Technical writing about Rails, AI, indie hacking, and building digital products as a solo developer.https://meridianbuild.dev/https://meridianbuild.dev/blog/pwa-over-native-for-a-fashion-app/https://meridianbuild.dev/blog/pwa-over-native-for-a-fashion-app/Why I chose a Progressive Web App over native iOS/Android for OutfitMaker. Camera access works, installation works, and I don't need Apple's permission.Sat, 18 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://meridianbuild.dev/blog/seo-for-indie-hackers-what-actually-worked/https://meridianbuild.dev/blog/seo-for-indie-hackers-what-actually-worked/Real data from 4 months of SEO effort on OutfitMaker. The strategies that moved the needle and the ones that wasted my time.Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://meridianbuild.dev/blog/rails-8-migration-on-a-live-product/https://meridianbuild.dev/blog/rails-8-migration-on-a-live-product/Upgrading from Rails 7.1.5 to 8.1 with paying users. The strategy, the gotchas, and why I fixed 103 test failures before touching the Gemfile.Tue, 14 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://meridianbuild.dev/blog/from-zero-to-first-paying-customer/https://meridianbuild.dev/blog/from-zero-to-first-paying-customer/First commit to first €7.99. The timeline, the numbers, what worked and what didn't on the path to revenue.Sun, 12 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://meridianbuild.dev/blog/hotwire-over-react-for-a-solo-dev/https://meridianbuild.dev/blog/hotwire-over-react-for-a-solo-dev/Real-time features without a JavaScript framework. How Turbo Streams and Stimulus gave OutfitMaker everything it needed with a fraction of the complexity.Sat, 11 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://meridianbuild.dev/blog/multimodal-ai-for-outfit-suggestions/https://meridianbuild.dev/blog/multimodal-ai-for-outfit-suggestions/How sending actual photos to Gemini instead of text descriptions transformed OutfitMaker's suggestions from generic to genuinely useful.Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://meridianbuild.dev/blog/how-i-got-chatgpt-to-recommend-my-product/https://meridianbuild.dev/blog/how-i-got-chatgpt-to-recommend-my-product/Traffic from chatgpt.com appeared in my analytics. Here's what GEO means for indie products, and the specific steps that worked.Tue, 07 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://meridianbuild.dev/blog/building-in-public-while-still-learning/https://meridianbuild.dev/blog/building-in-public-while-still-learning/The tension between sharing your work and not feeling like an expert. How one Reddit post brought 40 users in 24 hours.Sun, 05 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://meridianbuild.dev/blog/my-first-state-machine-in-rails/https://meridianbuild.dev/blog/my-first-state-machine-in-rails/How OutfitMaker's outfit suggestion flow evolved from nested if/else into a proper state machine. The gem, the gotchas, and why it clarified everything.Fri, 03 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://meridianbuild.dev/blog/why-i-switched-from-rspec-to-minitest/https://meridianbuild.dev/blog/why-i-switched-from-rspec-to-minitest/RSpec felt like too much ceremony for a solo project. Here's how I migrated 341 tests, what broke, and why simpler was better.Wed, 01 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT