I'm Evi Gruber, and cloudapp.dev is where I write up the things I actually build — full-stack web work and, increasingly, the smart-home automation running in my own house. No fluff, no reposted press releases: every guide here comes from a real project, with runnable code you can copy.
What you'll find here
Two threads run through the blog:
Modern web development — Next.js 14 (App Router, i18n, SEO, infinite scroll), headless CMS architecture, Azure (SaaS setups, AD B2C authentication, AI Search), Prisma + Postgres, on-site search, and analytics you host yourself.
Home Assistant & smart home — drawn straight from my own setup: pulling a Huawei solar inverter over Modbus, self-consumption and autarky sensors, KNX automations, alarm integrations, and PV-surplus hot water.
Everything is written as a step-by-step how-to, in English and German.
How I approach it
Three principles I don't compromise on:
Free services only. Every tutorial is built so you can follow it without paying for anything — free tiers, open source, self-hosting.
Real, not theoretical. If a guide is on this site, I shipped it. The code is from production projects, including this blog.
Own your stack. I lean toward self-hosting and owning your data over renting black boxes.
This site practices what it preaches
cloudapp.dev isn't a tutorial site running on someone else's platform — I build and host it myself. It's a Next.js app backed by a self-hosted headless CMS, with its own search and analytics. Several of the articles here document decisions I made on this exact codebase.
Where to start
New here? Browse the topics in the tag cloud, search for a specific tool or framework, or dive into the Home Assistant series if smart-home automation is your thing. Everything is free to read and free to build.
Happy coding ❤️