Series

Building the CMS

Nine days building the thing I write this site in, and everything it found broken on the way

Updated Sep 27, 2026

Posts in this series · 8

Part 1

By hand, in VS Code

Six collections, eighteen components, and nothing in the editor that knew about any of it.

cmsastrowritingeditor Part 2

The first thing I built wasn't the editor

Before any of it was visible, one question: can a post survive being opened and saved?

cmsastroaieditor Part 3

Nothing to log into

The whole security model was one line, and the two things it still didn't cover.

cmsastroaieditor Part 4

First real use

Ten commits, three plans, and the first post I tried to write in it was rejected.

cmsastroaieditor Part 5

Chromium passed every time

The first end-to-end spec found two defects, and one of them only one browser could see.

cmsastroaieditortesting Part 6

The browser you already have open

Four days after arguing the editor needed no lock, I put four on it.

cmsastrosecurityeditor Part 7

The most attractive wrong answer

Four days of work that changed nothing the editor does, and everything about using it.

cmsdesigneditorai Part 8

The error from day one

Two features, and most of the day spent on things that had been broken for weeks.

cmseditoraitesting