Building My Digital Garden with Eleventy
Build privacy-respecting sites with Eleventy—create fast, accessible static websites with zero tracking and excellent Core Web Vitals.
Welcome to my digital corner of the internet! After years of working in security engineering and incident response, I decided it was time to create a proper home for my thoughts, projects, and learnings. This site documents my secure homelab journey, development workflows, and technical experiments.
The Journey to Eleventy
Like many engineers, I've had my share of personal websites over the years – from hand-coded HTML in the early days to various CMS platforms. But I wanted something different this time:
- Complete control over my content and how it's presented
- Lightning-fast performance without sacrificing functionality
- Privacy-respecting with no tracking scripts or third-party dependencies
- Developer-friendly workflow that gets out of my way
After evaluating options ranging from Next.js to Hugo, I landed on Eleventy Here's why:
Why Eleventy Won Me Over
1. Simplicity Without Sacrificing Power
Eleventy generates static HTML with zero client-side JavaScript by default. What this means in practice is my site loads instantly, works on slow connections, and respects users' bandwidth. When I do need interactivity (like the dark mode toggle or search), I can add just what's necessary.
2. Data Cascade
One of Eleventy's killer features is its data cascade. I can define global data, directory data, and page-specific data that all merge intelligently. This made building features like automatic navigation and tag pages surprisingly straightforward.
3. Incredible Build Speed
My entire site builds in under 100ms. Coming from webpack-based tools, this feels like magic. Why it matters: fast builds mean I can iterate quickly and deploy confidently. Your mileage may vary depending on site complexity, but for my setup it's been consistently fast.
What I've Built
This site is more than just a blog. It's:
- A knowledge repository – My Resources page catalogs tools and references I've found invaluable
- A professional portfolio – The About section showcases my experience and projects
- A learning platform – Each blog post represents hours of research and hands-on experience
- An experiment in web craft – From the glass morphism effects to the responsive design, every detail is intentional
Technical Highlights
Some features I'm particularly proud of:
- Client-side search that works offline and respects privacy
- Automatic dark mode that remembers your preference
- Git-based timestamps showing when content was last updated
- Accessible navigation with keyboard support and ARIA labels
- Lightning performance with perfect Lighthouse scores
What's Coming Next
This site will evolve as I do. Expect content on:
- Security engineering – Real-world IR playbooks, security automation, and defensive strategies
- AI and automation – Practical applications of LLMs, local AI deployment, and ethical considerations. I'm particularly excited about Claude Code with standardized workflows and Claude Flow for AI-powered development.
- Open source projects – Tools I'm building and contributing to, including my MCP standards server
- Career insights – Lessons learned from working in federal contracting and security operations
The Open Source Advantage
This site is open source on GitHub. Feel free to explore the code, learn from it, or even fork it for your own use. I believe in learning in public and sharing knowledge freely. For those interested in workflow optimization, my posts on progressive context loading for LLM workflows and privacy-first AI lab deployment demonstrate how open-source tools enable sophisticated development setups.
Let's Connect
I'm always interested in connecting with fellow engineers, security professionals, and anyone passionate about technology. You can find me on GitHub or reach out directly through my contact page.
Here's to building a better, faster, more accessible web – one static site at a time!
Check out the README on GitHub. I've documented everything from the build process to the deployment pipeline.
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