Things I've learned
A collection of notes, ideas and things I've picked up over the years building software.
Preparing your Symfony application for PHP 8.6
Get your Symfony application ready for PHP 8.6: dependency and extension checks, CI testing, Rector upgrades and a staged rollout ahead of 19 November 2026.
PHP 8.6 / Symfony / Symfony 8.2 / Rector / PHP upgrades / Backend development · 10 min readPydantic AI harnesses: memory, planning and practical research agents
A September 2026 review of Pydantic AI’s Python agent harnesses: persistent memory, to-do lists, web research, thinking, dynamic workflows and background execution.
Python / Pydantic AI / AI agents / Agent harnesses / Memory / Research automation · 10 min readMigrating a federated GraphQL router from Apollo to Cosmo
Lessons from coordinating a GraphQL router migration: schema publishing, subgraph deployments, CI/CD changes and the operational work after cutover.
GraphQL / Platform engineering / Backend development · 6 min readTesting Stripe direct debit webhooks with PHP and Symfony service tags
Use Symfony service tags and the Stripe CLI to test asynchronous BECS and SEPA payment events, verify webhook signatures and handle pending payments correctly.
PHP / Symfony / Stripe / Webhooks / BECS Direct Debit / SEPA Direct Debit · 8 min readMigrating legacy databases to Aurora PostgreSQL
How we rehearsed and orchestrated a database migration and engine conversion to Aurora PostgreSQL while keeping reports available in read-only mode.
Databases / AWS / Migration · 3 min readKubernetes Resources to Learn From
I have been fortunate in working a lot more with Kubernetes lately over the last few months so I’ve been exposed to a lot of Kubernetes resource material. It’s fast becoming a more popular way to deploy applications. The concept of…
Blog · 1 min readWordPress Development using Docker
Building my portfolio site, I thought I’d show you how I set up my WordPress development using Docker. Given the way my current site architecture is set up, it is the process flow that I am currently using now but it will most certainly…
Development · 5 min readBlank images in Puppeteer screenshots solved!
Frustrated with getting blank images in Puppeteer Chrome screenshots, recently I was in a situation where I needed to migrate an existing Puppeteer project from Ubuntu over to CentOS7. When the transition to the new OS was made, I…
Development · 2 min readPlans Moving Forward – The Revamped Web and I
It has been six year since my last major revamp/redesign of my current ptran.au portfolio site. So what are my plans moving forward? My how the web development industry has changed! Methods that I adopted back in 2012 since my last…
Insights · 4 min readBad owner or permissions on .ssh/config
This article helps to solve a Bad owner or permissions on .ssh/config issue occurring on a Windows 10 machine when using a terminal emulator like cmder.
Development · 2 min read