Projects
Nginx Configuration Manager
This tool simplifies Nginx server block management with a UI that generates, validates, and previews configuration changes. It focuses on reducing configuration errors, providing guardrails, and accelerating safe deployments. The product direction emphasizes developer experience and reliability.
The problem this solves
Nginx configuration files are notoriously unforgiving — one syntax error can take down a server block silently. Developers writing these configs by hand frequently make mistakes that only surface at reload time. This tool generates valid Nginx config from a structured UI, validates it before export, and shows exactly what will be written to disk.
What it does
- Point-and-click server block builder with live preview
- Built-in config validation with error highlighting
- Support for reverse proxy, static site, and SSL termination patterns
- Exportable config files ready to drop into /etc/nginx
- Syntax-highlighted config output
- One-click templates for common deployment patterns
Hard parts and how I solved them
Nginx config syntax has edge cases that aren't obvious until you've spent time debugging prod servers. Building a generator that handles those correctly — while still being simple enough that a developer unfamiliar with Nginx can use it — required careful thought about what to expose in the UI and what to handle automatically. The live preview had to stay in sync with the form state in real time without getting sluggish on complex configs.
Tech stack
Outcome
A working config generator that reduces the time to write a valid Nginx server block from several minutes of documentation-digging to under 30 seconds. The validation catches the most common mistakes before they cause problems.
My role
Solo — product design, config generation logic, validation rules, and the entire Next.js frontend.