// build logs

Blog ✍️

Honest notes from the builder journey. AI architecture, experiments, wins, and fails.

AllMoving off ___Building in public AI for the parts of life that aren't work

How I migrated 3 open-source apps off a flaky VPS in one afternoon — and saved ~$80/mo doing it

How I migrated 3 open source apps off a flaky VPS in one afternoon and saved ~$80/mo doing it For months I’d been running three open source apps on a single Coolify VPS: Ghost for my blog, Rocket.Chat for agent notifications, and a Mastra based web scraper that occasionally went feral. It wasn’t catastrophic, just unreliable enough that Google Search Console started flagging 5xx crawl errors and UptimeRobot pinged me awake every few days. I even built a Cloudflare Worker watchdog that redeploy

May 22, 2026·2 min read

ai-content-engine

Seven Brands, One Engine: What I Mean When I Say 'AI Marketing Operations'

I run an AI content engine for seven brands right now, including this one. Here's what that actually means in practice — the stack, the editorial gates, and the specific reason I stopped calling myself an 'AI consultant.'

May 22, 2026·7 min read

brand-julissa-cotillo

AI Consultant for Small Business: Real Value, Not Just Hype

What an AI Consultant Actually Does for Your Small Business (and What's a Waste of Money) In today's fast-paced digital world, Artificial Intelligence (AI) isn't just for tech giants anymore. Claude Small businesses are increasingly leveraging AI to streamline operations, delight customers, and unlock new growth opportunities. But navigating the AI landscape can feel like a maze! That's where a skilled AI consultant comes in. They cut through the hype to deliver practical, impactful solutions t

May 21, 2026·8 min read

brand-julissa-cotillo

How Mastra's SF Demo Day Solidified My Bet on TypeScript for AI

How Mastra's SF Demo Day Solidified My Bet on TypeScript for AI I’ve been a software developer for over a decade, and for the past five months, I've been quietly working with Mastra, a framework I stumbled upon while searching for a seamless AI workflow management solution. I was already a fangirl, so when they announced a demo day in San Francisco, I knew I had to be there. I flew in with high expectations, and the event didn't just meet them—it blew them away. I walked out more convinced tha

Apr 21, 2026·2 min read

brand-julissa-cotillo

The Real Tech Stack Behind Our Airbnb: Price Labs, Cameras, and Why We Use Dumb Locks

When we launched Breezy Keys, our short-term rental business in Florida, everyone told us we needed the fanciest smart home tech. Smart locks, smart thermostats, automated everything. We tried some of it. Some stuck. Some we ditched. Here is what we actually use day to day, and why our setup is probably simpler than you would expect. Price Labs: The Biggest ROI in Our Stack If I had to pick one tool that has made us the most money, it is Price Labs. Dynamic pricing is not optional if you are

Mar 17, 2026·3 min read

brand-julissa-cotillo

Why I Automated My Entire Content Pipeline with AI (and What I Would Do Differently)

I run multiple brands. Each one needs blog posts, social content, SEO optimization, and consistent publishing. Doing all of that manually was eating 15-20 hours a week. So I did what any engineer would do: I built a system. The system is called travel-micros-fleet. It is a multi-agent AI platform with 11 specialized agents, over 60 tools, and 15 automated workflows. Here is the real story of how it works. The Problem: Content at Scale as a Solo Operator When you are running multiple brands b

Mar 17, 2026·5 min read

entrepreneurship

Figuring It Out: How We're Applying an Experimental Mindset to Building a Business as a Duo

We're a 2-person team building something new. We don't have customers. We don't have answers. What we do have is an experimental mindset. This isn't advice—it's field notes from the messy middle.

Feb 2, 2026·10 min read

Coaching Confidence with AI: A Personal Journey into Speech and Self Improvement

A personal exploration of using AI to improve communication confidence, combining traditional coaching techniques with modern technology for private, personalized speech improvement.

Sep 4, 2025·4 min read

n8n

Why I'm Moving My AI Logic Out of n8n (But Keeping It in the Loop)

How I transformed a clunky two-workflow plus Discord bot setup into something cleaner and easier to manage with Google's ADK, while still letting n8n shine where it's best - predictable orchestration.

Aug 19, 2025·4 min read

ios

Overcoming iOS Browser Limitations for Voice-Enabled AI Apps

A comprehensive guide to navigating iOS browser constraints when building voice-enabled AI applications. Learn about debugging strategies, audio playback workarounds, and technical solutions for Safari and WebKit limitations.

Jun 29, 2025·6 min read

rag

Breaking Down a RAG System: A Practical Intro Inspired by Learning LangChain

A comprehensive guide to understanding and building Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) systems using LangChain. Learn about core components, scaling challenges, and optimization techniques through a practical Airbnb chatbot use case.

Jun 10, 2025·5 min read

backend

Background Work, Frontline Gains: Unlocking Async with A2A

Exploring the power of Google's Agent to Agent (A2A) protocol for building scalable, asynchronous AI systems. Learn how async patterns are foundational for intelligent agent-based applications and why A2A could become the standard for modern AI workflows.

May 1, 2025·4 min read

Data-Sovereign AI Therapy: Building Couple's Support with Google's Agent Development Kit

Exploring the promise and challenges of AI-powered therapeutic tools, emphasizing the importance of data sovereignty in sensitive applications like couples therapy. Learn how Google's Agent Development Kit (ADK) can be utilized to build self-hosted agents that keep user data under control.

Apr 24, 2025·5 min read

terraform

From Vibe Code to Live: The Terraform Wrapper That Teaches Your Agent to Deploy

Stop watching AI agents burn tokens re-learning Terraform every session. Build a skill and module pattern that teaches your agent once, then deploys anything to GCP Cloud Run.

Jan 17, 2025·8 min read

project

Airbnb Replier: Automated Guest Communication with Human-in-the-Loop Approval

An automated guest communication system that monitors Airbnb messages with n8n, crafts intelligent responses using Google ADK, and implements human-in-the-loop approval through Slack integration.

Jan 14, 2025·6 min read

project

BnB Tuner: AI-Powered Listing Optimization for Airbnb Hosts

An AI-powered tool that analyzes Airbnb listings and suggests improvements for better copy, plus exploring AI-driven professional photo editing to maximize booking potential.

Jan 14, 2025·5 min read

backend

Building a Scalable Chatbot Backend with Vertex AI and Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG)

Learn how to build a powerful, scalable chatbot backend using Google Cloud's Vertex AI and Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) techniques. This blog covers the integration of Gemini models, the setup of a RAG corpus, and deploying via Google Cloud Functions, with key insights on overcoming data access challenges.

Aug 14, 2024·6 min read

frontend

Deploying a Next.js App on AWS EC2: A Beginner's Guide

Learn how to deploy a Next.js application on AWS EC2 with Amazon Linux, Nginx, and PM2. This step-by-step guide is perfect for beginners and covers everything from launching an EC2 instance to configuring Nginx and ensuring continuous application uptime with PM2.

Aug 14, 2024·4 min read