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Claude Summarises the last 3 weeks of development

Dan Milne

• 3 min read

I asked Claude Code to gen-ai me a blog post:

Can you use Git or Gitea and generate a summary of what we've achieved in the last 3 weeks? Make it like a blog post?

I did edit this just a little, to remove irrelevant / non-production ready feature comments. It did seem to make some guesses in the 'What's Next' section.

Booko Development Blog: Three Weeks of Platform Modernization

The past three weeks have been a transformative period for Booko's technical infrastructure, marking significant advances in platform
modernization, Ruby upgrades, and data architecture improvements. Here's what we've accomplished:

Ruby 3.4.5 Upgrade

We've successfully upgraded to Ruby 3.4.5, bringing improved performance, security updates, and access to the latest language features.
This upgrade ensures Booko stays current with the latest Ruby ecosystem improvements and maintains optimal performance characteristics.

User Model Modernization with JSONB

A major architectural improvement has been the migration of the User model to leverage PostgreSQL's JSONB capabilities. We've introduced
two new JSONB columns:

  • user_preferences: Stores user configuration like rate limiting plans, history preferences, and bot flags
  • user_activity: Tracks user interactions and behavioral data with efficient timestamping

This migration includes GIN indexes for optimal JSON query performance and provides a foundation for more flexible user data storage
while maintaining backwards compatibility with existing serialised attributes.

Major Infrastructure Migration: From Solid Stack to Proven Technologies

We completed our migration away from Rails' experimental Solid suite to a proven production stack:

  • Sidekiq for background job processing, replacing SolidQueue
  • DragonflyDB/Redis for caching, replacing SolidCache
  • Redis-based ActionCable for WebSocket connections, replacing SolidCable

The application now uses Redis/DragonflyDB for caching, Sidekiq for job processing, and Redis for ActionCable connections. This migration involved removing the solid_queue and solid_cache gems and reconfiguring all services to use the more mature Redis ecosystem.

The new stack provides better monitoring capabilities with Sidekiq's web interface, more reliable job processing, and improved performance characteristics compared to the experimental Solid technologies.

MCP (Model Context Protocol) Integration

We've built a comprehensive MCP server exposing Booko's functionality to AI assistants:

  • Advanced book search with Meilisearch integration for semantic search capabilities
  • List management APIs for external automation and workflow integration
  • Product information retrieval with work aggregation and pricing data
  • Price alert automation enabling programmatic monitoring setup
  • JSON-RPC compliant interface with unlimited rate limits for system integrations

Enhanced API Rate Limiting

We've implemented a sophisticated rate limiting system tied to user plans:

  • Tiered rate limits based on user account types (free, paid, enterprise)
  • Per-second, per-hour, and per-day limits with automatic plan detection
  • API token management with enhanced monitoring and usage tracking
  • Future-ready billing integration supporting premium plan purchases

Email Infrastructure Improvements

  • Mailgun webhook integration for comprehensive email delivery tracking
  • Bounce and complaint handling with automated user state management
  • Security enhancements with proper webhook validation and rate limiting

SEO and Content Optimization

  • Sitemap generation overhaul using PostgreSQL cursors for memory efficiency
  • robots.txt optimization improving search engine crawling patterns
  • Ghost CMS synchronization tools for streamlined content workflows
  • Automated scheduling with enhanced logging and error handling

Code Quality and Platform Updates

  • StandardRB integration ensuring consistent Ruby code formatting
  • Comprehensive testing especially for new MCP and rate limiting features
  • Pundit authorization migration moving from custom auth patterns
  • Recaptcha removal simplifying user registration workflows

Background Job Architecture Enhancement

  • Complete Sidekiq migration from SolidQueue with improved monitoring
  • Job prioritization using established priority levels
  • Queue separation for different job types and processing requirements
  • Performance optimization with better concurrency management

What's Next?

With our modernized foundation in place, upcoming priorities include:

  • Completing the User model JSONB migration by deprecating legacy serialized fields
  • Expanding MCP capabilities for advanced book discovery and recommendation workflows
  • Performance optimization of the new Sidekiq + DragonflyDB infrastructure
  • Enhanced AI-powered features leveraging the improved data architecture
  • Further API enhancements supporting premium user tiers

These three weeks represent a significant leap forward in Booko's technical infrastructure. The combination of Ruby 3.4.5, JSONB data
modeling, proven background job processing, and AI integration capabilities positions Booko for scalable growth while maintaining the
reliability our users depend on for book price comparison and discovery.

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