Thoughts on game development, security, privacy, and building softwarehttps://www.rhelmer.org/en-ushttps://www.rhelmer.org/blog/astro-turnstile-cloudflare-workers/https://www.rhelmer.org/blog/astro-turnstile-cloudflare-workers/How I added Cloudflare Turnstile to an Astro newsletter form and verified tokens in a Worker: keys, CI, deploy order, and DevTools noise.Sun, 16 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTRob Helmerhttps://www.rhelmer.org/blog/whiskers-magicor-wasm-mcp-playtesting/https://www.rhelmer.org/blog/whiskers-magicor-wasm-mcp-playtesting/Whiskers 2.5D platformer demo, ImGui editor, and JSON debug protocol. Magicor in Python WASM and a C++/Whiskers preview at magicor.org/2/.Mon, 18 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTRob Helmerhttps://www.rhelmer.org/blog/hermes-aws-lambda-serverless-agent/https://www.rhelmer.org/blog/hermes-aws-lambda-serverless-agent/Porting Hermes to AWS Lambda with DynamoDB chat history, S3 skills, EventBridge cron, and Telegram webhooks—the same agent loop without an always-on server.Sun, 17 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTRob Helmerhttps://www.rhelmer.org/blog/chat-with-your-analytics-attribution-mcp/https://www.rhelmer.org/blog/chat-with-your-analytics-attribution-mcp/How attribution-mcp evolved from a single Umami MCP server into a multi-platform analytics collection connecting to your LLM.Wed, 08 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTRob Helmerhttps://www.rhelmer.org/blog/lichen-symbiotic-ai-interface/https://www.rhelmer.org/blog/lichen-symbiotic-ai-interface/Building growlichen.com: a terminal-based AI interface that frames human-AI interaction as a symbiotic partnership.Tue, 07 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTRob Helmerhttps://www.rhelmer.org/blog/stellar-whiskers-encrypted-pii/https://www.rhelmer.org/blog/stellar-whiskers-encrypted-pii/How HPKE encryption protects user email addresses and personal data so the server can't read them even if compromised.Tue, 24 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMTRob Helmerhttps://www.rhelmer.org/blog/simplifying-ai-analytics-minimal-dependency-umami-reports/https://www.rhelmer.org/blog/simplifying-ai-analytics-minimal-dependency-umami-reports/How I stripped the Umami MCP LLM reporter to just 3 dependencies, added newsletter tracking, and fixed UTM reporting bugs.Sun, 22 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMTRob Helmerhttps://www.rhelmer.org/blog/stellar-whiskers-multiplayer-login-system/https://www.rhelmer.org/blog/stellar-whiskers-multiplayer-login-system/How HttpOnly cookies with CHIPS prevent XSS attacks and cross-site tracking while maintaining seamless authentication across subdomains.Tue, 17 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMTRob Helmerhttps://www.rhelmer.org/blog/stellar-whiskers-efficient-state-encoding/https://www.rhelmer.org/blog/stellar-whiskers-efficient-state-encoding/How bitboards and card bitsets compress game state to a fraction of JSON size for faster multiplayer sync and cloud saves.Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMTRob Helmerhttps://www.rhelmer.org/blog/formal-specs-agentic-playtesting/https://www.rhelmer.org/blog/formal-specs-agentic-playtesting/Augmenting CI/CD with continuous agency. Using formal specs to power autonomous AI agents and accelerated playtesting.Sat, 21 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMTRob Helmerhttps://www.rhelmer.org/blog/how-i-am-running-sites-in-2026/https://www.rhelmer.org/blog/how-i-am-running-sites-in-2026/Explore my 2026 agent-driven workflow, a shift from CI/CD. This post details using AI agents and formal specifications to build modern websites.Thu, 01 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMTRob Helmerhttps://www.rhelmer.org/blog/leaving-moco-again/https://www.rhelmer.org/blog/leaving-moco-again/A reflection on departing Mozilla for the second time, marking nearly 18 years of deep involvement with the mission.Fri, 21 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMTRob