Forem: Flora Brandão

[Guide] Stop blocking your deployments with long-running crons ⏳

Flora Brandão — Thu, 07 May 2026 14:00:00 +0000

Long-running crons are likely stealing resources from your app container and creating unnecessary support tickets. If your crons are blocking your deployments, you are dealing with a major engineering grind that slows down your entire team.

The fix is often simpler than you think. You should move those heavy tasks to workers instead. Here is why it matters for your workflow:

Workers handle deployments better than framework schedulers
Moving to workers prevents resource theft from your main app
Using workers stops the cycle of deployment blocks and support tickets

It is important to know when a cron is fine and when it is time to switch to a modern alternative. Making this change keeps your environment stable and your deployments moving.

Check out the full technical breakdown:

That cron should be a worker - Upsun Developer

Long-running crons block your deployments, steal resources from your app container, and create support tickets. Here's when to use workers instead.

developer.upsun.com

[Guide] How we host an RPM repository on AWS S3 📦

Flora Brandão — Thu, 07 May 2026 10:00:00 +0000

Managing RPM repositories often involves the grind of maintaining active server components and dealing with unnecessary infrastructure costs. You can actually host a full repository entirely on AWS S3 with no active components at all.

This approach keeps your costs minimal while ensuring secure and authenticated access using IAM.

Host your files on S3 to eliminate active server maintenance
Use IAM for secure and authenticated repository access
Understand how .repo files and dnf package fetching work
Generate necessary metadata and manage versioning with separate repositories

This setup simplifies your workflow and keeps your infrastructure lean by removing the need for dedicated repository servers.

Check out the full guide for the implementation details:

How we host an RPM repository on AWS S3 - Upsun Developer

Learn how to host an RPM repository entirely on AWS S3 with no active components, minimal cost, and authenticated access using IAM.

developer.upsun.com

[Event] Heading to DrupalSouth Wellington? Let's connect! 🇳🇿

Flora Brandão — Wed, 06 May 2026 10:00:00 +0000

The Drupal community in New Zealand is one of the most vibrant in the world, and the Upsun team is excited to be heading to DrupalSouth Wellington 2026 (May 12–14) to soak it all in.

We’ll be roaming the sessions at the Harbourside Function Venue. We're eager to connect! 🚀

If you’re a developer, architect, or site owner navigating complex migrations or looking to speed up your deployment pipelines, we’d love to meet up and swap notes.

Are you attending DrupalSouth? Drop a comment below or send us a message—we'd love to catch up over coffee! ☕

DrupalSouth Wellington 2026 | DrupalSouth

drupalsouth.org

[Guide] Deploy Mattermost Team Edition on Upsun 🚀

Flora Brandão — Wed, 06 May 2026 07:00:00 +0000

Manually configuring databases and search engines for a self-hosted server is a tedious grind. It often leads to configuration drift and deployment headaches.

You can now deploy Mattermost Team Edition on Upsun using one infrastructure as code file to handle the setup.

PostgreSQL 16 and OpenSearch 2 are configured automatically.
The process starts with cloning a pre-built template.
You can manage credentials and updates from one place.
It includes support for adding plugins to your instance.

Using this method ensures your environment is consistent and easy to maintain.

Check out the full technical write-up for the deployment steps:

Deploy Mattermost Team Edition on Upsun - Upsun Developer

Learn how to deploy a self-hosted Mattermost Team Edition server on Upsun, with PostgreSQL 16 and OpenSearch 2 configured automatically through a single infrastructure-as-code file.

developer.upsun.com

The universal commerce protocol and the inevitable rise of agentic commerce 🤖

Flora Brandão — Tue, 05 May 2026 14:00:00 +0000

Digital commerce is stuck in a loop of fragmented unification and manual human browsing. It is a grind to build for systems that rely on human clicks rather than efficient data exchange.

The rise of agentic commerce and the Universal Commerce Protocol signals a shift toward machine execution. Here is how the infrastructure is changing:

Transitioning from human browsing to technical machine execution
Implementing the Universal Commerce Protocol for unified systems
Adapting retail strategies to support the machine customer
Navigating the technical risks of this infrastructure shift

Moving to the new frontier of commerce requires a shift in how we engineer for the future. It is about building systems that machines can navigate as easily as humans once did.

Read the bull breakdown:

The universal commerce protocol and the inevitable rise of agentic commerce - Upsun Developer

Upsun User Documentation, Dev Center, news, and more.

developer.upsun.com

[Guide] Automating encrypted application backups to Amazon S3 🔐

Flora Brandão — Tue, 05 May 2026 10:00:00 +0000

Manual backup management is a tedious grind that often leads to inconsistent restores when you actually need them. You should not have to worry if your data is safe or if the last manual snapshot worked.

The solution involves setting up a reliable pipeline on Upsun:

Configure Duplicity for incremental handling
Use GPG keys for robust encryption
Schedule everything with cron for zero manual effort

This setup sends your application data directly to AWS S3. It ensures your restores are reliable and your data remains private through encryption. It is a straightforward way to protect your work and keep your workflow efficient.

Check out the full technical guide:

Automated encrypted backups to Amazon S3 | Upsun - Upsun Developer

Learn how to configure Duplicity, GPG keys, and cron on Upsun to send incremental, encrypted backups of your application to AWS S3 for reliable restores

developer.upsun.com

Beyond the vibe coder ceiling 🛠️

Flora Brandão — Mon, 04 May 2026 14:00:00 +0000

Building a project with AI is fast and easy but keeping it running is the real engineering grind*. If anyone can generate code with a prompt, you might wonder if traditional software companies still have a future.*

The reality is more nuanced than the current hype suggests. Here is what you need to know about the current shift:

Creating software is not the same as keeping it running for the long term.
Many developers are hitting a ceiling where AI generates code but cannot manage the complexity of a live system.
Simple SaaS products and indie hackers are facing a race to the bottom as barriers to entry drop.
Established software companies use their enterprise moats and AI tools to maintain their lead.
The 1/3 rule still dictates how value is created and sustained in production environments.

Understanding these trends helps you focus on building software that actually lasts. It is about moving past the initial code generation and into the practical reality of maintaining a business.

Read the full technical breakdown for more details on where the industry is heading:

Will AI make software companies worthless? - Upsun Developer

If anyone can build software with AI, do software companies still matter? The answer is more nuanced than you might think.

developer.upsun.com

[Guide] Stop 502 errors with queues ⚡

Flora Brandão — Mon, 04 May 2026 10:00:00 +0000

Is your website throwing 502 errors whenever an external API starts lagging? It is a common engineering grind where slow dependencies choke your server and kill your response times.

The fix is not adding more resources. It is about changing how you handle work.

Stop making users wait for external processes to finish.
Offload heavy tasks to background jobs and queues.
Distinguish between workers and crons to optimize your flow.
Keep your main thread fast and responsive.

Moving work to a queue ensures your site stays stable even when external services are slow. It is a simple pattern that keeps your workflow lean and your users happy.

Check out the full technical breakdown:

Unstable website? Use queues. - Upsun Developer

Your site throws 502 errors when external APIs are slow. The fix isn't more resources. It's offloading that work to background jobs so your responses stay fast.

developer.upsun.com