https://blog.fortrabbit.com/tag/chronicles en Wed, 02 Sep 2026 09:59:26 GMT 10 https://blog.fortrabbit.com/mcp-cli-and-api-launched https://blog.fortrabbit.com/mcp-cli-and-api-launched Wed, 02 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT Frank Lämmer chronicles Three three-letter acronyms for the new platform — and a skills update that glues them together. Three three-letter acronyms just landed, an MCP server for coding agents, a CLI for the terminal and pipelines, and a public API underneath.

]]> https://blog.fortrabbit.com/findhost-a-register-of-web-hosts https://blog.fortrabbit.com/findhost-a-register-of-web-hosts Fri, 21 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT Frank Lämmer opinion chronicles I have built an openly-licensed, ratings-free register of web hosting providers. Why? This is the story of a side project that grew out of internal competitor research.

]]> https://blog.fortrabbit.com/moving-knowledge-base-from-notion-to-markdown https://blog.fortrabbit.com/moving-knowledge-base-from-notion-to-markdown Thu, 11 Jun 2026 15:02:41 GMT Frank Lämmer chronicles Why we left Notion for a folder of Markdown files, and the gotchas we hit along the way. We used Notion as our knowledge base for years. It served us well. But now we moved everything to a folder of Markdown files.

]]> https://blog.fortrabbit.com/introducing-agent-skills https://blog.fortrabbit.com/introducing-agent-skills Tue, 28 Apr 2026 12:00:00 GMT Frank Lämmer chronicles An early preview of fortrabbit agent skills: plain-text instruction files that teach AI coding assistants how to manage apps. We just published a first preview of fortrabbit agent skills — a set of plain-text instruction files that teach AI coding assistants like Claude how to deploy code to fortrabbit, sync databases, and work through common platform tasks. It's an early release. How we got there.

]]> https://blog.fortrabbit.com/our-new-env-var-edit-experience https://blog.fortrabbit.com/our-new-env-var-edit-experience Wed, 08 Apr 2026 08:38:48 GMT Erin Strand chronicles Building an environment variable editor that handles multiline values, special characters and a base64 helper without feeling clever. Editing ENV vars should be easy, right? Here's how we iterated to make it more powerful and developer-friendly, tackling devilish details.

]]> https://blog.fortrabbit.com/vibe-coding-an-rss-feed https://blog.fortrabbit.com/vibe-coding-an-rss-feed Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT Frank Lämmer chronicles Building RSS feeds for a Nuxt Content blog with fuzzy prompts and little supervision. What the AI got right, and where it went off. Let's try lazy slopping a trivial feature into existing by providing some fuzzy prompts. What can possibly go wrong?

]]> https://blog.fortrabbit.com/frank-at-saas-unbound https://blog.fortrabbit.com/frank-at-saas-unbound Tue, 13 Jan 2026 07:45:09 GMT Frank Lämmer chronicles fortrabbit co-founder Frank spends an hour on the SaaS Unbound podcast with Anna Nadeina, talking about bootstrapping hustles. I recently invited myself and talked for an hour with Anna Nadeina about bootstrapping hustles. Thanks for having me.

]]> https://blog.fortrabbit.com/small-team-big-ideas https://blog.fortrabbit.com/small-team-big-ideas Sun, 14 Dec 2025 16:14:11 GMT Frank Lämmer chronicles Five developers, no venture capital, competing with giants. A brain dump on motivation, project management and business philosophy. Dear diary, here is a brain dump on motivation, project management and business philosophy.

]]> https://blog.fortrabbit.com/new-platform-beta https://blog.fortrabbit.com/new-platform-beta Wed, 26 Nov 2025 10:24:14 GMT Frank Lämmer changelog chronicles The new fortrabbit platform opens in public beta after years of work — a hosting service rebuilt from scratch rather than updated. Welcome to the public BETA of our new platform.