Helmerhttps://www.rhelmer.org/blog/building-whiskers-engine-cpp-game-engine/https://www.rhelmer.org/blog/building-whiskers-engine-cpp-game-engine/Built a C++ game engine with ECS architecture, OpenGL/Vulkan rendering, and cross-platform support. Should I have started with 'Hello World'? Absolutely not.Sat, 04 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMTRob Helmerhttps://www.rhelmer.org/blog/ai-powered-analytics-reports-using-mcp/https://www.rhelmer.org/blog/ai-powered-analytics-reports-using-mcp/Automate analytics reporting with AI using MCP Python SDK, Google Gemini, and Umami. Intelligent insights from your website data with natural language queries.Tue, 24 Jun 2025 00:00:00 GMTRob Helmerhttps://www.rhelmer.org/blog/privacy-analytics-without-cookie-banners/https://www.rhelmer.org/blog/privacy-analytics-without-cookie-banners/Explore cookieless analytics with Umami to ditch cookie banners while keeping useful insights. Privacy-first approach to GDPR compliance.Thu, 19 Jun 2025 00:00:00 GMTRob Helmerhttps://www.rhelmer.org/blog/automatic-event-tracking-with-umami-kit/https://www.rhelmer.org/blog/automatic-event-tracking-with-umami-kit/Umami Kit is a drop-in enhancement for Umami Analytics. Scroll depth, time-on-page, visibility, and click tracking—no cookies, configurable, and privacy-first.Sat, 07 Jun 2025 00:00:00 GMTRob Helmerhttps://www.rhelmer.org/blog/rewriting-17-year-old-breakout-game/https://www.rhelmer.org/blog/rewriting-17-year-old-breakout-game/A post about rewriting my 17-year-old Breakout! clone, now named Meteor Bounce hosted by Stellar Whiskers GamesThu, 13 Feb 2025 00:00:00 GMTRob Helmerhttps://www.rhelmer.org/blog/game-dev-c-sdl-vs-godot-vs-web/https://www.rhelmer.org/blog/game-dev-c-sdl-vs-godot-vs-web/A post comparing and contrasting game development using C and SDL, Godot, and a pure web approach, from a cross-platform perspective.Mon, 20 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMTRob Helmerhttps://www.rhelmer.org/blog/browser-extension-popular-frameworks/https://www.rhelmer.org/blog/browser-extension-popular-frameworks/Step-by-step guide to creating a web extension in React, Astro, Svelte, and Angular for Firefox, Chrome, Edge, Brave, Vivaldi, and Safari.Fri, 10 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMTRob Helmerhttps://www.rhelmer.org/blog/observability-in-godot-web-games-with-highlight-io/https://www.rhelmer.org/blog/observability-in-godot-web-games-with-highlight-io/Learn how to enable observability for Godot Web games for errors and session record/replay with highlight.io to see how people play your gameFri, 10 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMTRob Helmerhttps://www.rhelmer.org/blog/how-i-am-running-sites-in-2025/https://www.rhelmer.org/blog/how-i-am-running-sites-in-2025/Discover my modern approach to hosting and optimizing websites for performance, reliability, and efficiency using Astro, Azure and CloudFlare.Wed, 01 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMTRob Helmerhttps://www.rhelmer.org/blog/vectiv-and-the-browser-monoculture/https://www.rhelmer.org/blog/vectiv-and-the-browser-monoculture/The Importance of Browser Engine Diversity: A Lesson from Vectiv and my experience with the IE browser monopoly, guest-starring AppleSat, 15 Jun 2019 00:00:00 GMTRob Helmerhttps://www.rhelmer.org/blog/new-addon-manager-owner/https://www.rhelmer.org/blog/new-addon-manager-owner/Announcing a New Owner for the Add-ons Manager in Firefox, the component that manages extensions and themes. Links to more information about WebExtensions.Wed, 15 Nov 2017 00:00:00 GMTRob Helmerhttps://www.rhelmer.org/blog/about-addons-react/https://www.rhelmer.org/blog/about-addons-react/Exploring a React version of Firefox's about:addons as a proof-of-concept to replace XBL and XUL, with an emphasis on reusable components and state management.Wed, 30 Nov 2016 00:00:00 GMTRob Helmerhttps://www.rhelmer.org/blog/toy-add-on-manager-in-rust/https://www.rhelmer.org/blog/toy-add-on-manager-in-rust/Experimenting