jaket.tech

New Blog, New Tech

Web Development Astro Cursor

Just launched this blog to document my learning journey with new technologies, smart home projects, 3D printing, and more.

New Blog, New Tech

Hey! I just put together this blog and figured I’d give a quick rundown of what I used to build it and what I’ll be writing about.

Framework: Astro

I went with Astro for this blog. It seemed like a cool framework to try out, and it’s perfect for this type of project.

A few things that make Astro a solid choice for a blog:

  1. It’s fast - Static site generation means pages load quickly
  2. Minimal JavaScript - Only loads JS when you actually need it
  3. Great for content - The content collections feature makes managing blog posts really clean
  4. Easy to work with - The component system is straightforward and the dev experience is smooth

The page transitions are pretty nice too—I added some slide animations that work well with Astro’s built-in view transitions. I plan to explore more of what Astro offers, such as using dynamic islands for small pieces of interactive content.

I have worked with WordPress in the past, but I much prefer the lightweight nature of a framework like Astro compared to a full CMS solution. It is easy to make it your own, and you can build components with the framework of your choice.

IDE: Cursor

Considering that I have not worked with a modern JavaScript framework in a while, I used this as an opportunity to try another popular tool for the first time—Cursor—to streamline the process.

Up to now, I have been trying AI tools that integrate well into PhpStorm, as that is the primary IDE I use.

  • ChatGPT, Claude Desktop – This is where I started. These tools on their own are great for debugging and brainstorming ideas, but they struggle with large codebases and complex bugs.
  • Claude Desktop with PhpStorm MCP – Adding the MCP server was a major step up in efficiency and accuracy. Rather than trying to supply relevant files for the context, the model is able to search and build context on its own. This was especially evident when working with large legacy codebases.
  • Claude Code – I just recently got a key for this. I’m liking what I’ve seen, but I need to spend more time with it.
  • Junie – The official IntelliJ offering. I tried out the demo, but ran out of credits incredibly fast. The reviews seemed to echo my experience—something about the use of tokens seems off.
  • Sweep – This is the tool I’ve been trying most recently for PHP. It is a plugin designed for PhpStorm that builds the AI functionality into the IDE, similar to what Junie advertises. It allows you to select a range of models and also has an “auto” mode, which claims to select a model based on the task. Now that I’ve tried Cursor, I believe Sweep was probably built with a Cursor-like experience in mind.

The things I like about Sweep, I also like about Cursor—specifically the built-in chat, along with the side-by-side visual change history, which makes it easy to accept only the changes you want. This visual diff view is great for staying aware of what the agent is doing, so you can better act as the supervisor. In comparison, Claude Desktop (with PhpStorm MCP) will just start making updates once you grant tool permissions, and I found it would often eagerly modify code even when I only asked for an explanation. Cursor also has an option to add an MCP server for the official Astro documentation, which is great for digging into all the functionality offered. Until there’s another tool I want to try, I will stick with Cursor as my IDE for JavaScript, including future improvements to this website.

What I’ll Be Writing About

This blog will be a place for documenting all of my hobbies—anything I work on that I think is worth sharing. Here’s a rundown of some topics that will definitely be featured:

Software Development Projects

I find I learn new technologies best through actually using them. My favorite way to do this is by building things I will use. I’ll be documenting things like:

  • Trying out new frameworks or languages
  • Building small tools and applications
  • Trying new AI tools

Smart Home Automation

I’ve been running a Home Assistant server for years, and I’m always coming up with new ideas for sensors and automations. Expect posts about:

  • Setting up sensors and automations
  • Custom dashboards and UI tweaks

Home Lab

A newer interest of mine. I wanted to set up my own media server, and I saw it as an opportunity to gain more knowledge about the infrastructure side of code. My current setup is a basic SFF Dell running Proxmox for all my virtualization and a 4-bay Synology NAS that serves purely as a file server. Some possible topics:

  • Server builds — I see a custom rackmount NAS build in my future eventually
  • Exploring various open-source services
  • Learning more about infrastructure—complex Docker Compose configurations, networking and firewalls, reverse proxy services, etc.

3D Printing

I recently got back into the 3D printing scene after several years without a working printer. I ran a Wanhao Duplicator i3 for a few years until I burned out the motherboard for the second time. Considering the price of the replacement and all the rapid development in printer tech, I decided the money would be better spent on something newer. I originally wanted a Bambu Lab printer, but I do not like the way they have been locking down their ecosystem recently. The products seem solid, but I did not want to end up locked into a cloud service. Instead, I went the value route and bought the Elegoo Centauri Carbon, which seemed to be getting mostly positive reviews. So far I find it very impressive, especially at the sub-$300 price point. The improvements in this technology over just a few years are crazy to see—I am getting prints that are far better than my old model right out of the box. Features like auto bed leveling are huge—I could never go back to trying to level the bed manually with a piece of paper. The heated enclosure also expands the options for filaments. When it comes to 3D printing, here are some things I may end up discussing:

  • Improving my 3D modeling skills
  • Creating cases for Home Assistant sensors or other electronic projects
  • Everyday functional prints
  • Printer upgrades

Wrapping Up

This is a place for me to document and share anything I’m working on or learning—all of the above, and anything else that catches my attention. If you’re into any of these topics, feel free to stick around!