How I set up my dev environment and built this Cards web app.
Installed Omarchy linux
Set it up like Arch, used AI "help desk" to fix the inevitable breakages, and now I have a system that feels like it belongs to me.
Installed Ruby and Rails
When in Rome, wear a toga. When on DHH Linux, use Ruby and Rails.
- People are opinionated on Rails (nice)
- DHH is like "this dev stack is ready to go"
- AI training models reference tons of projects
- I wanted to learn more about Rails
¥€€∓ Code via AI
Check the project docs, but I chained various AI tools together to generate the code for this project. I wrote the prompts, but the AI did the heavy lifting of writing the code and fixing bugs.
Install AWS CLI
Longtime Windows CLI users so this was trivial but necessary for the bash script.
export default {
provider: 'aws',
region: 'us-east-1',
services: {
api: {
runtime: 'node20',
memory: 512
},
worker: {
runtime: 'node20',
concurrency: 10
}
},
middleware: ['auth', 'ratelimit', 'logger']
};
Insult your Mom
Not to be rude, but I designed everything to work in portrait mode on a phone. Your mom has no idea how to actually use the cards app, but she's proud of you for fixing her iPad.
cloudshock deploy --env prod
This command doesn't do anything, I only included it for dramatic effect.
Change Your Default Boot Device
Omarchy Linux is installed on a separate SSD, so I just switch the machine on and it boots into a self contained linux environment with VPN on by default and all trackers disabled (mostly).
Everything Behind a VPN
By default I start in San Jose, CA. I am located in Charlotte, NC. Quickly I begin to see how the Internet makes assumptions about you based on your location. I know these things, I use them everyday. But it hits different when your being tracked.
nmcli connection up "proton-wg"
The Linux User Agent
Aside from constant "are you a bot" challenges I also noticed that some sites will send you a slightly different response if you are on Linux. For example, Grok seems to have switches that are flipped for more experimental features.
It all makes sense. Linux usage skews pretty technical, so it makes sense to throw half baked ideas at an audience that is likely trying to deconstruct the site.
So What Is the Point?
There isn't one.. this article is a dead end. Hence the Potemkin village reference in the subtitle.
Also, You Just Lost the Game
But you are a winner in my book
Shameless Plug
If you like pointless Internet wastes of time give me a follow on socials at Cloudshock Links
+++ EOF, CloudShock