Author: minademian

static-deploy-kit: A Reusable CI/CD Framework for Next.js

February 11, 2026

I’ve open-sourced static-deploy-kit, a production-ready CI/CD framework that handles the complete deployment lifecycle for Next.js projects. It supports automatic semantic versioning, PR preview environments, and SFTP deployment with instant rollback capability.

Announcing static-deploy-kit

Features

– Three deployment contexts: production, releases, and PR sandboxes

– Automatic version bumping from PR markers (`[major]`, `[minor]`, `[patch]`)

– Smart test skipping for infrastructure-only changes

– Preview URLs automatically posted to PRs

– Backup-first deployment with symlink-based rollback

**Call to Action:**

Check out the repository, star it if useful, and feel free to open issues or PRs.

JIRA Worklogs Bot: A System Design Document for Simplifying Time Tracking

January 30, 2026

Original version was published in October 2025, updated: January 2026

This is a system design document for a Microsoft Teams bot that replaces JIRA’s clunky worklog UI with a single-view Adaptive Card interface.

JIRA Worklogs Bot: System Design Document

What This Document Covers

This is a complete system design for a Teams bot that solves the weekly pain of JIRA time reporting:

  • Problem analysis and design goals
  • Microsoft Teams Adaptive Card interface design
  • Spring Boot 3 + AWS Lambda backend architecture
  • Data flow and API contracts
  • Load simulation and performance SLOs
  • Production readiness checklist and evolution roadmap

Estimated reading time: 20-25 minutes

Who This Is For

  • Engineers frustrated with JIRA’s worklog UI
  • Teams developers building Adaptive Card integrations
  • Backend engineers designing serverless Java applications
  • System designers evaluating AWS Lambda for low-traffic, bursty workloads
  • Anyone interested in load analysis for realistic traffic patterns

The document includes the actual Adaptive Card JSON structure, sequence diagrams, data models, and a mathematical load simulation proving that a single Lambda function handles the Friday afternoon spike comfortably.

Questions or improvements? Open an issue on the repo or e-mail me.

Building a Route Optimization Engine in 4.5 Hours: An LLM-Assisted Hackathon Post-Mortem

January 15, 2026

This is a technical post-mortem analyzing constraint-driven development with AI coding assistants.

Building a Route Optimization Engine in 4.5 Hours: An LLM-Assisted Hackathon Post-Mortem

What This Document Covers

This is a detailed analysis of building production-grade code under time constraints:

  • Constraint design for AI coding assistants
  • Decision-making process during rapid development
  • AWS Location Service API integration
  • Performance optimization and UX decisions
  • Honest assessment of what worked and what didn’t

Estimated reading time: 15-20 minutes

Who This Is For

  • Engineers evaluating AI coding assistants for production work
  • Technical leads designing development workflows with LLMs
  • Anyone building route optimization or mapping systems
  • Developers interested in constraint-driven development approaches
  • Teams looking to understand when AI assistance helps vs. hinders

The document includes the actual constraint prompt we used, architectural decisions with reasoning, and specific examples of where the LLM excelled (API integration) and where it failed (domain knowledge, architectural vision).

Questions or improvements? Open an issue on the repo or e-mail me.

The Process and the Craft

January 5, 2026

I haven’t blogged, in the pre-social media sense, in a really long time. It feels strange sitting here in front of the screen to do so.

But this blog has survived every life phase I’ve gone through, accompanied me through moving between continents, and is weathering the seasons of digital media production. It’s a trusted companion.

A few weeks ago, I had a reckoning and reconciliation that brought me back to my art in a significant way. I started watching and making film again. And that part ‘making’ has been the key part. I hadn’t touched or lifted a camera – still or moving – in years, perhaps decades. My only involvement with them has been moving them between different apartments and compartments of where I’ve lived.

But over the past week or so, my analogue Nikon, digital Canon, and Canon DV cameras have all breathed fresh air.

One thing I’m grateful for during this renaissance is that I know no one cares about the process or craft except me. That koolaid hasn’t coursed down my throat. This post is for me and this making-of video is for me – no one else. I’m documenting everything for me, for me to return to these posts later and reflect. No matter if my career goes somewhere or not. The myopic self-obsession of social media has worn off now and I just want to make art, and document it. That’s all.

It seems like everything is returning at the same time and I appreciate that. I really cherish that. Being free of the shackles of self-promotion on social media means that I can work on multiple projects at the same time and it doesn’t matter. Because no one is watching and it is glorious. It’s just me and the work.

What Am I Working On?

  • A video essay, to go into production soon. Script completed.
  • Two short films, combining old DV footage and fresh DSLR video coverage. The original concepts have passed their sell-by dates, so I’m repackaging them into magical realism ideas instead.
  • A stopmotion short. This one is original and current to 2026.
  • Revisiting the novel I’ve been having a tryst with for 13 years
  • Revisiting delicately a podcast I started writing in 2016 and abandoned in 2019.

Great Things I’ve Read

  • Hills are Like White Elephants by Hemingway. What a harrowing, brilliant story. Execution par excellence, characters so real that I’ve met them before.
  • The Art of the Short Story by Hemingway. Awful essay. Don’t meet your heroes.
  • The Umbrella by Tove Ditlevsen. Striking portrayal of the mundane – people, life, relationships.

What Am I Reading?

  • The Reader by Bernard Schlink. Such a great novel.
  • Making God Real in the Orthodox Christian Home by Fr. Anthony M. Coniaris. A beautiful book, as an investment towards my future marriage and family life.