Secret Zero - An Obvious Solution

What is Secret Zero?

In the realm of IT and security, “secret zero” refers to the initial bootstrap credential (or credentials) required to bring up a new deployment from scratch. Secrets classified as ‘secret zero’ are essentially the master keys that unlock further access or enable required functionality for an application.

This foundational set of secrets bootstraps secure communication and access to sensitive data, but it creates a chicken-and-egg dilemma: how do you securely manage the very first secret without exposing it? While secrets management tools like HashiCorp Vault or AWS Secrets Manager have revolutionized how we handle credentials, APIs, and tokens, secret zero remains a stubborn vulnerability lurking at the core of many projects.

LLM Underdogs of 2025

LLM Underdogs of 2025

2025 has been a flurry of AI madness that has been hard to keep up with. I’ve been deep in learning and experimenting in the AI space and noticed that while everyone’s hyping up the latest GPT variant or Claude release, there are some genuinely impressive open-source models that feel like they just flew under the radar in 2025. These aren’t just “good for their size”, they’re legit excellent models that you can run locally, for free, and deserve more attention.

Terraform Custom Module MCP Server

I created an MCP server that streamlines access to custom Terraform modules that I’d like to share with the community. The project called terraform-ingest is a CLI, MCP, and API tool that can be used locally or with an AI agent to tap into your existing code base more effectively.

Create Terraform with AI and Github Copilot

Creating terraform or other infrastructure as code for a new project can be daunting for some. This shows how you can easily crank out a new deployment to meet your requirements using Github copilot prompt files and a few free MCP servers. For the heck of it, we will also convert between two totally different cloud providers to deploy the same infrastructure.

Some AI Development Lessons

I’ve got a tendency to take tools and frameworks in IT and immediately push them to their limits and beyond. Sadly, this often lands me into the trough of disillusionment quite quickly when exploring any new technology. On the flip side, it is through this process I often learn some great lessons. This article will cover lessons learned as it pertains to AI in an effort to help shortcut some of those that are starting to dive further into this incredible new world we are entering with AI.