Practical PHP, Laravel, devops, and AI-assisted workflow notes from Md Zia Uddin.
I wanted a publishing stack I control — posts, members, newsletters — not another hosted CMS. Ghost on Ubuntu 24.04 with Docker or Ghost-CLI is fine until Nginx 502s because nothing is listening on 2368, or Ghost-CLI refuses to install under /root. Here's that wall.
Jun 29, 2026 · 3 min read
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PHP 8.5.0 shipped 20 Nov 2025; 8.5.10 is the latest I can cite (27 Aug 2026). I would not start with the pipe operator. I would make php-fpm match php -v, stop calling array_first() like a Laravel helper, and only then touch clone-with and Uri\Rfc3986\Uri.
Sep 4, 2026 · 8 min read
I wanted a photo instance I actually own. Pixelfed is Laravel 12, and the homepage never tells you that Composer will OOM a 1GB VPS or that feeds stay empty until Horizon is a systemd service. Redis, Intervention Image, and Flysystem are the packages that decide whether the box is useful.
Sep 1, 2026 · 12 min read
I wanted runbooks off Notion. Wiki.js came up on Docker, then login died because DB_PASS did not match POSTGRES_PASSWORD, and search stayed empty until pg_trgm was actually in play. After that, HTTPS and a dump script were the boring parts.
Aug 31, 2026 · 7 min read
I wanted host metrics on a private VPS without a SaaS bill. Grafana came up on HTTPS; Save & test on the Prometheus data source failed until I used http://prometheus:9090 on the Compose network, not localhost. After that, node_exporter targets showed UP.
Aug 28, 2026 · 4 min read
I wanted a Docker UI without handing the socket to a SaaS console. Portainer CE started; I delayed the first admin page and the setup window closed. After a container restart I created the admin, put Caddy in front of 9443, and the local environment listed containers.
Aug 26, 2026 · 7 min read
I wanted CI next to Gitea without GitLab’s RAM. Woodpecker OAuth worked; pushes never started a pipeline until Gitea allowed loopback webhooks. After ALLOWED_HOST_LIST and a matching /authorize callback, the hello step went green.
Aug 24, 2026 · 8 min read
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I wanted Git, merge requests, and CI on one box I control. GitLab CE returned 502 for minutes while Omnibus configured; I almost killed the container. After I waited, grabbed initial_root_password, and mapped SSH to 2222, the UI came up.
Aug 21, 2026 · 4 min read
I wanted a Notion-style wiki on my VPS for runbooks. Docmost exited until APP_SECRET was at least 32 characters, and the editor stayed read-only until Caddy forwarded WebSockets. After Postgres, Redis, and HTTPS, the setup page loaded.
Aug 19, 2026 · 5 min read
I wanted Postgres, Auth, and Storage on my VPS instead of another SaaS. The official Compose stack came up; Studio basic auth rejected a digits-only DASHBOARD_PASSWORD, and Auth redirects broke until HTTPS URLs were recreated. After generate-keys.sh and Caddy, the gateway answered.
Aug 17, 2026 · 8 min read
I wanted VS Code in the browser with the workspace staying on the VPS. code-server started; webviews threw ServiceWorker SecurityError until I put Let’s Encrypt in front. After hashed-password auth and WebSocket headers, the terminal stayed connected.
Aug 16, 2026 · 4 min read
I wanted a community-led Git forge without GitHub for private repos. Forgejo installed like Gitea; git clone still hit the wrong SSH daemon until ROOT_URL, SSH_PORT 222, and UFW agreed. After that, push and pull requests worked.
Aug 12, 2026 · 4 min read
I wanted visual workflows for webhooks and APIs without sending credentials to Zapier. n8n came up behind Nginx; every webhook URL still said localhost:5678 until N8N_WEBHOOK_URL and N8N_PROXY_HOPS=1 were set. After that, the editor and the runner stayed honest.
Aug 10, 2026 · 4 min read