⚙️ infrastructure Intermediate
Optimizing Kubernetes Images for Homelab Resources
Running a complex microservices stack on limited hardware. How we use .NET 10 Chiseled Ubuntu images and Native AOT to slash memory usage.
8 min
The BlueRobin Project
An AI-powered personal document archive that transforms how you organize, search, and understand your documents.
From homelab experiment to production-ready system — documenting every step of building a modern cloud-native application with .NET, Kubernetes, and AI/ML.
🟣 .NET 10 🌐 Blazor Server ⚡ NATS JetStream 🐘 PostgreSQL 🔮 Qdrant 🪣 MinIO 🦙 Ollama ☸️ Kubernetes
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Semantic Search
Find documents by meaning, not just keywords. RAG-powered Q&A over your entire archive.
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AI-Powered OCR
Docling extracts text with layout preservation. Tables, headings, and structure intact.
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Per-User Encryption
Every user gets isolated storage with dedicated KMS keys. Zero-trust architecture.
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Event-Driven
NATS JetStream for reliable async processing. Real-time UI updates without polling.
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Knowledge Graph
FalkorDB connects entities across documents. Discover relationships automatically.
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Self-Hosted
Runs on a homelab K3s cluster. Local AI with Ollama. Your data stays yours.
🏗️ System Architecture
A cloud-native document intelligence platform built on DDD principles with event-driven microservices.
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Blazor Server
Interactive UI with real-time updates
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FastEndpoints API
REST + OpenAPI
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Background Workers
OCR, Embeddings, NER
⚡ NATS JetStream Event-Driven Messaging
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PostgreSQL
Metadata
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Qdrant
Vectors
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MinIO
Documents
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Ollama
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Docling OCR
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spaCy NER
📚 Article Series
Domain-Driven Design in .NET
Building robust domain models with DDD patterns
Event-Driven Architecture with NATS
Async messaging patterns for distributed systems
GitOps with Flux
Infrastructure as Code and declarative deployments
Testing Strategies
From unit tests to contract testing
Security & Compliance
Authentication, encryption, and GDPR compliance
AI/LLM Integration
Building production RAG pipelines and LLM applications
Recent Articles
View all → ⚡ backend Intermediate
Concurrency Control in .NET: Optimistic vs Pessimistic
Data integrity in high-traffic applications relies on how you handle concurrent updates. We compare DB locks (Pessimistic) against Row Versioning (Optimistic) in EF Core.
14 min
⚡ backend Intermediate
Benchmarking and Stress Testing Microservices
Using NBomber and k6 to find the breaking points of our .NET API. Analysis of CPU vs Memory vs I/O bottlenecks.
11 min
⚡ backend Intermediate
Better IDs: Switching from UUID to NanoID
Why BlueRobin moved from standard UUIDs to NanoIDs for primary keys: URL aesthetics, database considerations, and a custom alphabet implementation.
15 min
🤖 ai Intermediate
AI Strategy: Why We Moved from Local Llama to OpenAI
A pragmatic analysis of the costs, performance, and complexity of running local LLMs versus cloud providers, and why we adopted a hybrid architecture.
10 min
⚡ backend Advanced
Event-Driven Cache Invalidation Strategies
Caching is easy; invalidation is hard. Move beyond simple TTL (Time To Live) and learn how to implement precise, event-driven cache busting using Redis and NATS.
16 min
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Architecture
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Messaging
Event-driven and async communication
⚙️
Infrastructure
Kubernetes, GitOps, and DevOps
🔒
Security
Authentication, encryption, and compliance
🤖
AI/ML
Machine learning and LLM integration
🎨
Frontend
Blazor and UI development
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Backend
.NET, APIs, and server-side
🗄️
Database
PostgreSQL, EF Core, and data storage
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CI/CD
Pipelines and automation
📊
Observability
Monitoring, logging, and tracing
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Storage
Object storage and file management