Why I Switched From nvm to fnm for Node Version Management
A hands-on move from the bash-based nvm to the Rust-based fnm: faster terminals, automatic per-project Node switching with –use-on-cd, and the corepack notes.
Pillar: Pillar 12 - Operational Capability
Pillar 12 · Operate
Writing Your First Real systemd Service Unit for a Long-Running App
A production-grade systemd service unit for a long-running app on Ubuntu 24.04: restart policy, a dedicated service user, and the sandboxing directives that cost nothing to add.
A .gitignore and .gitattributes Baseline That Stops Line-Ending and Binary Pain
A copy-pasteable .gitattributes and layered .gitignore pair that normalises line endings, marks binaries, and stops build artefacts and secrets-adjacent files ever reaching a commit.
This Fixes: WSL2 Has No Network or DNS After a Windows Update or VPN Connect
WSL2 loses DNS the moment you connect a corporate VPN, or silently after a Windows update. This is how to match the symptom to the right fix instead of copy-pasting a resolv.conf that gets overwritten.
This Fixes: systemd Service Won’t Start (status=203/EXEC and status=217/USER)
A systemd unit that dies instantly with status=203/EXEC or 217/USER never executed your program at all. Here is how to read those codes and fix the unit rather than guess.
New UK Operational Incident and Third-Party Reporting Rules: Building the Pipeline
The FCA, PRA and Bank of England have standardised what operational incidents and third-party arrangements UK firms must report, and when. Treat it as a data-capture and submission build, not a policy.
Installing Python CLI Tools the Sane Way With pipx (and When uv tool Replaces It)
Stop installing command-line Python apps into your global interpreter. pipx gives each tool its own venv, and uv tool does the same job faster — here is how to run both, and which to standardise on.
Baseline systemd Service and Timer Setup for a Scheduled Job
A systemd timer is two files and a lot of capability people never use. Set up a oneshot service and its timer with catch-up, randomised delay, a dedicated user and sandboxing.
An nginx Reverse Proxy Config That Passes the Right Headers to Your App
A copy-pasteable nginx reverse proxy server block that preserves the client IP, sets X-Forwarded-Proto, keeps WebSockets alive and reuses upstream connections.
Verification of Payee: Engineering the Name-Matching Service Behind the Instant Payments Regulation
Verification of Payee is a fuzzy-matching, latency-bound service returning match, close-match or no-match inside the payment flow. The matching logic and false-positive rate are the real engineering problem.