with a toy version of Firefox's Add-on Manager in Rust, exploring its core components and comparing Rust's features like enums and match.Wed, 30 Nov 2016 00:00:00 GMTRob Helmerhttps://www.rhelmer.org/blog/better-source-code-browsing-with-freebsd-and-mozilla-dxr/https://www.rhelmer.org/blog/better-source-code-browsing-with-freebsd-and-mozilla-dxr/Implementing DXR, Mozilla's static analysis and code browsing tool, to improve source code comprehension and navigation within FreeBSD's complex codebase.Fri, 28 Nov 2014 00:00:00 GMTRob Helmerhttps://www.rhelmer.org/blog/deploying-socorro-quickly/https://www.rhelmer.org/blog/deploying-socorro-quickly/Quickly deploying Socorro, the powerful software behind Mozilla's crash-stats service, with this straightforward guide.Sat, 21 Jun 2014 00:00:00 GMTRob Helmerhttps://www.rhelmer.org/blog/etherpad-2013-meetup-videos-on-air-mozilla/https://www.rhelmer.org/blog/etherpad-2013-meetup-videos-on-air-mozilla/A post about migrating Mozilla's Etherpad install from the original Etherpad to Etherpad Lite. It includes a YouTube video series from the 2013 Etherpad meetup.Thu, 18 Apr 2013 00:00:00 GMTRob Helmerhttps://www.rhelmer.org/blog/capture-and-replay-http-post-using-tcpdump/https://www.rhelmer.org/blog/capture-and-replay-http-post-using-tcpdump/A tutorial on how to capture and replay HTTP POST requests using tcpdump, a case study for testing changes in a Mozilla crash-stats service.Sat, 08 Dec 2012 00:00:00 GMTRob Helmerhttps://www.rhelmer.org/blog/webkit-using-perf-o-matic-2x/https://www.rhelmer.org/blog/webkit-using-perf-o-matic-2x/The WebKit project adopts Mozilla's graph server, leveraging shared tools to enhance performance tracking and foster collaboration in open web development.Thu, 01 Mar 2012 00:00:00 GMTRob Helmerhttps://www.rhelmer.org/blog/hacking-on-graphs-2-0-is-fun-and-easy/https://www.rhelmer.org/blog/hacking-on-graphs-2-0-is-fun-and-easy/Guide on contributing to and using perf-o-matic 2.0, with setup instructions and how to add features, fix bugs, or use your own data.Tue, 24 May 2011 00:00:00 GMTRob Helmerhttps://www.rhelmer.org/blog/production-graphs-2-0-server-ready-for-use/https://www.rhelmer.org/blog/production-graphs-2-0-server-ready-for-use/Announcing the launch of version 2.0 of the graphs.mozilla.org platform, with real-time access to production data.Tue, 24 May 2011 00:00:00 GMTRob Helmerhttps://www.rhelmer.org/blog/socorro-development-vms-available/https://www.rhelmer.org/blog/socorro-development-vms-available/Sharing a Vagrant virtual machine config for Socorro development, automating setup with Puppet, thoughts on continuous integration for publishing VM appliances.Wed, 18 May 2011 00:00:00 GMTRob Helmerhttps://www.rhelmer.org/blog/perf-o-matic-2-0-news/https://www.rhelmer.org/blog/perf-o-matic-2-0-news/Announcement and updates about the new perf-o-matic 2.0 interface. Progress on replacing the existing Mozilla Graphserver UI.Thu, 24 Mar 2011 00:00:00 GMTRob Helmerhttps://www.rhelmer.org/blog/gzip-encoding-on-tinderbox-stage-needs-testing/https://www.rhelmer.org/blog/gzip-encoding-on-tinderbox-stage-needs-testing/Testing gzip encoding on Tinderbox-stage to boost loading speeds. Share your feedback and help refine this performance improvement!Tue, 29 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMTRob Helmerhttps://www.rhelmer.org/blog/canvas-love/https://www.rhelmer.org/blog/canvas-love/Exploring the HTML5 canvas and its use in web development, including discussions about excanvas for IE support and comparisons with SVG.Thu, 19 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMTRob Helmerhttps://www.rhelmer.org/blog/87/https://www.rhelmer.org/blog/87/Journey from Tinderbox CI/CD to modern continuous integration practices, exploring how Momentum enhances deployment workflows and development automation.Sun, 15 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMTRob Helmerhttps://www.rhelmer.org/blog/i-accidentally-the-whole-mememe/https://www.rhelmer.org/blog/i-accidentally-the-whole-mememe/A meme challenge