Starting a new project is always a mix of excitement and tough decisions, especially when you're stitching together familiar tools like Google Docs with powerhouses like GitHub Pages. This is the story of building gdocweb, a tool that I hoped would make life easier for many. I'll be diving into why I chose Java 21 and Spring Boot 3.x, ditched GraalVM after some trial and error, and why a simple VPS with Docker Compose won out over more complex options. I also went with Postgres and JPA, but steered clear of migration tools like Flyway. It's a no-frills, honest recount of the choices, changes, and the occasional "aha" moments of an engineer trying to make something useful and efficient.
Introducing gdocweb
Before we dive into the technical intricacies and the decision-making labyrinth of building gdocweb, let's set the stage by understanding what gdocweb is and the problem it solves. In simple terms, gdocweb connects Google Docs to GitHub Pages. It's a simple web builder that generates free sites with all the raw power of GitHub behind it, and all the usability of Google Docs.