]]> https://blog.fortrabbit.com/yes-we-rewrite https://blog.fortrabbit.com/yes-we-rewrite Thu, 06 Feb 2025 20:25:35 GMT Frank Lämmer chronicles Rewriting a hosting platform from scratch is the mistake every essay warns about. Why fortrabbit did it anyway, and how it went. We decided to rewrite our entire hosting platform. Here is more on the process and how we are doing so far.

]]> https://blog.fortrabbit.com/how-we-hire https://blog.fortrabbit.com/how-we-hire Fri, 10 Jan 2025 10:53:08 GMT Frank Lämmer chronicles Hiring at a small company without an applicant tracking system or a hiring manager, and the things that end an application early. Hiring as a small company is challenging. Currently we have one open position, remote. Finding the right person is hard. How we look at candidates.

]]> https://blog.fortrabbit.com/billing-research https://blog.fortrabbit.com/billing-research Thu, 09 Jan 2025 21:31:03 GMT Frank Lämmer chronicles Choosing a billing provider for a hosting platform: the requirements, the candidates, and why a homebrew system finally had to go. Our journey to find a billing service provider to handle products, prices, payment methods, customers and invoices, programmatically by API.

]]> https://blog.fortrabbit.com/infra-research-2024 https://blog.fortrabbit.com/infra-research-2024 Wed, 04 Dec 2024 07:26:27 GMT Frank Lämmer chronicles After a decade on AWS, a new platform is a chance to reconsider. How infrastructure providers were evaluated, and against which criteria. Our hosting service is running on AWS for more than a decade. The new platform - in the making - is offering us a chance to switch the infrastructure vendor. This documents our journey.

]]> https://blog.fortrabbit.com/hosting-panel-with-social-network https://blog.fortrabbit.com/hosting-panel-with-social-network Fri, 11 Oct 2024 17:32:51 GMT Frank Lämmer chronicles Why a hosting dashboard gets collaboration features that look like a small social network, and what agencies and freelancers do with them. We are integrating a mini social network into our hosting dashboard. Why we are even building a custom hosting control panel? There are Plesk and cPanel already.

]]> https://blog.fortrabbit.com/post-mortem-september-2023-maintenance https://blog.fortrabbit.com/post-mortem-september-2023-maintenance Wed, 04 Oct 2023 10:14:11 GMT Frank Lämmer chronicles A post mortem of the September 2023 internal maintenance: what went wrong across the nights in the EU, and what the aftermath was. We recently rolled out a BIG internal update. It was kinda rocky and we still have to deal with aftermath. Here are some technical details, as well as some personal reflections.

]]> https://blog.fortrabbit.com/why-gui-not-cli https://blog.fortrabbit.com/why-gui-not-cli Mon, 28 Aug 2023 09:36:38 GMT Frank Lämmer chronicles Developers reach for the terminal first, so why did a hosting platform for developers start with a graphical dashboard instead?

]]> https://blog.fortrabbit.com/mission-statement-2023 https://blog.fortrabbit.com/mission-statement-2023 Sat, 15 Apr 2023 00:00:00 GMT Frank Lämmer chronicles Ten years of PHP cloud hosting: slow steady growth, hiring difficulties, and an honest account of a quiet period without big features. 10 years of fortrabbit cloud hosting. We haven't been doing much blogging lately. And you haven't seen many big new features landing here either. What's going on? Here is an update from the rabbitverse.

]]> https://blog.fortrabbit.com/about-a-recent-security-patch https://blog.fortrabbit.com/about-a-recent-security-patch Tue, 23 Mar 2021 00:00:00 GMT Frank Lämmer chronicles The story of one small dashboard security fix: a password form bypassed with browser dev tools, reported by a long-standing researcher. This is the story of a small security update we recently deployed to our Dashboard.

