AI & LLM Engineering · 3 min read
What a Production-Ready AI Assistant Actually Needs
A useful AI assistant is a software system, not a prompt. Here is the architecture behind reliable context, tools, safety and operations.
FIELD NOTES
Engineering Notes
Practical articles about full-stack architecture, AI and LLM engineering, WordPress systems, performance and infrastructure.
AI & LLM Engineering · 3 min read
RAG vs Memory vs Tool Calling: What Each Layer Actually Does
RAG, memory and tools solve different problems. Mixing them together creates brittle assistants; separating them creates systems that can evolve.
Full-Stack Systems · 3 min read
How I Structure a Full-Stack Business Platform
A practical structure for products that combine public pages, authenticated workflows, integrations, background jobs and an operational admin.
WordPress Engineering · 2 min read
Custom WordPress Plugin or External SaaS Integration?
A decision framework for choosing what belongs inside WordPress and what should live in a separate service or platform.
WordPress Engineering · 3 min read
Building Maintainable ACF and Gutenberg Systems at Scale
How to give editors flexible page building without creating inconsistent markup, fragile templates or an impossible maintenance burden.
Performance & Infrastructure · 3 min read
Why WooCommerce Gets Slow — and What Actually Fixes It
A measured approach to WooCommerce performance across queries, plugins, cache strategy, background work, frontend payload and infrastructure.
AI & LLM Engineering · 2 min read
How to Design Multi-Model AI Routing Without Losing Control
A practical model-routing architecture for balancing quality, latency, cost and reliability without spreading provider logic across the product.
AI & LLM Engineering · 2 min read
Building a Permission-Aware RAG System for Business Data
Retrieval quality is irrelevant if users can retrieve documents they should never see. Here is how identity and authorization belong in every RAG layer.
WordPress Engineering · 2 min read
Headless WordPress vs Custom Theme: How to Choose
A clear decision framework for choosing a headless frontend, a custom WordPress theme or a hybrid architecture for your next content platform.
Performance & Infrastructure · 2 min read
Nginx, Redis and CDN: A Practical Web Performance Stack
How reverse proxy caching, object caching and edge delivery work together—and where each layer can quietly return the wrong result.
Full-Stack Systems · 2 min read
Designing APIs That Frontends Can Actually Rely On
Reliable interfaces need more than clean endpoints: stable contracts, typed errors, safe retries, pagination and change management make the difference.
Full-Stack Systems · 2 min read
Modernizing a Legacy Web Platform Without a Rewrite
A staged modernization strategy that reduces risk, creates clean boundaries and replaces the right parts of a legacy platform over time.
AI & LLM Engineering · 2 min read
From AI Prototype to Production: Evaluation, Observability and Cost
A production checklist for turning an impressive AI demo into a measurable service with quality gates, traces, budgets and safe releases.
WordPress Engineering · 2 min read
WordPress Security for Custom Themes and Plugins
A developer-focused security guide covering capabilities, nonces, validation, escaping, secrets, updates and operational hardening.
Full-Stack Systems · 2 min read
Background Jobs and Webhooks: Reliable Integration Patterns
How to make asynchronous integrations dependable with durable queues, signature checks, idempotency, retries and operational visibility.
Performance & Infrastructure · 3 min read
Core Web Vitals: Fixing LCP, INP and CLS in Real Projects
A field-first method for diagnosing and improving loading, interaction responsiveness and visual stability without chasing one synthetic score.