Writing

Notes from the BuiltFast team.

Field notes on the work — web apps, hosting platforms, billing, APIs, and automation. What we build, how we build it, and what we learned along the way.

Automating Laravel Migration Squashing with GitHub Actions

Keep your migration history clean with automated monthly schema dumps.

databasemigrationsphp

Managing Laravel env secrets with 1Password CLI

Encrypt and decrypt .env files without ever typing a secret.

1passwordbashphp

OpenGraph images for the mere mortal programmer

You don't need Figma skills or fancy tooling. Just HTML, CSS, and a screenshot.

csshtmlopengraph

Git config tips and aliases for a better workflow

Your ~/.gitconfig is one of the most underutilized tools in a developer's arsenal. Configs and aliases we've accumulated over the years.

cligitproductivity

The anatomy of a great README

Your README is the front door to your project. What every great one should include.

best-practicesdocumentationopen-source

Using Direnv to set Herd PHP versions

Use Direnv to automatically switch PHP versions when you cd into a Herd project directory.

direnvherdphp

How we test and maintain our apps with GitHub Actions

A deep dive into our production-ready CI pipeline for Laravel monoliths—balancing speed, quality, and maintainability.

automationphptesting

Automating Homebrew Tap Updates with GitHub Actions

Maintaining a Homebrew tap manually is tedious. We automated the entire release workflow with GitHub Actions.

cli-toolsmacosrelease-automation

Building Better Tools Together: Our Open Source Commitment

We believe the best tools come from developers who understand real problems. That's why we give back to the community.

generalopen-source