]]> https://blog.fortrabbit.com/seomatic-exploit https://blog.fortrabbit.com/seomatic-exploit Tue, 07 Jul 2020 00:00:00 GMT Frank Lämmer chronicles A critical vulnerability in the Craft CMS plugin SEOmatic. How to check whether an installation was affected, and how to clean up. The Craft CMS plugin SEOmatic has had a critical security vulnerability. This is how to check if your installation is affected and maybe even hacked already. TLDR; Update Craft CMS and plugins now!

]]> https://blog.fortrabbit.com/covid-19-info https://blog.fortrabbit.com/covid-19-info Fri, 27 Mar 2020 00:00:00 GMT Frank Lämmer chronicles What fortrabbit changed in March 2020 to keep client sites online: remote work, shared responsibility and extended documentation. What we are doing to keep your business online and how you can help.

]]> https://blog.fortrabbit.com/the-story-of-our-new-invoice-numbers https://blog.fortrabbit.com/the-story-of-our-new-invoice-numbers Mon, 03 Feb 2020 00:00:00 GMT Frank Lämmer chronicles How our new invoice numbers are structured and what went wrong when we rolled it out. We have just changed our invoice number format. This is why we changed it and about the issues during roll out.

]]> https://blog.fortrabbit.com/post-mortem-under-the-hood-2019-06 https://blog.fortrabbit.com/post-mortem-under-the-hood-2019-06 Fri, 28 Jun 2019 00:00:00 GMT Frank Lämmer chronicles A post mortem of the 2019 under-the-hood update: a global operating system upgrade that did not go as planned, and why. We recently rolled out a BIG internal update and it didn't work out exactly as planned. Here is what went wrong.

]]> https://blog.fortrabbit.com/imagemagick-issues https://blog.fortrabbit.com/imagemagick-issues Mon, 04 Mar 2019 00:00:00 GMT Frank Lämmer chronicles The backstory of a week of ImageMagick trouble on the platform: what broke in image transformations, and what was done about it. During the last week we have had some trouble with ImageMagick. Sorry for the inconvenience. This article provides some background about what happened.

]]> https://blog.fortrabbit.com/fortrabbit-is-gdpr-ready https://blog.fortrabbit.com/fortrabbit-is-gdpr-ready Mon, 16 Apr 2018 00:00:00 GMT Frank Lämmer chronicles GDPR is here. Wat is changing for our clients, what not, why and when. Comply by the end of May. The General Data Protection Regulation is coming. This post reflects when, why, what and what not is changing for our clients.

]]> https://blog.fortrabbit.com/favorite-facebook-bot-designs https://blog.fortrabbit.com/favorite-facebook-bot-designs Mon, 08 Jan 2018 00:00:00 GMT Frank Lämmer chronicles A collection of Facebook reaction bots found on hosted sites, and the accidental brutalist beauty of their interfaces. As a hosting provider we fight against all kind of frauds, hacks, scams and phishings. This is my favorite, mostly harmless service misuse.

]]> https://blog.fortrabbit.com/craft-hosting-partner https://blog.fortrabbit.com/craft-hosting-partner Tue, 25 Jul 2017 00:00:00 GMT Oliver Stark chronicles fortrabbit becomes one of the first official Craft CMS hosting partners, after three years of hosting Craft projects on the platform. Last week Pixel & Tonic — the company behind Craft CMS — announced their official hosting partners. We are one of only two and that thrills us!

]]> https://blog.fortrabbit.com/how-we-do-transactional-mail https://blog.fortrabbit.com/how-we-do-transactional-mail Thu, 22 Jun 2017 00:00:00 GMT Frank Lämmer chronicles webdev opinion Our real-live practices on auto-generated client e-mail communication. Sending triggered standardized e-mails to clients is part of almost every web application. To get this right is crucial for business. This is about our own 'worst' practices — a nerdy article covering communication, design and web tech (PHP related).