where participants share an unedited picture of themselves, following simple instructions to capture an authentic, unfiltered moment.Fri, 19 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMTRob Helmerhttps://www.rhelmer.org/blog/making-updates-easier/https://www.rhelmer.org/blog/making-updates-easier/A discussion on simplifying and improving the process of configuring and serving updates for Mozilla-based applicationsWed, 30 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMTRob Helmerhttps://www.rhelmer.org/blog/releases-on-tap/https://www.rhelmer.org/blog/releases-on-tap/Streamlining Software Releases with Automation. Discussions on Mozilla and Firefox's unique challenges when it comes to release engineering.Fri, 11 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMTRob Helmerhttps://www.rhelmer.org/blog/opensuse-build-service/https://www.rhelmer.org/blog/opensuse-build-service/Exploring openSUSE Build Service: A Cross-Distro Packaging Solution. Ideas about cloud computing build and release services.Wed, 09 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMTRob Helmerhttps://www.rhelmer.org/blog/os-as-platform/https://www.rhelmer.org/blog/os-as-platform/Rethinking OS Vendors: A Platform-First Approach. Should OS vendors be competing with application developers, or providing essential services?Tue, 08 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMTRob Helmerhttps://www.rhelmer.org/blog/learning-strategies/https://www.rhelmer.org/blog/learning-strategies/Insights on math and algorithm learning strategies, exploring breadth-first learning, analysis, and blending music, programming, and physics.Tue, 08 Apr 2008 00:00:00 GMTRob Helmerhttps://www.rhelmer.org/blog/on-moving-to-buildbot-for-reals/https://www.rhelmer.org/blog/on-moving-to-buildbot-for-reals/Transitioning Mozilla to Buildbot for Continuous Integration, moving fully away from the venerable Mozilla Tinderbox CITue, 08 Apr 2008 00:00:00 GMTRob Helmerhttps://www.rhelmer.org/blog/leaving-moco/https://www.rhelmer.org/blog/leaving-moco/Announcing departure from Mozilla Corporation after an incredible experience and transition to CustomWeather, Inc.Wed, 02 Apr 2008 00:00:00 GMTRob Helmerhttps://www.rhelmer.org/blog/breakout/https://www.rhelmer.org/blog/breakout/Building a basic Breakout clone with JavaScript and HTML5 Canvas, a fun project to practice coding and create a classic game.Wed, 19 Mar 2008 00:00:00 GMTRob Helmerhttps://www.rhelmer.org/blog/moving-18-nightlies-to-release-machines-march-5-2008/https://www.rhelmer.org/blog/moving-18-nightlies-to-release-machines-march-5-2008/Announcement about migrating nightly production to release machines for the 1.8 branch for Firefox releases, with a list of impacted machinesTue, 04 Mar 2008 00:00:00 GMTRob Helmerhttps://www.rhelmer.org/blog/moving-nightly-mozilla18-firefox-to-release-automation-system/https://www.rhelmer.org/blog/moving-nightly-mozilla18-firefox-to-release-automation-system/Streamlining Mozilla 1.8 Nightly Builds with Release Automation, with links to bugzilla and more information. Tinderbox still in use, with help from BuildBot.Fri, 15 Feb 2008 00:00:00 GMTRob Helmerhttps://www.rhelmer.org/blog/volunteering/https://www.rhelmer.org/blog/volunteering/Volunteers bring passion and purpose, not just labor. Empower them to contribute their best, whether in politics or open-source projects.Tue, 22 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMTRob Helmerhttps://www.rhelmer.org/blog/tinderboxjsonapi-01/https://www.rhelmer.org/blog/tinderboxjsonapi-01/Launch of the Tinderbox JSON API (tinderboxJsonApi 0.1), a simpler and more accessible way to interact with Tinderbox data.Thu, 17 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMTRob Helmerhttps://www.rhelmer.org/blog/summarizing-build-on-checkin-feedback/https://www.rhelmer.org/blog/summarizing-build-on-checkin-feedback/Addressing concerns regarding build-on-checkin automation. Contrasting the trade-offs for the current and proposed systems.Thu, 10 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMTRob