The latest articles on DEV Community by Hayden Carter (@wired_carter). https://dev.to/wired_carter https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=90,height=90,fit=cover,gravity=auto,format=auto/https:%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fuser%2Fprofile_image%2F4214144%2F82507161-9b85-42d8-add3-963747bbf04d.jpg https://dev.to/wired_carter en Hayden Carter Sun, 01 Nov 2026 15:10:24 +0000 https://dev.to/wired_carter/postgres-full-text-search-is-enough-for-most-side-projects-45gp https://dev.to/wired_carter/postgres-full-text-search-is-enough-for-most-side-projects-45gp <p>I keep reaching for a search service and then remembering Postgres already has one.</p> <p>A <code>tsvector</code> column, a GIN index, and a trigger to keep it current gets you:</p> <ul> <li>stemmed matches (search "deploying" finds "deploy")</li> <li>ranking with <code>ts_rank</code> </li> <li>phrase queries with <code>phraseto_tsquery</code> </li> <li>zero extra infrastructure</li> </ul> <p>The gotchas are worth knowing: configuration matters for language, weight classes let you boost titles, and you'll want a custom dictionary if your domain has product names that shouldn't be stemmed.</p> <p>Where it stops being enough: fuzzy matching on typos, per-field highlighting at scale, and multi-language relevance that changes with the query. That's when you move.</p> <p>Until then, the search box is 30 lines of SQL and a migration.</p> <p>What's the smallest thing that made you switch to a real search engine?</p> postgres sql search Hayden Carter Sun, 01 Nov 2026 15:04:55 +0000 https://dev.to/wired_carter/postgres-full-text-search-is-enough-for-most-side-projects-3k5b https://dev.to/wired_carter/postgres-full-text-search-is-enough-for-most-side-projects-3k5b <p>I keep reaching for a search service and then remembering Postgres already has one.</p> <p>A <code>tsvector</code> column, a GIN index, and a trigger to keep it current gets you:</p> <ul> <li>stemmed matches (search "deploying" finds "deploy")</li> <li>ranking with <code>ts_rank</code> </li> <li>phrase queries with <code>phraseto_tsquery</code> </li> <li>zero extra infrastructure</li> </ul> <p>The gotchas are worth knowing: configuration matters for language, weight classes let you boost titles, and you'll want a custom dictionary if your domain has product names that shouldn't be stemmed.</p> <p>Where it stops being enough: fuzzy matching on typos, per-field highlighting at scale, and multi-language relevance that changes with the query. That's when you move.</p> <p>Until then, the search box is 30 lines of SQL and a migration.</p> <p>What's the smallest thing that made you switch to a real search engine?</p> postgres sql search Hayden Carter Thu, 29 Oct 2026 02:33:57 +0000 https://dev.to/wired_carter/learning-to-say-no-to-side-projects-4f3m https://dev.to/wired_carter/learning-to-say-no-to-side-projects-4f3m <p>A friend pointed out that I start more projects than I finish, and the unfinished ones cost more than they give.</p> <p>I've started saying no to the ones without a clear finish line. It feels bad in the moment, then I look at the folder of half-done repos and feel fine.</p> <p>The ones I keep are small enough to ship in a weekend or interesting enough to hold me for a month. Everything in between is where the energy goes.</p> career productivity