]]> https://blog.fortrabbit.com/universal-pricing-v2 https://blog.fortrabbit.com/universal-pricing-v2 Thu, 11 May 2017 00:00:00 GMT Frank Lämmer chronicles changelog Universal App plans get reworked five months after launch: the entry plan goes, the middle plan takes its price, a top plan arrives. The Universal Stack was launched 5 months ago. We are now implementing a frequent feedback: Meet our new more powerful Universal Stack plans:

]]> https://blog.fortrabbit.com/540-days-for-drupal8-install-guide https://blog.fortrabbit.com/540-days-for-drupal8-install-guide Thu, 25 Aug 2016 00:00:00 GMT Frank Lämmer chronicles Why a Drupal 8 install guide took 540 days to write, and what the delay says about writing hosting documentation for a moving target. Why it took us such a crazy long time to write an install guide for Drupal 8.

]]> https://blog.fortrabbit.com/sneak-peek https://blog.fortrabbit.com/sneak-peek Mon, 22 Aug 2016 00:00:00 GMT Frank Lämmer chronicles What comes after the mission statement: a new hobby line alongside professional hosting, and the migration path for Old App owners. What we are working on and how we'll proceed with the Old Apps.

]]> https://blog.fortrabbit.com/introducing-password-authentication https://blog.fortrabbit.com/introducing-password-authentication Thu, 21 Jul 2016 00:00:00 GMT Frank Lämmer chronicles Password authentication as an alternative to SSH keys, plus documentation code examples that fill in real values while logged in. Boarding just got better. This new release makes it easier to get started with fortrabbit for new and novice users.

]]> https://blog.fortrabbit.com/mission-statement-2016 https://blog.fortrabbit.com/mission-statement-2016 Mon, 27 Jun 2016 00:00:00 GMT Frank Lämmer chronicles Four years of PHP cloud hosting: what New Apps changed, where the company stands, and what the next year is meant to bring. 4 years of fortrabbit cloud hosting already. What's going on?

]]> https://blog.fortrabbit.com/remote-ssh-execution-released https://blog.fortrabbit.com/remote-ssh-execution-released Wed, 01 Jun 2016 00:00:00 GMT Frank Lämmer changelog chronicles Remote SSH execution runs artisan and other framework commands directly on the environment, without a tunnel and a special config. We regularly get support requests on how to use Laravel Artisan commands — especially for database migration. That just became a lot easier.

]]> https://blog.fortrabbit.com/bounced-payment https://blog.fortrabbit.com/bounced-payment Thu, 28 Jan 2016 00:00:00 GMT Frank Lämmer chronicles One complicated support ticket about a bounced payment, printed almost in full — on privacy over convenience and disaster communication. Things will go wrong — they say. That other day I had to deal with this complicated support ticket. I'd like to share the conversation and some thoughts on billing & accounting for startups here with you.

]]> https://blog.fortrabbit.com/introducing-2fa https://blog.fortrabbit.com/introducing-2fa Thu, 18 Jun 2015 00:00:00 GMT Frank Lämmer chronicles changelog Two-factor authentication arrives for fortrabbit accounts, together with configurable session and sudo timeouts.

]]> https://blog.fortrabbit.com/small-improvements https://blog.fortrabbit.com/small-improvements Thu, 30 Apr 2015 00:00:00 GMT Frank Lämmer chronicles Two small dashboard additions: batch importing environment variables from a .env file, and DNS checks on domain setup.

]]> https://blog.fortrabbit.com/roadmap-to-hack-app https://blog.fortrabbit.com/roadmap-to-hack-app Mon, 20 Apr 2015 00:00:00 GMT Frank Lämmer chronicles The fortrabbit roadmap after the dashboard relaunch, and the groundwork already laid for the updates that follow it.

]]> https://blog.fortrabbit.com/new-dashboard-supervision https://blog.fortrabbit.com/new-dashboard-supervision Wed, 04 Mar 2015 00:00:00 GMT Frank Lämmer chronicles Releasing a dashboard that took years to write, then watching how it lands. On feedback, missing features and shipping big projects.

