A timed-out POST may have committed. Retrying with a new identity can create duplicate work. I built a Quarkus checkout demo with HTTP idempotency: stored replay, concurrent 409s, CQRS context, and production limits. www.the-main-thread.com/p/quarkus-ht... #Quarkus #Java

AI makes more features possible. It does not mean the product team should own all of them. I wrote about a small owned core, stable contracts, and a replaceable edge for generated workflows and integrations. www.the-main-thread.com/p/ai-product... #SoftwareArchitecture

Open Liberty has good Maven docs. Its getting-started path is spread across several pages. I connected and tested it: dev mode, hot reload, live-server tests, a clean CI build, and a runnable JAR. www.the-main-thread.com/p/open-liber... #Java #OpenLiberty #Maven

I know Maven well, but had barely used Gradle. So I built a Quarkus service where a typed task generates metadata and becomes UP-TO-DATE on a rerun. The Java stays familiar; the build model changes. www.the-main-thread.com/p/quarkus-gr... #Java #Quarkus #Gradle

JDK 25 AOT caching cut my Quarkus sample's median readiness from 1022.4 ms to 380.3 ms. I wrote up the PostgreSQL + Podman build, strict cache checks, and the Gradle trap I hit. www.the-main-thread.com/p/quarkus-pr... #Java #Quarkus

AI dashboards show where to look: adoption, contribution, concentration, and cost. Then connect that data to review, deployment, rework, and incidents. My case for measuring AI cost per verified result: www.the-main-thread.com/p/measure-ai... #AIAgents #FinOps

100% uploaded only means the bytes arrived. This Quarkus demo adds a durable second clock for validation and import: PostgreSQL state, Scheduler work, SSE updates, reload recovery, and cancellation. www.the-main-thread.com/p/quarkus-lo... #Java #Quarkus

I revisited TOTP with Quarkus and Vault. This version turns one valid code into a two-minute step-up JWT, keeps TOTP out of the payout endpoint, and tests replay against Vault. www.the-main-thread.com/p/quarkus-va... #Java #Quarkus #Vault #TOTP

Skills are code-adjacent. Treat them that way. I wrote a hands-on walkthrough for using skillsaw with IBM Bob: build a tiny invoice skill, add a reference file, lint it, wire CI, and test behavior locally. www.the-main-thread.com/p/skillsaw-b...

Kafka Queues for Quarkus

Kafka Queues for Quarkus

Learn how to use Queues for Apache Kafka (KIP-932) with the Quarkus framework, including share group configuration, explicit message acknowledgment, and cooperative consumption from a single…

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OPA reads facts, not language. Built a Quarkus MCP server where tool access is policy — manifests, trust tiers, scopes, and caller identity decide what each client sees. Denied tools stay hidden. www.the-main-thread.com/p/opa-quarku...

Spec-driven development needs an exit strategy. Use a small brief for the intended change. After release, keep durable facts in code, schemas, tests, policies, and telemetry. Let the planning prose expire. www.the-main-thread.com/p/spec-drive... #AICoding

A hardened base is only useful if the final container keeps its promises. I used Quarkus, Jib, Java 25, and Red Hat Hummingbird, then tested the non-root user, direct entrypoint, missing shell, and both architectures. www.the-main-thread.com/p/quarkus-ji... #Quarkus #Java

510 daily posts taught me that agents help, but judgment still decides whether the work is worth publishing. I am keeping The Main Thread. I am changing the rhythm. www.the-main-thread.com/p/510-posts-... #Quarkus #Java #AIAgents

Quarkus breaks plain agent search fast. I indexed the platform tree with codebase-memory-mcp and ran the same @ConfigMapping trace in IBM Bob with grep and graph MCP. Both worked. Graph search cut file reads and context cost. www.the-main-thread.com/p/quarkus-co...

Why AI Coding Agents Still Need Clear Specs

Why AI Coding Agents Still Need Clear Specs

Learn why vague prompts create hidden rework, how acceptance criteria help, and when BDD-style tests are worth the upfront effort.

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Model scores are not enough for coding agents. I care whether the workflow keeps wrong turns small, recovers well, and leaves a diff humans can trust. This post uses a Promptfoo skill eval to show that behavior. www.the-main-thread.com/p/coding-age...

Agent demos are easy to fake. Wiring agents to real systems is harder. I validated Wanaku locally: one router, one HTTP toolset, one forwarded MCP server, one catalog. The routing model is real. Some local-mode paths still fail honestly. www.the-main-thread.com/p/wanaku-get...

AI agents can recreate the old rockstar problem: impressive code nobody else can own. This piece is about shared design, repo rules, small diffs, and review that checks whether generated code belongs. www.the-main-thread.com/p/ai-agents-...

Production incident hits and you need the nearest past failure. I built a Quarkus service that hashes Java incidents into vectors — no LLM — and searches Qdrant by failure shape with payload filters. New tutorial: www.the-main-thread.com/p/incident-v...

Introducing Podman v6.0.0

Introducing Podman v6.0.0

We’re thrilled to announce that Podman v6.0.0 is now available! This major release brings a host of significant improvements and new features designed to enhance your container management exp…

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tenantId in every service method gets old fast. The Quarkiverse Multitenancy extension resolves the tenant once per request and routes Hibernate to the right database. I tested headers, JWT, and a custom host resolver. www.the-main-thread.com/p/quarkus-mu...

Reliable agent systems do not make the LLM deterministic. They wrap its judgment with deterministic islands: parsers, schemas, tests, linters, CI gates, and approvals. The checks own truth. www.the-main-thread.com/p/determinis...

`quarkus-spdx` in practice: a hands-on Quarkus walkthrough for SPDX 3 JSON-LD, license relationships, and the NTIA/CISA gaps in generated output. www.the-main-thread.com/p/quarkus-sp...

Quarkus Flow 0.11 tutorial: a small refund service where Java policy decides, CloudEvent callbacks resume the right waiting instance, and persisted workflow state survives a restart. www.the-main-thread.com/p/quarkus-fl...

Quarkus Data Hibernate gives Quarkus a clearer database entry point. This tutorial builds a small catalog API with generated repositories, checked HQL, explicit stock updates, paging, validation, and tests. www.the-main-thread.com/p/quarkus-da...

Agent skills start to make sense when they stop being prompt snippets. I wrote about skills as workflow contracts: routing metadata, references, scripts, hooks, QA gates, approval points, and the developer tasks worth encoding first. www.the-main-thread.com/p/agent-skil...

Token advice often mixes up two jobs. Narrow the tool surface. Narrow the payload. Good. But if the remaining context still carries meaning, more compression can make coding agents worse. That is the frame in this piece. www.the-main-thread.com/p/token-mini...

I like using an agent for impact analysis before feature code, especially for delete flows. This piece shows Alex using IBM Bob on a Quarkus app to map the regression blast radius first. www.the-main-thread.com/p/regression... #Quarkus

Published post number 500 today. Might be time to celebrate a little and finally turn the cadence down a little more 🤣 it’s been 500 days of straight publishing. 🥳🎉