talaat.dev https://talaat.dev Alexander Talaat builds AI systems and web platforms that run in production — case studies, writing and services, Washington, D.C. en-us Building hal0, part 3: where the runners come from https://talaat.dev/writing/building-hal0-part-3-custom-runners/ https://talaat.dev/writing/building-hal0-part-3-custom-runners/ How hal0 plans, builds and pins its runner container images across three repos, and how to swap the one a slot uses without rebuilding anything. Tue, 18 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT hal0 containers rocm supply-chain release-engineering inference Building hal0, part 2: the rework release https://talaat.dev/writing/building-hal0-part-2-the-rework-release/ https://talaat.dev/writing/building-hal0-part-2-the-rework-release/ hal0 1.0.0-rc.1 through 1.0.0: moving flags off slots onto models, cosign-verified releases, and why GA needed rc.2 within a day. Thu, 13 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT hal0 release-engineering systemd podman security cosign Building hal0, part 1: fifteen tags in ten days https://talaat.dev/writing/building-hal0-part-1-the-slot-model/ https://talaat.dev/writing/building-hal0-part-1-the-slot-model/ How hal0 found its shape across v0.9.0 to 0.9.8: one podman container per inference workload, one control plane, and a lot of duct tape. Tue, 14 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT hal0 inference systemd podman capability-system release-engineering Headless WordPress without the regret https://talaat.dev/writing/headless-wordpress-without-the-regret/ https://talaat.dev/writing/headless-wordpress-without-the-regret/ The four decisions that keep editors happy on a headless WordPress build, including the tenant-routing pattern I use on every multi-site project. Tue, 02 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT wordpress next.js architecture Evals are just tests with taste https://talaat.dev/writing/evals-are-just-tests-with-taste/ https://talaat.dev/writing/evals-are-just-tests-with-taste/ Evals are unit tests with taste — the same discipline of naming a failure mode before you go looking for it. Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT ai testing evals A design-token pipeline that survives handoff https://talaat.dev/writing/a-design-token-pipeline-that-survives-handoff/ https://talaat.dev/writing/a-design-token-pipeline-that-survives-handoff/ A token pipeline that survives the handoff from design file to production CSS without drifting after the first sprint. Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT devops design-systems css Fifteen years of shipping on the web https://talaat.dev/writing/fifteen-years-of-shipping-on-the-web/ https://talaat.dev/writing/fifteen-years-of-shipping-on-the-web/ Fifteen years of shipping client web projects — what changed, what never did, and what I would tell myself starting out. Thu, 19 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT career freelance reflection theme.json is the whole theme now https://talaat.dev/writing/theme-json-is-the-whole-theme-now/ https://talaat.dev/writing/theme-json-is-the-whole-theme-now/ How much of a modern WordPress theme now lives in theme.json instead of PHP templates, and why that is worth taking seriously. Thu, 08 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT wordpress full-site-editing theme.json Server components changed how I structure data https://talaat.dev/writing/server-components-changed-how-i-structure-data/ https://talaat.dev/writing/server-components-changed-how-i-structure-data/ How React Server Components changed where I draw the boundary between layout, data-fetching, and interactivity. Thu, 11 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMT next.js react architecture Retrieval that cites its sources https://talaat.dev/writing/retrieval-that-cites-its-sources/ https://talaat.dev/writing/retrieval-that-cites-its-sources/ Why a retrieval-augmented pipeline is only as trustworthy as its ability to cite the exact passage behind an answer. Fri, 24 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMT ai rag retrieval Blue-green deploys for forty client sites https://talaat.dev/writing/blue-green-deploys-for-forty-client-sites/ https://talaat.dev/writing/blue-green-deploys-for-forty-client-sites/ How I run zero-downtime blue-green deploys across forty client WordPress installs without forty separate runbooks. Sun, 03 Aug 2025 00:00:00 GMT devops wordpress infrastructure Killing the page builder https://talaat.dev/writing/killing-the-page-builder/ https://talaat.dev/writing/killing-the-page-builder/ Notes from migrating a legacy WordPress page builder off a site — why it is worth doing and what actually breaks. Fri, 15 Nov 2024 00:00:00 GMT wordpress migration performance What I bill for, and what I don't https://talaat.dev/writing/what-i-bill-for-and-what-i-dont/ https://talaat.dev/writing/what-i-bill-for-and-what-i-dont/ A plain-language breakdown of what goes on a client invoice, what does not, and why that line matters more than the rate. Thu, 27 Jun 2024 00:00:00 GMT career freelance business