Every project is a series of choices. Here is a heatmap of the critical paths I took, the hurdles I cleared, and what I’d do differently today.
I needed a way for different parts of the system to talk to each other without getting tangled up.
I went with REST because it’s a reliable, industry-standard way to keep things predictable.
The API is easy to document and integrates perfectly with almost any tool.
Sometimes it sends a bit more data than needed, but I prioritized simplicity and consistency over micro-optimizing every bytes.
“I’d likely use tRPC now for contract safety between frontend and backend automatically.”
We needed good initial load without committing to only SPA or static site.
Next.js allows evolving the rendering strategy per route without full rewrites.
Everything feels fast, with flexibility per page.
Running a real server adds deployment complexity.
“Use ISR and image optimization to improve premium UI performance.”