DevOps

Platform engineering used to be the title on a few job adverts at Spotify and Netflix. In 2026 it is the default shape of any infrastructure team larger than a dozen people. The shift is worth understanding, because it is not just a rebrand of DevOps - it is a different operating model, with different tools, different incentives, and a different relationship to the developers it serves. This post is a plain-language walk through what platform engineering actually is, why the industry has converged on it, and how the arrival of AI agents is reshaping the discipline mid-flight. ...

Amazon Web Services recently introduced AWS S3 Files, a service that addresses a persistent challenge in cloud computing - how to give file-based applications direct access to object storage without duplicating data or building custom connectors. The Problem S3 Files Solves Traditionally, applications designed around file systems faced a difficult choice when working with Amazon S3: Use object APIs - Build custom integration code and refactor applications Duplicate data - Copy data between S3 and separate file systems, creating sync challenges and increased costs Accept performance trade-offs - Work with slower, network-dependent access patterns S3 Files eliminates these constraints by providing a native file system interface directly over S3 data. ...

For years, DevOps has been about breaking down silos and automating the software delivery lifecycle. We moved from manual deployments to Jenkins scripts, then to YAML-defined pipelines, and eventually to Infrastructure as Code (IaC). But in 2026, the bottleneck is no longer the speed of the pipeline - it’s the speed of human decision-making within that pipeline. We are entering the era of Agentic DevOps. From Automation to Autonomy Traditional DevOps automation follows a strict “if this, then that” logic. AI-driven DevOps uses reasoning models to handle the “I’m not sure, let me figure it out” scenarios that typically stall a release. ...

Homebrew is the package manager that makes a Mac genuinely usable as a development machine. The list below is the working set of packages I install on a new laptop, organised by what they do rather than alphabetically. Most can be installed in one command: brew install <package>. For graphical applications, see the companion Mac Applications and Utilities page. Essential bat - Cat alternative with syntax highlighting and Git integration fzf - Fuzzy finder for CLI (command history, file search, etc.) glow - Markdown reader in the terminal htop - Interactive process monitor with colors and mouse support jq - JSON query and manipulation tool (sed for JSON) pyenv - Python version manager python - Python (3.11+) ripgrep (rg) - Fast, recursive grep alternative terraform - Infrastructure as code provisioning tfswitch - Switch Terraform versions easily (warrensbox/tap/tfswitch) tree - Display directory structure visually wget - Command-line file downloader yq - YAML/JSON/XML processor and querying tool Cloud & Container Tools awscli - AWS Command Line Interface docker - Container platform and runtime gcloud - Google Cloud CLI helm - Kubernetes package manager k9s - Interactive Kubernetes resource viewer and manager kubectl - Kubernetes command-line tool kubectx - Switch between Kubernetes clusters and namespaces minikube - Run Kubernetes locally in a VM Development Languages & Frameworks django - Python web framework go - Go programming language nvm - Node.js version manager npm - Node Package Manager pytorch - Machine learning framework for deep learning rbenv - Ruby version manager rust - Rust programming language tensorflow - ML library for machine learning and AI DevOps & Infrastructure Tools ansible - Configuration management and automation consul - Service mesh and service discovery hashicorp/tap/vault - Secrets management tool packer - Machine image builder prometheus - Metrics collection and monitoring System & Network Tools bottom - System monitor (process, memory, disk, network) dust - Disk usage analyzer (better than du) exa - Modern ls replacement with colors and icons fd - Fast find alternative lnav - Log file analyzer and explorer mtr - Network diagnostic combining ping and traceroute speedtest-cli - Test internet upload/download speed tldr - Simplified man pages with practical examples File & Directory Tools midnight-commander - Full-screen file manager (mc) ncdu - Disk space usage analyzer ranger - Terminal file manager with preview support Productivity & Utilities direnv - Load environment variables based on directory httpie - HTTP CLI client (curl alternative) jupyter - Interactive notebooks for data science navi - Interactive cheatsheet and command browser task - Task management and todo app tmux - Terminal multiplexer (multiple sessions/panes) Database & Data Tools postgresql - PostgreSQL database client redis-cli - Redis key-value store client sqlite - Lightweight embedded database Additional Utilities neofetch - System information display snappy - Compression library for fast compression/decompression youtube-dl - Download videos from YouTube and other sites Related Pages Mac Applications and Utilities - graphical applications to pair with this CLI toolkit DevOps Best Practices

This is the working set of Mac applications I actually use, grouped by the job they do rather than by category of app. Most of these I have paid for at some point - the investment has usually been justified within a week. A handful are free and just happen to be best-in-class. For command-line tooling installed through Homebrew, see the companion Mac Homebrew Packages page. Legend: 🆓 Free - 💰 Paid or Freemium ...

Cyber attacks are becoming increasingly sophisticated, and DevOps teams must understand the landscape to build resilient systems. This guide covers the most common attack types and practical defense strategies. Social Engineering Attacks Phishing remains one of the most effective attack vectors. Attackers craft deceptive emails or messages to trick users into revealing sensitive information or clicking malicious links. The 2015 Ukraine power grid attack, for example, relied on phishing emails to harvest login credentials before the actual infrastructure attack. ...

Most engineering concepts are easier than they look once someone explains them clearly. This page collects short explainer notes on the fundamentals I find myself re-explaining most often, each paired with the best external visual or video I have found on the topic. APIs An API is a contract: this is what I will accept, this is what I promise to return, this is how I will behave when something goes wrong. Everything else - REST, GraphQL, gRPC, WebSockets - is just a different way of expressing that contract over the wire. ...

The views in this post are my own personal reflections on the industry, written in my own time. They are not about any specific employer, team, or colleague, past or present, and do not draw on any non-public information. “Best practice” is a phrase that should be treated with suspicion. What works for a fintech running 500 engineers rarely works for a five-person startup. The notes below are generic patterns drawn from public talks, books, and industry write-ups - always weighed against context, team size, and what the system is actually trying to do. ...

Cheatsheets are one of the most under-rated learning tools in the DevOps toolbox. When you are three hours into debugging a broken pipeline, you don’t want a 400-page book - you want the one page that reminds you which flag does what. This page collects quick references I keep within arm’s reach. Cloud Computing A concise summary of the core cloud service models (IaaS, PaaS, SaaS), deployment patterns, and the shared responsibility model is a good starting point for anyone new to cloud infrastructure. ...

The AWS Summit London 2023 keynote was posted to AWS’s event channel shortly after the event, and it is the single best hour of content to watch if you are trying to calibrate where AWS is pushing the ecosystem. This post pulls out the session and the themes I found most useful. Keynote The opening keynote featured the typical mix of AWS leadership, senior AWS product voices, and UK customer stories. ...