1 minute read

TL;DR: Milestone 0 is complete. The rebuild now has a clean architecture, hosting strategy, and security baseline. Next step is building the actual application.

Project page: gregcurl.dev Rebuild

Context

I’m rebuilding my portfolio into a working consulting platform.

The goal isn’t a better-looking website — it’s a system that:

  • demonstrates real capability
  • captures leads
  • supports direct engagement
  • eventually enables payment

Before writing any application code, I focused on getting the foundation right.

What changed

Milestone 0 is now complete:

  • Established canonical repository (gacurl-web)
  • Defined hosting split (Vercel for frontend, DigitalOcean for systems like AssetTrack)
  • Documented DNS cutover strategy
  • Created environment variable contract (.env.example)
  • Implemented CI/CD and security baseline:
    • GitHub Actions pipeline
    • Dependency Review
    • CodeQL scanning

This means the project now has a stable, security-conscious starting point.

What I learned

The biggest lesson is that discipline early prevents rework later.

It’s tempting to jump straight into building pages, but that usually leads to:

  • unclear architecture
  • messy environment handling
  • security gaps
  • rework during deployment

By locking these decisions first, the rest of the build becomes much more straightforward.

Next

Milestone 1: Scaffold the Next.js application.

This will:

  • activate the CI pipeline with real builds
  • establish the development loop
  • create the first visible version of the platform

From here, the project shifts from planning → execution.

Updated: