Blog
Practical guides to understanding, writing and fixing real-world JSON configuration files.
S3 Bucket Policy Explained, With Examples
What an S3 bucket policy is, how it differs from an IAM policy, and a field-by-field walkthrough of Principal, Action, Resource and Condition — with copy-paste examples.
Generating an S3 Bucket Policy from Plain English
Skip the blank page and the AWS Policy Generator UI: describe the access you want in plain English, generate the S3 bucket policy JSON, then verify the Principal, ARNs and conditions.
S3 Bucket Policy vs IAM Policy: Which One Do You Need?
Bucket policies and IAM policies both grant S3 access but attach to different things and evaluate differently. When to use each, how they combine, and why a Deny in either one wins.
S3 Bucket Policies for Static Websites and CloudFront
Two common S3 bucket policies compared: direct public read for a static website endpoint, and the modern CloudFront + OAC pattern that keeps the bucket private.
S3 Select Is Deprecated — Here's How to Query Your JSON Instead
AWS is phasing out S3 Select. If you ran SQL over JSON or CSV objects in a bucket, here are the modern alternatives — Athena, S3 Object Lambda, and client-side querying — and how to pick.
Deploying a Linux VM with an ARM Template
How the pieces of an ARM VM deployment fit together — virtual network, subnet, public IP, network interface and the VM — and why the resources depend on each other in that order.
The Azure Functions host.json Guide
What host.json controls across a whole Functions app — Application Insights sampling, HTTP routing and concurrency, function timeout and retry — and the settings that matter most in production.
Managing App Service Settings as JSON
The bulk-edit JSON format for Azure App Service application settings — what name/value/slotSetting means, when to pin a value to a slot, and how to keep secrets out with Key Vault references.
The staticwebapp.config.json Guide
How staticwebapp.config.json controls routing, role-based authorization, SPA fallback and response overrides for Azure Static Web Apps — the settings that make client-side routing and protected sections work.
The devcontainer.json Guide
What each block of a devcontainer.json does — image vs build, features, forwardPorts, customizations and postCreateCommand — and how the same file powers both GitHub Codespaces and local VS Code Dev Containers.
The .mcp.json Guide
How .mcp.json wires Model Context Protocol servers into Claude Code, Cursor and Windsurf — stdio vs remote servers, passing secrets via environment variables, and scoping access safely.
Configuring Claude Code with settings.json
How .claude/settings.json shapes the agent — permission allow/deny/ask rules, lifecycle hooks, environment variables and model overrides — and why deny always wins.
The Continue.dev config.json Guide
How config.json sets up the Continue.dev assistant — chat models vs the tab-autocomplete model, the embeddings provider behind @codebase, context providers and custom slash commands.
The VS Code launch.json Guide
How launch.json drives the VS Code debugger — launch vs attach requests, useful variables like ${workspaceFolder}, preLaunchTask wiring, and compounds for full-stack debugging.
The VS Code tasks.json Guide
How tasks.json turns shell commands into first-class VS Code actions — the default build task, background watch tasks with problem matchers, and chaining with dependsOn.
What Is an AWS IAM Policy?
A plain-English introduction to AWS IAM policies: what they are, the JSON they are written in, and how AWS evaluates them.
IAM Policy JSON Explained, Field by Field
A field-by-field walkthrough of the IAM policy JSON structure: Version, Statement, Sid, Effect, Action, Resource, Principal and Condition.
Least-Privilege IAM: A Practical Guide
How to design IAM policies that grant the minimum access needed — scoping actions, resources and conditions instead of reaching for wildcards.
Common IAM Policy Mistakes (and How to Fix Them)
The IAM mistakes that bite everyone: wildcard actions, missing bucket ARNs, confused deputy conditions, and forgetting that Deny always wins.
Generating IAM Policies from Plain English
How to go from "let this service read one S3 bucket" to a correct, least-privilege IAM policy JSON — and how to verify what you generated.
How AI Helps You Build Safer IAM Policies
AI is most useful for IAM not as a generator but as an explainer and reviewer — narrating what a policy does and catching over-broad grants before they ship.
OpenAPI JSON Explained
Understand the shape of an OpenAPI 3.1 document — info, servers, paths, operations and reusable components — and how it drives docs and codegen.
The Docker daemon.json Guide
What goes in /etc/docker/daemon.json, the options that matter most in production — log rotation, storage driver, live-restore — and how to apply changes safely.
Setting Thinking / Reasoning Config Across LLM Providers
How to configure reasoning effort and thinking budgets for Anthropic Claude, OpenAI, and Google Gemini — and why the same provider needs different config for different models.