Isaac Johnson
@isaacj.bsky.social
SRE Architect, Cloud junkie, open source, GCP, Azure and Datadog fan. Husband and father to three amazing daughters. Outdoor enthusiast, fisherman, canoes and boundary waters.
November 13, 2025 at 3:22 PM
I lately dug into UpCloud, a fantastic Finish Cloud Provider with an amazing backend. What was to be just a quick post turned into back-to-back blog articles covering Setup, CLI, K8s, DB then in Part 2, OpenTofu and more: p1: kutt.tpk.pw/8fS2p4 p2: kutt.tpk.pw/zFS36L #UpCloud #sovereignty #Cloud
November 13, 2025 at 2:43 PM
I lately dug into UpCloud, a fantastic Finish Cloud Provider with an amazing backend. What was to be just a quick post turned into back-to-back blog articles covering Setup, CLI, K8s, DB then in Part 2, OpenTofu and more: p1: kutt.tpk.pw/8fS2p4 p2: kutt.tpk.pw/zFS36L #UpCloud #sovereignty #Cloud
There are some cloud providers I do not use. Namely, Oracle and IBM. IBM seems to have made it clear that they just do not want my business. In this post, I dig into trying, yet again, to gain access to IBM cloud and then compare to those cloud providers that thrive v... https://kutt.tpk.pw/kPAh43
November 4, 2025 at 8:26 AM
There are some cloud providers I do not use. Namely, Oracle and IBM. IBM seems to have made it clear that they just do not want my business. In this post, I dig into trying, yet again, to gain access to IBM cloud and then compare to those cloud providers that thrive v... https://kutt.tpk.pw/kPAh43
Some TLDs are fine, com, org, etc. Space, lately, has been quite flakey. Beyond that, .space are now over US50 to renew. So today we look at how to ditch a domain name and migrate over to something new; space to the icu. I will explore IONOS as a registrar and show ... https://kutt.tpk.pw/CtQpSW
October 30, 2025 at 2:03 PM
Some TLDs are fine, com, org, etc. Space, lately, has been quite flakey. Beyond that, .space are now over US50 to renew. So today we look at how to ditch a domain name and migrate over to something new; space to the icu. I will explore IONOS as a registrar and show ... https://kutt.tpk.pw/CtQpSW
Some TLDs are fine, com, org, etc. Space, lately, has been quite flakey. Beyond that, .space are now over US50 to renew. So today we look at how to ditch a domain name and migrate over to something new; space to the icu. I will explore IONOS as a registrar and show ... https://kutt.tpk.pw/CtQpSW
October 30, 2025 at 7:31 AM
Some TLDs are fine, com, org, etc. Space, lately, has been quite flakey. Beyond that, .space are now over US50 to renew. So today we look at how to ditch a domain name and migrate over to something new; space to the icu. I will explore IONOS as a registrar and show ... https://kutt.tpk.pw/CtQpSW
Vert is a nice OS app that converts just about any media type to any other. I test it locally in docker (and their free SaaS offering) with both video and image files. Watchtower and Tugtainer are all about automatically updating containerized apps. I show both off a... https://kutt.tpk.pw/TyCeBv
October 28, 2025 at 7:26 AM
Vert is a nice OS app that converts just about any media type to any other. I test it locally in docker (and their free SaaS offering) with both video and image files. Watchtower and Tugtainer are all about automatically updating containerized apps. I show both off a... https://kutt.tpk.pw/TyCeBv
NGrok just came out with a Docker Desktop plugin that makes it really easy to expose containers publicly. We can do this with the free account easily (and I show demos). MermaidChart is a commercial SaaS offering to build and update Mermaid Diagrams. We've used merma... https://kutt.tpk.pw/s7KQMS
October 24, 2025 at 8:44 PM
NGrok just came out with a Docker Desktop plugin that makes it really easy to expose containers publicly. We can do this with the free account easily (and I show demos). MermaidChart is a commercial SaaS offering to build and update Mermaid Diagrams. We've used merma... https://kutt.tpk.pw/s7KQMS
NGrok just came out with a Docker Desktop plugin that makes it really easy to expose containers publicly. We can do this with the free account easily (and I show demos). MermaidChart is a commercial SaaS offering to build and update Mermaid Diagrams. We've used merma... https://kutt.tpk.pw/s7KQMS
October 23, 2025 at 7:30 AM
NGrok just came out with a Docker Desktop plugin that makes it really easy to expose containers publicly. We can do this with the free account easily (and I show demos). MermaidChart is a commercial SaaS offering to build and update Mermaid Diagrams. We've used merma... https://kutt.tpk.pw/s7KQMS
This article covers a lot: Continue.devs new CLI, updates to the Vikunja MCP server, Github OSS MCP registry, Gemini CLI extensions directory, extensions updates and more. It is a whole smattering of MCP stuff - I hope you enjoy https://kutt.tpk.pw/PVnPbY
