· 1 min read
Why Convention-First Matters
An opinionated take on why monorepo templates should make decisions for you, not ask you to make them.
architecture opinion
8 posts · updated Feb 28, 2026
The ShockStack journal
Engineering notes, architecture deep dives, and release announcements. Opinionated takes on building a convention-first stack you can ship.
Featured
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Hello World
Welcome to ShockStack — a convention-first monorepo template.
announcement astro
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· 1 min read
Design Tokens Deep Dive
How a single color value flows from a JSON token through Style Dictionary into CSS variables, Tailwind utilities, and TypeScript constants.
design-tokens css tailwind
· 1 min read
Astro + Vue Islands Architecture
When to use Astro components for static content and Vue islands for interactivity — and how hydration strategies affect performance.
astro vue architecture
· 1 min read
Tailwind v4: What Actually Changed
The practical differences between Tailwind 3 and 4 — new Vite plugin, CSS-first config, @theme blocks, and how ShockStack uses them.
tailwind css migration
· 1 min read
Better Auth in Astro 5
How ShockStack integrates Better Auth for server-side sessions, the Drizzle adapter pattern, protected routes, and client-side auth.
auth astro security
· 1 min read
.NET Aspire for Full-Stack Dev
How .NET Aspire orchestrates Postgres, the API, and the Astro frontend with a single command — and why it beats docker-compose for dev.
dotnet aspire devex
· 1 min read
Zero-JS Animations With Modern CSS
Scroll-driven animations, enter transitions, and discrete display changes — all in CSS, with no JavaScript and full accessibility.
css animations performance