Helmerhttps://www.rhelmer.org/blog/perf-impact-on-nightly-release-automation-move/https://www.rhelmer.org/blog/perf-impact-on-nightly-release-automation-move/Improving Firefox Build and Performance Testing. Discussions on continuous integration and building only as needed.Sat, 29 Dec 2007 00:00:00 GMTRob Helmerhttps://www.rhelmer.org/blog/tinderbox-to-buildbot-moz18-branch/https://www.rhelmer.org/blog/tinderbox-to-buildbot-moz18-branch/Setting up release automation for the Mozilla 1.8 branch using Buildbot to generate nightly and dependent buildsWed, 19 Dec 2007 00:00:00 GMTRob Helmerhttps://www.rhelmer.org/blog/tinderbox-to-buildbot-step-1/https://www.rhelmer.org/blog/tinderbox-to-buildbot-step-1/Migrating from Tinderbox to Buildbot for Mozilla automation, improving cycle times, centralized management, and closer alignment between nightly and release.Thu, 06 Dec 2007 00:00:00 GMTRob Helmerhttps://www.rhelmer.org/blog/migrating-tinderbox-to-buildbot/https://www.rhelmer.org/blog/migrating-tinderbox-to-buildbot/Transitioning Firefox Nightly Builds to a new release automation CI/CD system based on Buildbot instead of Mozilla's venerably TinderboxSun, 25 Nov 2007 00:00:00 GMTRob Helmerhttps://www.rhelmer.org/blog/tinderbox-json-now-with-100-more-ajax/https://www.rhelmer.org/blog/tinderbox-json-now-with-100-more-ajax/Introduction of a more AJAX-driven Tinderbox waterfall, using the new Tinderbox JSON output mode. The post discusses performance improvements.Sun, 02 Sep 2007 00:00:00 GMTRob Helmerhttps://www.rhelmer.org/blog/towards-human-free-releases/https://www.rhelmer.org/blog/towards-human-free-releases/Progress towards hands-off releases for Firefox with Buildbot-enabled release automation, aimed at improving the speed and efficiency.Sun, 02 Sep 2007 00:00:00 GMTRob Helmerhttps://www.rhelmer.org/blog/tinderbox-json-output/https://www.rhelmer.org/blog/tinderbox-json-output/Tinderbox JSON Output Update, and a call for testing. Discussion into current UI techniques and using Mozilla Tinderbox as a backend.Wed, 29 Aug 2007 00:00:00 GMTRob Helmerhttps://www.rhelmer.org/blog/pretty-pictures/https://www.rhelmer.org/blog/pretty-pictures/A short update with release process diagrams: the classic whiteboard view plus a fancier step-by-step breakdown of Mozilla release automation.Fri, 25 May 2007 00:00:00 GMTRob Helmerhttps://www.rhelmer.org/blog/bootstraps-pulling-oneself-up-by-ones/https://www.rhelmer.org/blog/bootstraps-pulling-oneself-up-by-ones/Explore how Bootstrap automation scripts enhance release quality and ensure consistency for streamlined development workflows.Sun, 20 May 2007 00:00:00 GMTRob Helmerhttps://www.rhelmer.org/blog/buildbot-try-support/https://www.rhelmer.org/blog/buildbot-try-support/Exploring Buildbot integration for Mozilla, including the creation of a custom Buildbot 'try' server for one-off builds.Sat, 10 Feb 2007 00:00:00 GMTRob Helmerhttps://www.rhelmer.org/blog/the-automaton/https://www.rhelmer.org/blog/the-automaton/Automating the release process for Firefox and Thunderbird with a custom workflow, using tools like Buildbot, SVK, and Subversion.Wed, 01 Nov 2006 00:00:00 GMTRob Helmerhttps://www.rhelmer.org/blog/vacation-state-of-release-automation/https://www.rhelmer.org/blog/vacation-state-of-release-automation/An update on the progress of release automation at Mozilla, discussing the completed steps, challenges faced in automation and verification.Sat, 14 Oct 2006 00:00:00 GMTRob Helmerhttps://www.rhelmer.org/blog/happenings/https://www.rhelmer.org/blog/happenings/A weekly update on release automation progress at Mozilla, early staging and Buildbot work, plus lessons from using SVK for patch workflows.Fri, 06 Oct 2006 00:00:00 GMTRob Helmerhttps://www.rhelmer.org/blog/automation-buildbot-svk/https://www.rhelmer.org/blog/automation-buildbot-svk/Implementing release automation for Mozilla using Buildbot, exploring distributed development workflows and version control optimization with SVK and CVS.Fri, 29 Sep 2006 00:00:00 GMTRob Helmer