October 21, 2025 at 12:47 PM
This article covers a lot: Continue.devs new CLI, updates to the Vikunja MCP server, Github OSS MCP registry, Gemini CLI extensions directory, extensions updates and more. It is a whole smattering of MCP stuff - I hope you enjoy https://kutt.tpk.pw/PVnPbY
This article covers a lot: Continue.devs new CLI, updates to the Vikunja MCP server, Github OSS MCP registry, Gemini CLI extensions directory, extensions updates and more. It is a whole smattering of MCP stuff - I hope you enjoy https://kutt.tpk.pw/PVnPbY
October 21, 2025 at 7:31 AM
This article covers a lot: Continue.devs new CLI, updates to the Vikunja MCP server, Github OSS MCP registry, Gemini CLI extensions directory, extensions updates and more. It is a whole smattering of MCP stuff - I hope you enjoy https://kutt.tpk.pw/PVnPbY
In this post we create our own AI MCP server to connect to Vikunja. Keeping it Open-Source, I use Python with the FastMCP library, setup CICD on Forgejo and publish containers to Harbor CR. I cover usage with Copilot and Gemini CLI. I test the CICD with Verdent AI upd... https://kutt.tpk.pw/yGAcWz
October 15, 2025 at 7:33 AM
In this post we create our own AI MCP server to connect to Vikunja. Keeping it Open-Source, I use Python with the FastMCP library, setup CICD on Forgejo and publish containers to Harbor CR. I cover usage with Copilot and Gemini CLI. I test the CICD with Verdent AI upd... https://kutt.tpk.pw/yGAcWz
There are two MCP servers I really wanted to explore: Chrome DevTools which should provide more web integrations and the new Gemini CLI extension for Nano Banana. In both cases, I will explore using them to create some GenAI art locally https://kutt.tpk.pw/yphrH2
October 13, 2025 at 7:31 AM
There are two MCP servers I really wanted to explore: Chrome DevTools which should provide more web integrations and the new Gemini CLI extension for Nano Banana. In both cases, I will explore using them to create some GenAI art locally https://kutt.tpk.pw/yphrH2
ArgoCD is the leading Open-Source tool for GitOps. I have not talked about it in some time, the last time being a post in 2022. There have been a lot of updates since then, most importantly is they recently added OCI support. In this post I setup the latest ArgoCD an... https://kutt.tpk.pw/U56dFh
October 9, 2025 at 7:25 AM
ArgoCD is the leading Open-Source tool for GitOps. I have not talked about it in some time, the last time being a post in 2022. There have been a lot of updates since then, most importantly is they recently added OCI support. In this post I setup the latest ArgoCD an... https://kutt.tpk.pw/U56dFh
Google released the Nano Banana image model a few weeks back and it has really shown itself to be a capable and fast renderer. I wanted to take it through it's paces with headshots, restored photos and more. I also wanted to pair it with Midjourney for video generation... https://kutt.tpk.pw/B4qqeX
October 7, 2025 at 11:10 AM
Google released the Nano Banana image model a few weeks back and it has really shown itself to be a capable and fast renderer. I wanted to take it through it's paces with headshots, restored photos and more. I also wanted to pair it with Midjourney for video generation... https://kutt.tpk.pw/B4qqeX
Github just moved the Copilot CLI out of the standard GH CLI into it's own unique tool last week. I wanted to try it out and compare with Claude and Gemini. In this post will set it up and use it to build an app (and compare with Copilot in VS Code). I will also cove... https://kutt.tpk.pw/WkZBmt
October 2, 2025 at 7:36 AM
Github just moved the Copilot CLI out of the standard GH CLI into it's own unique tool last week. I wanted to try it out and compare with Claude and Gemini. In this post will set it up and use it to build an app (and compare with Copilot in VS Code). I will also cove... https://kutt.tpk.pw/WkZBmt
I love Chili - good, hot, spicy and meaty. This is a departure from tech, but the blog post today is my Chili Recipe. If you follow it exactly, then you better have a love of heat. https://kutt.tpk.pw/eDTLqq
September 30, 2025 at 7:26 AM
I love Chili - good, hot, spicy and meaty. This is a departure from tech, but the blog post today is my Chili Recipe. If you follow it exactly, then you better have a love of heat. https://kutt.tpk.pw/eDTLqq
Introducing Verdent and Codeck AI. Verdent AI is a new Gen AI coding tool that is similar to Copilot but has much much more. I had a chance to be part of a beta group to test it and here is what I found... (includes post-launch costing and notes as well - it went live yesterday)
kutt.tpk.pw/wP5BYV
kutt.tpk.pw/wP5BYV
Introducing Verdent AI
A short while ago, Codeck/Verdent reached out to me about a new project they had in the works, Verdent AI. Verdent AI is meant to be a new AI Coding tool with features no one else had yet… Their sloga...
