How Apache DataFusion Runs SQL In-Process
Apache DataFusion is an embeddable query engine: SQL goes in, runs as columnar Arrow batches inside your own process, and results come out without a separate service.
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Visual explainers
Engineering ideas, drawn out
Visual introductions to the engineering concepts behind the tools we use.
How MaaS Governance Wraps a Model Endpoint on AKS
A model deployed on AKS is open by default. See how MaaS policies insert Authorino authentication and Limitador rate limits in front of vLLM, so bad keys and over-quota requests stop at the gate.
How to Run an Agent Loop That Actually Converges
A four-checkpoint how-to for agent loops: name a measurable job, bound the tool surface, refresh sandbox fixtures from real traffic, and verify at agent speed.
APAC Is Not One Region: The Regionalize vs. Standardize Tradeoff
APAC is a federation of markets, not a single deployment region. This diagram maps the tradeoff between local autonomy and one shared platform, and the conditions that decide it.
The AMR Surveillance Stack: From Raw Reads to Governed Answers
Antimicrobial resistance surveillance is a layered data architecture: raw reads and demand signals flow in, get normalized into governed tables, and answer plain-language queries. The diagram maps each boundary.
Where Amazon Bedrock Sits: A Layered Architecture for Grounded Agents
Amazon Bedrock is the managed reasoning tier in an agent architecture, not the whole system. This layered view shows the pipelines, governed tables, query layer, and guardrails around it.
Car Rental: A Search Layer, a Contract, and a Handover
A car rental is a search layer over many fleets plus a contract enforced at the counter. This explainer maps its four parts and why the advertised daily rate never equals the total cost.
How Caddy Serves a Static Site: The Request Flow
See how Caddy handles a request for a static site, from DNS resolution through container routing to file_server, and how TLS and redirects fit into the flow.
How BYOK Works: Your Key and Knowledge at Request Time
BYOK lets a system run on assets you supply — your model credential or your private knowledge — instead of the vendor's defaults. This walkthrough traces six steps from registration to an audited response.
BYOC in Five Checkpoints: Name, Split, Land, Govern, Operate
A five-checkpoint walkthrough of BYOC: name the control you need, split control and data planes, build the landing zone, govern data in place, then operate inside your own tenant.
Buy Now, Pay Later: Conversion Now, Settlement Risk Later
Buy Now, Pay Later is a deferred-settlement trade-off: merchants gain conversion while underwriting, fraud, and collections risk move elsewhere. This diagram maps the benefit, the cost, and the condition that decides.
Brand: Artifact vs Operating System
Compare two mental models for brand: a static artifact (logos, guidelines, centralized control) and a living operating system (values, APIs, support, trust). See which choices fit your engineering team.
Five Checkpoints to Bitwise-Deterministic Training Runs
A five-checkpoint workflow for making large-scale training runs bitwise reproducible: pick the guarantee, fingerprint the run, and trace divergence down to the kernel.
What an App Store Actually Is: A Contract, a Surface, and a Health Loop
An app store is a distribution surface, a versioned contract, and a health loop between a platform and its developers. Here is how those parts fit together and why each one fails loudly if ignored.
API Versioning as a Translation Layer
API versioning as an architecture: requests enter through a version header, pass through a chain of reversible version changes, and reach controllers that only ever see the latest model.
APRA CPS 230: Building an AI Stack You Can Swap Out
APRA's April 2026 letter flags single-provider concentration as a CPS 230 risk, so AI stacks need a rehearsed substitution path. This flow maps five stages, from workload classification to provider swap.
How to Give an Agent a Query Language Instead of a Code Interpreter
A four-step pattern for letting a document agent write validated aggregation pipelines instead of arbitrary code, so results come back shaped and tenancy stays enforced.
Accountability: Named Owner or Enforced Mechanism?
A side-by-side comparison of the two accountability models engineers actually rely on: a named human owner per outcome, and system-enforced traces, budgets, and isolation.
Anatomy of a Branded Call: The Trust Chain from Dial to Display
The Branded Calling trust chain, layer by layer: how identity, STIR/SHAKEN attestation, Rich Call Data, and carrier delivery combine so a verified brand name reaches the recipient's screen.
BIAN as a Contract Layer: Modernizing Core Banking One Domain at a Time
BIAN gives banks a shared vocabulary and service-domain contracts that sit between business concepts and the systems implementing them. See how domains, contracts, and governed access stack into one architecture.
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