📰 Dev.to · Russell Jones

Git hooks have always enforced standards before code enters a repo. With AI agents writing commits autonomously, they've become essential.

Run a Go API as a DDEV sidecar so Laravel in the web container can call it by service name, with one shared secret for signed requests.

How to structure an Ansible repo to manage two DigitalOcean droplets, six Laravel apps, and a Go microservices platform without replacing the existing Deployer

How in-memory implementations, a layered test strategy, and AI-assisted test generation keep a 48-package PHP monorepo testable.

Why Docker bypasses your UFW rules, how to fix it, and container hardening practices that matter on a shared VPS.

Conditional builds with ARG, health checks, cross-platform images, linting, and other Dockerfile patterns for production use.

Use layer caching, BuildKit cache mounts, and parallel stages to make your Docker builds faster.

Run containers as non-root users, choose minimal base images, and keep secrets out of your Docker layers.

Use multi-stage Dockerfiles to separate build tooling from your runtime image, cutting image size by 90% or more.

Learn Dockerfile basics — FROM, COPY, RUN, CMD — and build your first container image.