kutt.tpk.pw
September 24, 2025 at 1:48 PM
Introducing Verdent and Codeck AI. Verdent AI is a new Gen AI coding tool that is similar to Copilot but has much much more. I had a chance to be part of a beta group to test it and here is what I found... (includes post-launch costing and notes as well - it went live yesterday)
kutt.tpk.pw/wP5BYV
kutt.tpk.pw/wP5BYV
Extending on our discussion of MCP Servers, today I wanted to explore using two different pg mcp servers to allow our AI agents direct access to query a local PostgreSQL database. We'll look at local hosting and tooling, remote agent connectivity and test with a Patien... https://kutt.tpk.pw/KAn3n6
September 23, 2025 at 7:35 AM
Extending on our discussion of MCP Servers, today I wanted to explore using two different pg mcp servers to allow our AI agents direct access to query a local PostgreSQL database. We'll look at local hosting and tooling, remote agent connectivity and test with a Patien... https://kutt.tpk.pw/KAn3n6
Today I dig into MCP servers. In this post we setup a python weather MCP server and show how to use it with Copilot and Gemini CLI. we modify it to use Azure Maps API instead of weather.gov. I also show a NodeJS MCP server that can generate images from Vertex AI (Imag... https://kutt.tpk.pw/eHTRhL
September 19, 2025 at 12:11 PM
Today I dig into MCP servers. In this post we setup a python weather MCP server and show how to use it with Copilot and Gemini CLI. we modify it to use Azure Maps API instead of weather.gov. I also show a NodeJS MCP server that can generate images from Vertex AI (Imag... https://kutt.tpk.pw/eHTRhL
My homelab went to crap after a long 7+ hour power outage. I can handle a few minutes, even an hour - but more than 5, and we have a bad day. I'll cover updating A records in AWS, GCP and Azure, fixing k3s node IP changes and more. https://kutt.tpk.pw/V6vCdX
September 16, 2025 at 11:45 AM
My homelab went to crap after a long 7+ hour power outage. I can handle a few minutes, even an hour - but more than 5, and we have a bad day. I'll cover updating A records in AWS, GCP and Azure, fixing k3s node IP changes and more. https://kutt.tpk.pw/V6vCdX
There are a couple of interesting open-source Task Management tools that have been on my list: Tududi and Tasktrove. In this article, I wanted to take a moment to explore them, both locally in Docker and exposed in Kubernetes. How do they compare and do they make a co... https://kutt.tpk.pw/hqZX9P
September 11, 2025 at 2:32 PM
There are a couple of interesting open-source Task Management tools that have been on my list: Tududi and Tasktrove. In this article, I wanted to take a moment to explore them, both locally in Docker and exposed in Kubernetes. How do they compare and do they make a co... https://kutt.tpk.pw/hqZX9P
I have used Sendgrid for a very long time. It has been my preferred free email tool for almost a decade. But in May they announced the free plan was over and just recently, they stopped my free account from sending. In this post I look at using AWS SES and Resend as g... https://kutt.tpk.pw/azzhWe
September 9, 2025 at 1:29 PM
I have used Sendgrid for a very long time. It has been my preferred free email tool for almost a decade. But in May they announced the free plan was over and just recently, they stopped my free account from sending. In this post I look at using AWS SES and Resend as g... https://kutt.tpk.pw/azzhWe
I have a couple Open Source container monitoring apps I wanted to checkout: Containery and Dockpeek. Both serve similar purposes but solve different problems for me. I will test locally and then expose externally with TLS via K3s. Also, I show how to reclaim a whole ... https://kutt.tpk.pw/TzNAKb
September 8, 2025 at 1:33 PM
I have a couple Open Source container monitoring apps I wanted to checkout: Containery and Dockpeek. Both serve similar purposes but solve different problems for me. I will test locally and then expose externally with TLS via K3s. Also, I show how to reclaim a whole ... https://kutt.tpk.pw/TzNAKb
I have a couple Open Source container monitoring apps I wanted to checkout: Containery and Dockpeek. Both serve similar purposes but solve different problems for me. I will test locally and then expose externally with TLS via K3s. Also, I show how to reclaim a whole ... https://kutt.tpk.pw/TzNAKb
September 4, 2025 at 7:24 AM
I have a couple Open Source container monitoring apps I wanted to checkout: Containery and Dockpeek. Both serve similar purposes but solve different problems for me. I will test locally and then expose externally with TLS via K3s. Also, I show how to reclaim a whole ... https://kutt.tpk.pw/TzNAKb
In this post I look at Jellyfin - a movie and TV streaming app (with which I look to replace Plex). I will set it up in Docker then Kubernetes, expose with TLS and give a proper test. I also look at a solid Open-source calendaring platform, Lauti which had a couple set... https://kutt.tpk.pw/CykPsv
September 2, 2025 at 7:25 AM
In this post I look at Jellyfin - a movie and TV streaming app (with which I look to replace Plex). I will set it up in Docker then Kubernetes, expose with TLS and give a proper test. I also look at a solid Open-source calendaring platform, Lauti which had a couple set... https://kutt.tpk.pw/CykPsv