Writing · Nº 041065 essays
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Ideas from inside the work. Explore technology, entrepreneurship, and the practice of building things that last.
15 essays found · Page 1 of 2
Clear filtersEngineeringHow to Build Multiplayer Cursors and SelectionsMultiplayer cursors and selections are high-frequency ephemeral state. Throttle them, never persist them, and broadcast only to the room to keep editing feel live.EngineeringSeparate Chat History From Live DeliveryChat history and live message delivery are two systems, not one. Treat the durable log and the real-time channel separately or you will lose messages at scale.EngineeringSend Deltas, Not Full State, in Real-Time AppsBroadcasting full state on every change kills real-time apps. Send deltas: only what changed. Learn when diffs beat snapshots and how to keep clients in sync.EngineeringReal-Time Database vs a Custom BackendA real-time database syncs data automatically, a custom backend gives you control. Here is how to choose between real-time sync and your own real-time backend.EngineeringHow to Resume Missed Messages After a ReconnectWhen a real-time client reconnects, resume from a cursor and a durable log. Do not reload everything. Learn how to catch up on missed messages precisely.EngineeringMessage Delivery Guarantees for Real-Time AppsReal-time does not mean reliable. Here is how message delivery guarantees work, why at-least-once matters, and how to choose delivery semantics per message type.EngineeringHow to Build a Live Dashboard Backend That ScalesA live dashboard backend needs coalescing and throttling, not a raw event stream. Learn how to push fresh metrics to many viewers without melting your server.EngineeringHow to Evaluate a Real-Time Backend ProviderA checklist for evaluating a real-time backend: presence, delivery guarantees, scaling, auth, and pricing. The questions that separate a real provider from a demo.EngineeringReal-Time Backend Mistakes That Break Apps at ScaleThe real-time backend mistakes that look fine in a demo and collapse under load. Here are the failures I see most and how to design around them before launch.EngineeringTyping Indicators and Presence, Done RightTyping indicators and presence are ephemeral signals. Keep them out of your database, drive them with short-lived state, and expire them on the server.EngineeringHow to Scale WebSockets Without It Falling OverScaling WebSockets breaks most backends because connections are stateful. Here is how to scale WebSocket infrastructure past one node without losing sessions.EngineeringHow Offline Sync Works in Collaborative AppsOffline sync for collaborative apps needs a durable operation log and server reconciliation, not just a cache. Here is how to build sync that survives a dead connection.