No. 14 / 2026

Fred Lackey

Field Notes
from the Code
Observations, sketches, and stray thoughts on building software
FEB 19, 2026

Welcome to the notebook.

This is where I keep the things that don't fit neatly into a README. The half-formed ideas, the lessons learned at 2 AM, the architecture sketches drawn on napkins. Twenty-plus years of building software, and I've learned that the most valuable insights are the ones scribbled in the margins.

I'm a full-stack developer and systems architect who still believes in the craft. In clean abstractions, thoughtful APIs, and code that reads like prose. I also believe in writing things down — not in polished Medium posts, but in the raw, honest way you'd fill a field journal on an expedition.

Flip through. Grab a pencil. Leave a note in the margins if something resonates.

Workspace with notebooks and coffee
the usual workspace

Currently working on

  • Migrating legacy auth service to Node 22 + native fetch
  • Setting up Dokploy for self-hosted deployments
  • Building a CLI tool for managing DNS across multiple providers
  • Writing up field notes on VPS architecture patterns
  • Exploring AI-assisted code review workflows

Recent field notes

ALL FIELD NOTES →

Topics I keep returning to

Node.js Architecture DevOps Self-Hosting CLI Tools Git Workflows API Design Documentation Infrastructure
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