100
Lighthouse Score
<30s
Build Time
~$5
Cost/Month
Tech Stack
Astro Docker Tailwind CSS Nginx GitHub Actions
Business Challenge
Needed a professional portfolio that served multiple goals:
- Performance: Near-instant page loads without database overhead
- Portability: Platform-agnostic deployment across any hosting provider
- Maintainability: Version-controlled content with simple Markdown workflow
- Professional design: Visual identity communicating technical architecture expertise
Technical Constraints
- Time efficiency: Minimize ongoing maintenance overhead versus traditional CMS
- Cost optimization: Host alongside other services on shared VPS infrastructure
- SEO control: Direct access to meta tags, structured data, and sitemap generation
Solution Architecture
Selected Static Site Generation (SSG) with Astro to optimize performance and developer experience.
Core technology decisions:
- Astro framework: Zero JavaScript by default with excellent content collections API
- Docker containerization: Single-artifact deployment bundling build and web server
- Tailwind CSS: Utility-first styling for rapid iteration and maintainability
Implementation Details
Built a containerized static site with modern tooling:
- Type-safe content: Projects defined in Markdown with validated frontmatter schemas
- Multi-stage Docker build: Node.js compilation followed by lightweight Nginx serving
- CI/CD automation: GitHub Actions builds and pushes Docker images on commit
- SEO optimization: Automated sitemap, canonical URLs, and Open Graph metadata
Business Outcomes
- Performance: Perfect 100/100 Lighthouse scores with sub-second page loads
- Flexibility: Deploy anywhere that runs Docker containers
- Simplicity: New projects require only a Markdown file in Git repository
Technical Highlights
This architecture demonstrates:
- Systems thinking: End-to-end consideration of build, deployment, and hosting
- DevOps capabilities: Docker containerization, CI/CD pipelines, and infrastructure automation
- Modern web development: SSG, component architecture, and performance optimization