]]> https://blog.fortrabbit.com/migration-help https://blog.fortrabbit.com/migration-help Thu, 26 Feb 2015 00:00:00 GMT Frank Lämmer chronicles A guide for existing users moving into the new fortrabbit dashboard: what changed, what stayed, and where to find each feature.

]]> https://blog.fortrabbit.com/new-blog-layout https://blog.fortrabbit.com/new-blog-layout Fri, 23 Jan 2015 00:00:00 GMT Frank Lämmer chronicles A new blog layout on a new engine, and why a static site generator replaced WordPress for a developer-facing company blog.

]]> https://blog.fortrabbit.com/new-dashboard-migration-guide https://blog.fortrabbit.com/new-dashboard-migration-guide Wed, 15 Oct 2014 00:00:00 GMT Frank Lämmer chronicles What actually changes for existing customers when the new fortrabbit dashboard arrives, including the move from freemium to a free trial.

]]> https://blog.fortrabbit.com/ssl-v3-disabled-poodle-vulnerability https://blog.fortrabbit.com/ssl-v3-disabled-poodle-vulnerability Wed, 15 Oct 2014 00:00:00 GMT Oliver Stark chronicles SSL v3 is switched off across the platform in response to the POODLE vulnerability. No action is needed on the client side.

]]> https://blog.fortrabbit.com/mission-statement-the-new-dashboard https://blog.fortrabbit.com/mission-statement-the-new-dashboard Mon, 08 Sep 2014 00:00:00 GMT Frank Lämmer chronicles What to expect from the rebuilt fortrabbit dashboard, months before its release: the process, the features and the reasoning.

]]> https://blog.fortrabbit.com/our-new-status-page https://blog.fortrabbit.com/our-new-status-page Tue, 02 Sep 2014 00:00:00 GMT Frank Lämmer chronicles status.fortrabbit.com becomes the official channel for scheduled maintenance and incidents, with mail, SMS and RSS subscriptions.

]]> https://blog.fortrabbit.com/lee-tengum-about-offload-io https://blog.fortrabbit.com/lee-tengum-about-offload-io Thu, 28 Aug 2014 00:00:00 GMT Oliver Stark chronicles An interview with freelance developer Lee Tengum about building offload.io, one of the projects hosted on fortrabbit.

]]> https://blog.fortrabbit.com/add-ons-markdown https://blog.fortrabbit.com/add-ons-markdown Mon, 07 Jul 2014 00:00:00 GMT Frank Lämmer chronicles Price cuts for the Memcache, MySQL and Workers add-on plans, and why cloud pricing has not followed Moore's Law so far.

]]> https://blog.fortrabbit.com/sunsetting-a-few-features https://blog.fortrabbit.com/sunsetting-a-few-features Wed, 18 Jun 2014 00:00:00 GMT Frank Lämmer chronicles The SMTP wrapper and the ReSync tool are switched off ahead of the new dashboard, with a note on how features reach end of life.

]]> https://blog.fortrabbit.com/new-relic-byol https://blog.fortrabbit.com/new-relic-byol Tue, 20 May 2014 00:00:00 GMT Oliver Stark chronicles changelog New Relic support lands on fortrabbit under a bring-your-own-license model, with the daemon running on the platform side.

]]> https://blog.fortrabbit.com/support-as-a-service https://blog.fortrabbit.com/support-as-a-service Mon, 07 Apr 2014 00:00:00 GMT Frank Lämmer chronicles Enhancing our platform with professional & reliable developer to developer support.

]]> https://blog.fortrabbit.com/sunsetting-freemium https://blog.fortrabbit.com/sunsetting-freemium Tue, 18 Mar 2014 00:00:00 GMT Frank Lämmer chronicles The freemium development plan is replaced by a free trial. The reasoning, the timeline, and what it means for existing accounts.

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