writing · field notes

Notes on building software & AI.

Field notes on shipping web products — Rails, React, and the practical realities of putting large language models into production.

19 blogs

AIJan 06, 2026

The Agentic Shift: A Comprehensive Analysis of the Artificial Intelligence Landscape in 2026

By 2026, AI isn’t about playing with prompts anymore — it’s about handing work over and keeping an eye on it. The article shows how people are moving from asking AI quick questions to letting it run full workflows, especially in coding, research, and operations. Open-source models like DeepSeek have shaken up the space by making powerful AI cheaper and accessible worldwide, while big companies are still figuring out how to use AI safely at scale. The biggest lesson is simple: AI works best when you treat it like a smart intern — give clear goals, watch what it does, and never assume it won’t mess up.

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RailsAug 29, 2025

Advanced ActiveRecord Query Optimization in Rails: From Arel to Raw SQL

ActiveRecord is one of Rails’ greatest strengths — but when your queries get complex or performance becomes critical, knowing how to go beyond the basics is essential. In this article, we’ll explore how to push ActiveRecord to its limits, when to leverage Arel for fine-grained query building, and when raw SQL is the best tool for the job.

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RubyJul 23, 2025

Sorbet in Rails: Your Bug Radar Before Production Hits

Ruby is expressive, fun, and fast to write. But it's also... wild. With great freedom comes the risk of accidentally breaking things. Sorbet brings some guardrails to your Rails app. It’s a static type checker built just for Ruby — and this post is your beginner-friendly map to using it effectively in a Rails app.

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PostgresJul 15, 2025

When Rows Don’t Die: MVCC, Index Bloat & How PostgreSQL Stores Your Data

PostgreSQL doesn’t just update rows — it leaves the old ones lying around like forgotten leftovers. It’s called MVCC, and while it’s great for concurrency, it can make your indexes bloated and your queries slow. This blog walks through what really happens inside your DB, how to spot bloat, and what to do about it.

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PostgresJun 22, 2025

PostgreSQL EXPLAIN ANALYZE: Decode Your Query Performance Like a Pro

EXPLAIN ANALYZE in PostgreSQL is like turning on X-ray vision for your queries. It lets you peek under the hood of your SQL to see what the planner thinks *and* what actually happened. Whether you're fighting slow queries or just flexing your database muscles, mastering EXPLAIN ANALYZE can save you hours of debugging and boost app performance.

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PostgresJun 22, 2025

Understanding PostgreSQL MVCC: How Postgres Handles Concurrency Gracefully

MVCC (Multi-Version Concurrency Control) is the backbone of PostgreSQL’s concurrency model. Unlike locking mechanisms that stall readers or writers, MVCC allows multiple transactions to access the database simultaneously without stepping on each other’s toes. This blog dives deep into how PostgreSQL achieves this magic, what snapshots and visibility maps are, and how vacuuming keeps things in check.

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SidekiqOct 04, 2024

A Guide to Using Sidekiq for Background Jobs in Ruby on Rails

As web applications grow, they often need to handle long-running tasks without slowing down user interactions. Sidekiq is a popular choice among Ruby on Rails developers for processing background jobs efficiently. This guide will cover what Sidekiq is, how to set it up in a Rails application, and provide practical examples to illustrate its usage.

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RubyOct 02, 2023

Ruby Builder Pattern: A Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Complex Objects

When writing code, we all face a common issue of creating complex objects with many possible configuration options. This can be a daunting task, especially if we need to create these objects in a consistent and error-prone. It is where the pattern comes into play. The Builder pattern is a design pattern that can help us to solve this problem. It allows us to create complex objects step by step, and it provides a clear and concise way to structure our code. In this article, we will take a look at how to implement the Builder pattern in Ruby on Rails. We will also discuss the benefits of using the Builder pattern and when you should use it in your own code.

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The Agentic Shift: A Comprehensive Analysis of the Artificial Intelligence Landscape in 2026

Advanced ActiveRecord Query Optimization in Rails: From Arel to Raw SQL

Sorbet in Rails: Your Bug Radar Before Production Hits

When Rows Don’t Die: MVCC, Index Bloat & How PostgreSQL Stores Your Data

PostgreSQL EXPLAIN ANALYZE: Decode Your Query Performance Like a Pro

Understanding PostgreSQL MVCC: How Postgres Handles Concurrency Gracefully

A Guide to Using Sidekiq for Background Jobs in Ruby on Rails

Ruby Builder Pattern: A Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Complex Objects