Etherlabz Journal · Section 18 entries · 09 Aug 2026
Field notes on design and engineering: brand, product, SaaS, ecom, and the work in between.
Edge functions are precise tools, not free upgrades. Here’s what they’re actually good at for ecommerce — A/B tests, geo routing, auth, imag…
Engineering noteIf you’re shipping a sub-2,000 SKU store, a Postgres cluster and a headless CMS is over-engineered. Astro plus an edge SQL service like Turs…
Engineering notePersonalization that converts and personalization that creeps people out are different problems. Here’s how to build the first without slidi…
Engineering noteWhat HPOS actually changes, why custom code that uses get_post_meta() breaks, and the WP-CLI migration playbook for serious WooCommerce stor…
Engineering noteWhat actually matters when building an AI SaaS in 2026 — architecture, cost management, evaluation, and the discipline around model provider…
Engineering noteSub-1-second pages are achievable in 2026 — but only if you fix the architecture before optimizing micro-tweaks. Here’s the actual playbook.
Engineering noteEcommerce caching is harder than blog caching because stale prices and stale stock cost real money. Here’s how to set up the five layers — b…
Engineering noteWhen WooCommerce + headless beats Shopify Plus, when it doesn’t, and what running it at scale actually costs in 2026. Honest TCO math.
Engineering noteWhat’s actually worth installing on a 2026 WooCommerce store, when headless makes sense (and when it doesn’t), and the plugin shortlist that…
Engineering note