who this multi-part guide is for, what you need before you start, and the roadmap from architecture to AWS.
Kubernetes 1.33 released: the three changes actually worth reading
Sidecars go GA, in-place resize stabilizes, and one flag quietly deprecates.
EKS vs. GKE vs. AKS: We Deployed the Same App on All Three
Three managed clusters, one identical stateless app plus Postgres, $412 of billing over 30 days.
Manifests First: Your First Workload
Four YAML files, one kubectl apply, zero dashboards. By the end of this part, Uptime Kuma is serving on your cluster — and you can explain every hop the request took.
The Seven AWS Line Items That Surprise Everyone
The invoice items that show up after the honeymoon.
Terraform vs. OpenTofu, Two Years In: State Files Don't Lie
A migration checklist and two years of state-file honesty.
kubeadm init, Annotated
Every flag explained once, so you never copy-paste magic again.
The Hardware You Already Own
A cluster from a closet, not a cloud invoice.
Why Boring Wins
Dashboards are not a platform. Manifests are.
| Guide | Difficulty | Series | Read | Published | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HTTPS and the Caddy edge | Advanced | KitePDF: Architecture & Deployment | 24 min | 2 DAYS AGO | → |
| Deploying on real AWS | Advanced | KitePDF: Architecture & Deployment | 32 min | 5 DAYS AGO | → |
| KitePDF system architecture | Intermediate | KitePDF: Architecture & Deployment | 28 min | 5 DAYS AGO | → |
| About this series | Beginner | KitePDF: Architecture & Deployment | 10 min | 5 DAYS AGO | → |
| Kubernetes 1.33 released: the three changes actually worth reading | Beginner | — | 6 min | 19 DAYS AGO | → |
| EKS vs. GKE vs. AKS: We Deployed the Same App on All Three | Advanced | — | 18 min | 20 DAYS AGO | → |
| Manifests First: Your First Workload | Intermediate | Kubernetes From Zero | 14 min | 20 DAYS AGO | → |
| The Seven AWS Line Items That Surprise Everyone | Beginner | — | 9 min | 21 DAYS AGO | → |
| Terraform vs. OpenTofu, Two Years In: State Files Don't Lie | Advanced | The Terraform Field Manual | 16 min | 21 DAYS AGO | → |
| kubeadm init, Annotated | Intermediate | Kubernetes From Zero | 16 min | 21 DAYS AGO | → |
| The Hardware You Already Own | Beginner | Kubernetes From Zero | 11 min | 22 DAYS AGO | → |
| Why Boring Wins | Beginner | Kubernetes From Zero | 8 min | 23 DAYS AGO | → |
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