Luke Oliff · Blog
Writing.
Original posts, published first on this site. Imported posts live in the archive.
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220 posts
2025
TIL: Mirroring Sites With wget Recursive ModeOriginalwget -r downloads an entire site recursively. Useful for offline reference copies of documentation when you are without internet.TIL
TIL: Structuring Monorepos With TypeScript Project ReferencesOriginalTypeScript project references let you split a codebase into composable packages. Each reference builds independently and incremental builds get faster.TIL
TIL: Speeding Up GitHub Operations With gh AliasesOriginalgh alias set maps custom shortcuts to any gh command. Common workflows become two-word commands instead of multi-flag incantations.TIL
TIL: Building JSON Payloads in Shell Scripts With jqOriginaljq constructs valid JSON from variables without string concatenation. No more broken payloads from missing quotes or unescaped characters.TIL
2024
TIL: Checking SSL Certificate Expiry With opensslOriginalopenssl connects to any TLS endpoint and prints the certificate details including expiry date. Automate cert monitoring in a cron job.TIL
An open letter on AIOriginalAI is a tool, a hammer. It's not good or bad; it's how we use it. On creativity, programming, and staying human through the next revolution.Open letter
TIL: Benchmarking Commands With hyperfineOriginalhyperfine runs a command multiple times and reports min, max, mean, and standard deviation. Compare tool performance with statistical confidence.TIL
An open letter on politicsOriginalWhy I judge people by their politics, and why staying neutral is a choice too. On democracy, media, and raising two kids in this world.Open letter
TIL: Visualising Directory Structures With treeOriginaltree prints a directory as a nested tree diagram. Perfect for documenting project layouts in READMEs or during onboarding walkthroughs.TIL
TIL: Interactive Staging With git add -pOriginalgit add -p shows each change hunk by hunk and asks whether to stage it. Commit only the relevant parts of a messy working tree.TIL