Writing
Production notes from real systems — M-Pesa and the Daraja API, Core Web Vitals, and the architecture decisions that hold up under traffic.
- M-Pesa Daraja API Integration with Next.js: A Production GuideMost Daraja tutorials stop at a successful STK Push in sandbox. This is the rest of it: token caching, callback verification, idempotent writes and the failure modes that only show up with real money.
- Running M-Pesa STK Push on Serverless Without Losing PaymentsServerless removes the long-lived process that most M-Pesa integrations quietly assume. Here is what breaks — token caches, in-memory state, background work after the response — and what to do instead.
- Testing M-Pesa Callbacks Locally Without ngrokSafaricom cannot reach localhost, and rotating tunnel URLs make it worse. Four ways to develop against Daraja callbacks properly, including a replay harness that needs no tunnel at all.
- M-Pesa Reconciliation: Idempotency, Duplicates and the LedgerSafaricom will send the same callback twice. Your job is to make that boring. A practical design for idempotent payment writes, an append-only ledger, and the daily job that catches what both miss.
- Why Your M-Pesa Callback Never ArrivesThe customer paid, Safaricom took the money, and your app never found out. A ranked list of the reasons Daraja callbacks go missing, and how to tell which one is yours.
- Building PixelPress: Client-Side Image Compression with Next.js and SharpHow I built an image compressor that runs in the browser, keeps files private, and still beats server-side tools on output size. Architecture, trade-offs and the parts that went wrong.
- WordPress Core Web Vitals: Fixing LCP, INP and CLS at the SourceA field guide to WordPress performance that starts with measurement, not plugins: caching layers, database bloat, image pipelines and the INP work that actually moves the needle.
- What M-Pesa Teaches You About Building Fintech in Emerging MarketsM-Pesa moved $314bn a year on feature phones and SMS. Here is what its architecture and distribution model teach engineers building payments outside the West.