Chris Shennan

Running PHPUnit Tests in PHPStorm with Docker: A Step-by-Step Guide Learn how to configure PHPStorm to run PHPUnit tests inside Docker using a remote interpreter. Step-by-step setup guide with Scaffold project examples.

This one has taken me a while - hopefully I've finally got all the steps correct.

Running PHPUnit Tests in PHPStorm with Docker: A Step-by-Step Guide - chrisshennan.com/blog/running...

#buildinpublic #phpunit #docker #phpstorm

... and the bits that do feel like an N+1 problem, those are just highlighting the next set of pain points that need a little more TLC to smooth them out. #buildinpublic

Since working on Scaffold, it hasn't felt like I'm drowning in all the todos from all my projects. Yes, I still have many todos (probably more than before), but as each feature and fix is completed, it feels more like a one-time fix instead of an N+1 problem... #buildinpublic

The initial blog functionality has been merged into Scaffold (github.com/chrisshennan...). Time to start porting chrisshennan.com 🎉 #buildinpublic

I am likely to change my mind by lunchtime so please take with a pinch of salt.

The downside of asking a question we're all asking ourselves. From the blog perspective I'm thinking of feature releases, how-to's, case studies on the brand side (keep to the facts), and on the personal side, the hints and tips, direction I'm going, why, influences etc (opinion)

and how do you decide what content gets posted on the product blog vs the personal blog? I'm assuming the posts on my personal blog would still resonate better with the audience than a brand post due to a greater sense of personal connection, but I'm sure there is a time and place for both

I think this question arises at multiple points. I have the same question from the perspective of blog articles i.e. I usually start with blogs via my personal blog (so the content still lives even if the project dies), but at what point do you create / post from the product blog...

Small wins today. Fixed a date time bug on noticeboards.info causing events to hide too early. A combination of a yesterday/today/tomorrow bug across a dateTimeFrom and dateTimeTo properties.

On the plus side, I now have a small test suite. #buildinpublic

That might be an interesting one to A/B test - a week or two liking my own posts vs a week or two where... (I don't want to say not-liking otherwise they wouldn't be posted in the first place 🤔)... you know what I mean!

Build With Chris Coding backend by day, chasing indie hacking dreams by night, and building fun projects like Build With Scaffold along the way. Join me for your front-row seat to personal projects, indie hacking, and...

Make sure to sign up and never miss another issue - newsletter.chrisshennan.com/subscribe

How I’m Using Scaffold to Build (and Rebuild) My Own Sites Build With Chris: Issue 7

Issue 7 is out - How I’m Using Scaffold to Build (and Rebuild) My Own Sites #buildinpublic #newsletter

newsletter.chrisshennan.com/p/how-i-m-us...

Chris Shennan's Newsletter Backend developer during the day and aspiring indie hacker by night.

Lost my entire evening battling Symfony, AssetMapper, Stimulus, and my pseudo-bundle to get Stimulus controllers inside the bundle instead of the main app, but in the end, I won! 🎉

Write-up coming soon — don’t miss it 👉 newsletter.chrisshennan.com #buildinpublic

I typically use Tailwind Plus (formerly TailwindUI), but my buildwithscaffold.com project is open-source and Tailwind Plus doesn't allow redistribution, which ruled it out here. Preline UI does allow redistribution provided you stick with the open-source components and don't include any pro ones.

IndieDevUse — Discover What Apps and Tools Indie Developers Use Explore the tools, apps, and workflows that successful indie developers use to build their products. Learn from real developers' tech stacks and productivity setups.

I wrote up how I added myself to indiedevuse.com using Docker (no local pnpm install needed). If you think it would be useful to others, feel free to lift the Dockerfile or ping me for a PR. chrisshennan.com/blog/adding-...

Done - PR submitted. I suspect I'll submit another one at some point to tweak the bio - I can never write one I like 🤦‍♂️

That's all Tailwind CSS and Preline UI. My involvement is almost entirely reduced to copy and paste, which is actually a good thing as I have no FE skills.

Snap! It must be the season

bsky.app/profile/chri...

Also, have you though about if/how you could use the "Tools and Technologies"? Tag-like pages come to mind i.e. click on Docker and then it shows indie's who make use of that particular tool. Potential for links to related resources etc.

I like this project, especially the open-source aspect i.e. not having to curate all the indie profiles yourself. Do you have any concerns about lots of incoming PR's i.e. you've built up a bunch of profiles and add new option, like multiple social media links? That could result in lots of updates

I've moved on to the public view of the blog pages. Still a few placeholder bits to swap out, but it's looking alright. Ported the content from chrisshennan.com/blog as a test, and I'm quite happy with it. I'll soon be able to port chrisshennan.com into buildwithscaffold.com #buildinpublic

I've been putting off adding the blog functionality to Scaffold for a while, but the documentation section on buildwithscaffold.com (WIP: buildwithscaffold.com/docs) ended up with most of the same fundamentals, so I've decided to bite the bullet. The admin section is already in. #buildinpublic

Fixing Docker‑Compose, PhpStorm & Xdebug: Lesson from a Port & Socket Mix‑up Ran into PhpStorm + Docker + Xdebug breaking after a port conflict and socket mismatch. Here’s how I debugged it and got tests running again.

#PhpStorm + #Docker + #Xdebug broke after a port conflict and socket mismatch. Debugged it, fixed it, wrote it up: chrisshennan.com/blog/fixing-...

Week 1 - Done and Dusted! - I wish I could say it had been easy 🥵 #couchto5k

No more accidentally committing temporary files. #git

docs.github.com/en/get-start...

So it's time to call it a day at 45?

Out of interest, which of those 4 gave you the biggest impact?

Maybe marketing isn't the point. For me it's more about networking - connecting with like-minded folks to help keep the motivation levels up. Indie hacking by yourself is hard - but a hi-five from a fellow community member can quickly turn a bad day around, or make a good day and awesome one.

My newsletter subscribe link -> newsletter.chrisshennan.com/subscribe

In case you want to sign up and motivate me to post more 👍

Issue #6: Scaffold, Noticeboards & Waitlists May 2025

I put out the latest issue of my newsletter this week - "Scaffold, Noticeboards & Waitlists" #buildinpublic newsletter.chrisshennan.com/p/issue-6-sc...