Cloud Architecture & Engineering Insights.
How this platform is actually built and operated: static builds, zero-downtime releases, single-table data design, and the mistakes we found in our own product.
What Glacro Actually Runs, and What It Doesn't
A static host in one region. What that means for Next.js, where server-side rendering stops, and why we would rather say so up front than in a support ticket.
Deploying a Next.js 14 Static Export
Configuring output: "export", what breaks when you do, and how to tell before you deploy whether your app can be served as static files at all.
We Audited Our Own Product for Invented Numbers
An admin dashboard that showed ₹1,45,000 of revenue that did not exist, buttons that reported success for work nobody did, and what we changed so it cannot come back.
The Deploy That Passed Its Own Health Check While Down
A rebrand changed one directory path and took the site down for an hour. The homepage kept returning 200 the whole time. Here is what we check now instead.
Why We Chose Single-Table Design for Our Database
Composite keys, one partition per user, and the access patterns that made a single DynamoDB table simpler than four of them.
Zero-Downtime Releases with PM2 Cluster Mode
Why we invoke the Next.js binary directly instead of through npm, and how that one detail is what makes a rolling reload actually roll.
Our Coding Challenges Had Tests That Could Not Fail
A check that searched the submission for the substring "content" passed on every HTML document ever written. Rewriting them to assert against a parsed DOM.
Replacing a Fake Checkbox with Real Bot Protection
The old verification control was a div with an 800ms spinner that blocked nothing. Moving to reCAPTCHA v3 scoring, and rate limiting that fails closed.
Pricing a Build in Credits
How build minutes become a credit cost, why the number lives in one config file, and what happens when an account runs out mid-deploy.
Taking INR Payments with Razorpay
A 40-character receipt limit meant no customer could ever complete a checkout. Finding it, fixing it, and why USD is still switched off.
A Status Page That Queries the Services
Ours reported a build pipeline as unreachable for days and told nobody. Replacing hardcoded green ticks with live checks and an alert that actually sends.
How We Think About Security, Including What We Have Not Done
Where secrets live, how sessions are verified, why auth fails closed — and an honest list of the gaps still open, because a security page that only lists wins is marketing.