Practical PHP, Laravel, devops, and AI-assisted workflow notes from Md Zia Uddin.
I wanted one login for the dashboards on my VPS, not a password per wiki. Authentik's Compose stack on Ubuntu 24.04 is fine until /if/flow/initial-setup/ 404s because migrations are still running, or Nginx CSRF-breaks login. Here's that wall.
Jul 6, 2026 · 7 min read
I wanted an S3 endpoint on my VPS for app uploads and backups. MinIO on Ubuntu 24.04 came up, then the console bounced to the wrong host because MINIO_BROWSER_REDIRECT_URL and X-Forwarded-Proto did not match. Here's that wall and the Nginx split for API vs console.
Jul 3, 2026 · 3 min read
I wanted Bitwarden clients talking to a vault I operate, not a hosted password SaaS. Vaultwarden on Ubuntu 24.04 is one container until Nginx 502s because port 8080 is not up, or the browser extension cannot find the custom server URL. Here's that wall.
Jul 1, 2026 · 3 min read
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
I wanted a Figma-class editor without sending NDA mockups to a SaaS. Penpot's official Compose stack on Ubuntu 24.04 came up, then the browser showed a blank page because PENPOT_PUBLIC_URI did not match HTTPS. Here's that wall and the Caddy proxy that fixed websockets.
Jun 28, 2026 · 7 min read
I wanted a wiki on my VPS, not another Notion workspace. BookStack is Laravel. On Ubuntu 24.04, composer install --no-dev completed, then Apache served a 500 until www-data owned storage and uploads.
Jun 26, 2026 · 8 min read
I wanted page views without shipping visitors to Google Analytics. Plausible Community Edition on Ubuntu 24.04 is a Compose clone until TLS fails because DNS or ports 80/443 are wrong. Here's that wall, plus ClickHouse's CPU requirement I almost skipped.
Jun 26, 2026 · 8 min read
I wanted hardware and license seats off a spreadsheet. Snipe-IT is Laravel. On Ubuntu 24.04, composer install finished, then the UI 500'd until storage and bootstrap/cache belonged to www-data.
Jun 23, 2026 · 9 min read
I was tired of learning a site was down from a client email. Uptime Kuma on Ubuntu 24.04 looked like a thirty-minute Docker job until port 3001 was already taken. Here's the wall and the Compose file that got monitors and Telegram alerts running.
Jun 22, 2026 · 7 min read
I wanted a ledger on my VPS, not another bank-connected SaaS. Firefly III is Laravel. On Ubuntu 24.04 I ran artisan as root once, then FPM could not write storage — and recurring bills never ran until the www-data cron existed.
Jun 20, 2026 · 8 min read
I wanted invoices off FreshBooks without giving a SaaS my client list. Invoice Ninja is Laravel plus a React UI, usually run from the official Dockerfiles. On Ubuntu the stack came up, then PDFs and mail sat in Redis because nothing was running queue:work.
May 19, 2026 · 10 min read
I wanted a Laravel shop I could actually own, not another Shopify tax. Bagisto is Laravel plus Vue. On a small Ubuntu VPS, composer create-project died with Allowed memory size exhausted before I ever saw the installer.
May 12, 2026 · 9 min read