The Builder Coil
A public builder's log documenting the journey of shipping software
Overview
The Builder Coil is a developer blog and content platform where I document the journey of shipping software — from architecture decisions to production incidents. It serves as the public voice of Ball Lightning AB, built with the same TanStack Start stack powering this very site.
Content System
A custom file-based CMS using JSON content files with frontmatter metadata. Blog posts and news articles support Markdown rendering, syntax-highlighted code blocks via Shiki, and automatic reading time estimation.
- File-based JSON CMS with typed frontmatter
- Markdown rendering with syntax highlighting (Shiki)
- Automatic reading time and word count
- Blog + News content types with separate feeds
Feed API
A public RSS/JSON feed API that powers the "Latest from The Builder Coil" section on the Ball Lightning homepage. The feed is consumed cross-site, demonstrating how the content platform integrates into the broader Ball Lightning ecosystem.
- RSS 2.0 and JSON Feed endpoints
- Cross-origin feed consumption for BL homepage
- Automatic sitemap generation