Backend, APIs, and System Design
API design, database choice, distributed patterns, and the engineering decisions that compound for years.
60 posts · page 1 of 3
- Backend, APIs, and System Design
Serverless vs Containers vs Bare Metal: A Cost and Flexibility Map
The compute model you choose determines cost structure, operational overhead, and scalability ceiling. Here is how serverless, containers, and bare metal compare across the dimensions that actually matter for a product decision.
6 min read
- Backend, APIs, and System Design
Server Actions, Edge Functions, and the Modern Backend Surface
The backend is no longer just an API server. Server actions, edge functions, and server components have changed where logic runs and what a backend even means in 2026. Here is how the pieces fit together.
6 min read
- Backend, APIs, and System Design
Schema Evolution: Adding Columns Without Downtime
Schema migrations on live production databases require care that most tutorials omit. Here is how to add columns, change types, and restructure tables on large production databases without taking downtime.
6 min read
- Backend, APIs, and System Design
Saga Patterns: Distributed Transactions Without Distributed Pain
Distributed transactions are hard. Sagas make them manageable by breaking long-running operations into compensatable steps. Here is how choreography and orchestration sagas work, when each fits, and what the implementation actually looks like.
6 min read
- Backend, APIs, and System Design
REST vs GraphQL vs gRPC: A Decision Matrix for Founders
REST, GraphQL, and gRPC are not interchangeable. Each solves a specific class of API problems. Here is a clear decision matrix for choosing the right one based on what the API actually needs to do.
6 min read
- Backend, APIs, and System Design
Resilience Patterns: Circuit Breakers, Retries, Bulkheads
Distributed systems fail in partial ways. A service that handles partial failures gracefully stays up when dependencies degrade. Here is how circuit breakers, retries, and bulkheads work and when to use each.
6 min read
- Backend, APIs, and System Design
Rate Limiting Algorithms Compared: Token Bucket, Leaky Bucket, Fixed Window
Rate limiting protects APIs from abuse and overload, but the algorithm choice determines whether users experience smooth degradation or hard cutoffs. Here is how each algorithm behaves and when to use which.
6 min read
- Backend, APIs, and System Design
Query Optimization in PostgreSQL: Real Examples From Real Projects
Slow queries in PostgreSQL are predictable problems with a repeatable diagnostic process. Here are real examples from production systems and the exact techniques that moved the needle.
6 min read
- Backend, APIs, and System Design
PostgreSQL vs Supabase vs Neon vs Planetscale
Self-managed PostgreSQL, Supabase, Neon, and PlanetScale each represent a different tradeoff between operational control and managed convenience. Here is how to evaluate them for a production SaaS product.
6 min read
- Backend, APIs, and System Design
PostgreSQL vs MySQL vs MongoDB for a New SaaS in 2026
Most new SaaS products should use PostgreSQL. The cases for MySQL and MongoDB exist but are more narrow than their market share suggests. Here is the honest comparison and what actually drives the decision.
6 min read
- Backend, APIs, and System Design
Pagination Patterns: Cursor vs Offset and Why It Matters
Offset pagination is the default and the wrong choice for most production APIs. Cursor pagination is harder to implement and correct at scale. Here is when to use each and why the choice affects performance, consistency, and user experience.
6 min read
- Backend, APIs, and System Design
OAuth 2.0 Without Tears: A Founder Engineer's Guide
OAuth 2.0 is the authentication delegation standard that every modern app needs to understand. Here is how it works, which flow to use, and the implementation mistakes that lead to security incidents.
6 min read
- Backend, APIs, and System Design
Message Queues Compared: SQS, Kafka, RabbitMQ, Redis Streams
SQS, Kafka, RabbitMQ, and Redis Streams are all message queues, but they solve different problems at different scales. Here is how to choose the right one for your architecture without over-engineering the first version.
6 min read
- Backend, APIs, and System Design
Lambda Cold Starts: Why They Still Matter in 2026
Cold starts have improved significantly but have not been eliminated. Here is the current state of cold start latency, which use cases still require mitigation, and the practical patterns that keep them from affecting users.
6 min read
- Backend, APIs, and System Design
Kafka in 2026: When You Need It and When You Do Not
Kafka is powerful, but most startups reach for it before they need it. Here is how to decide.
7 min read
- Backend, APIs, and System Design
JSON Columns in Postgres: When They Make Sense
JSON columns in Postgres are genuinely useful for flexible, semi-structured data. They are also frequently misused as a shortcut to avoid schema design. Here is when to use them and when to use normalized tables instead.
6 min read
- Backend, APIs, and System Design
Idempotency Keys: A Pattern Every Senior Engineer Should Master
Idempotency keys are a small implementation with an outsized impact on system reliability. Here is the pattern, the edge cases, and the production pitfalls that most introductions skip.
6 min read
- Backend, APIs, and System Design
Geospatial Data Done Right: PostGIS and Beyond
PostGIS turns Postgres into a real geospatial database. The setup is small. The performance is excellent. Most teams that need location queries should start with PostGIS rather than reaching for specialized stores.
11 min read
- Backend, APIs, and System Design
Full Text Search in PostgreSQL: Practical Patterns
Postgres full text search is good enough for most SaaS. The setup is small. The performance is solid. Most teams reach for Elasticsearch when Postgres would have served them for years.
11 min read
- Backend, APIs, and System Design
Eventual Consistency in Plain Language for Founders
Eventual consistency is what every distributed system actually provides. The customer who updated their email might see the old email for a few seconds. The right systems handle this. Here is what founders need to know.
11 min read
- Backend, APIs, and System Design
Event Sourcing: A Pattern Worth Understanding Even If You Do Not Use It
Event sourcing is one of those patterns that shapes how you think about state even when you do not adopt it directly. The concepts are valuable. The full implementation is rare. Here is the honest read.
12 min read
- Backend, APIs, and System Design
Domain Driven Design for SaaS: A Practical Subset
Domain driven design has a heavy reputation. The practical subset that helps SaaS teams is small. Bounded contexts. Ubiquitous language. Aggregates. Three concepts that pay back without the ceremony of the full method.
12 min read
- Backend, APIs, and System Design
Designing for Failure: A Backend Engineer's Mental Model
Production systems fail. The question is whether they fail cleanly. The engineers who design for failure produce systems that degrade gracefully. The ones who do not produce systems that cascade.
12 min read
- Backend, APIs, and System Design
Designing for Audit From the Start
An auditable system is harder to retrofit than to design. The discipline at week one is small. The savings at year three when an auditor arrives is enormous. Here is the design that holds up.
12 min read
More than blog posts.
The Labs folder has the experiments themselves. The Systems folder has the stack and architecture. The Journey folder has the timeline. Pick whichever pulls you.