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flaviocopes.com

Learn to build software products, put them on the internet, find customers, and create an independent business that can make a great living.

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Category
Security & Privacy
Language
English
Paid-content signal
No paid content foundObserved
Registered
2012
Hosting
CloudflareInferred
HTTPS certificate trusted
PassedObserved
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Website review

This review may include AI-generated content and is not individually verified. Domain, certificate and other facts come from the observed data on this page.

What is Flavio Copes?

Flavio Copes is a developer-focused website and personal brand about building and shipping software products as an independent maker. Its tagline, "Build software. Make a living," frames the content around creating products, putting them online, finding customers and sustaining an independent business.

The site mixes three kinds of material:

  • Articles and guides on practical development topics, from voice AI agents with LiveKit to compiling JavaScript into a single executable, handling web requests in C with CGI, and fixing a full Ubuntu server disk.
  • Products the author builds and runs, listed as apps, CLI tools, websites and open source tools — for example Repo Foyer, Footage Ferry, Chip Pops, testvm, Sitebase, Calculum and tte.js.
  • Product news, short posts announcing new releases such as a Chrome extension for the GitHub home page or a Mac app for importing Blackmagic Camera videos.

Who it suits

It is most useful if you are a developer or solo founder who wants to see how one person turns ideas into working, published software. The posts often walk through a concrete build or fix, so they work as tutorials. The product list works as a catalogue of small, focused tools rather than a single large platform.

How to use it

Start with the latest posts if you want current technical walkthroughs, or browse the products section if you are looking for a specific tool or for examples of the kinds of products an independent developer ships. Decide by whether you want to learn a technique or find a tool; the site serves both, but they live in different sections.

How can I learn to build and launch my own software product?

Start by deciding what you want to learn: shipping one small product end to end, or building the wider habits of an independent software business. Flavio Copes is aimed at the second, broader goal — the site's own framing is "Build software. Make a living." — and its material mixes hands-on tutorials with notes from products the author actually builds and runs.

What the site offers

The homepage lists a large body of work: tutorials on current developer topics (voice AI agents with LiveKit, OpenCode, LangChain/LangGraph, compiling JavaScript into a single executable, packaging macOS apps) alongside a catalogue of apps, CLI tools, websites and open source projects. The "news from my products" section reads as a running build log — Chrome extensions, Mac apps, a sound-effects pack, an Apple TV game — each with a short post explaining what it is and why it was made.

That combination is the useful part. You get implementation detail from the tutorials and product decisions from the build notes, rather than only one or the other.

A practical path

  1. Pick one narrow tool you personally need. Small scope is what makes a first launch survivable.
  2. Follow a tutorial close to your stack, but build your own thing rather than copying it exactly.
  3. Read the build-log posts for the products closest to yours — a browser extension, a Mac utility, a small web tool — and note how each was scoped and described.
  4. Ship something usable, then write your own short post about what it does. The writing forces clarity about the audience.

Choosing your sources

If you want Look for
Deep technical tutorials Flavio Copes' post archive
Product and indie-business thinking His product catalogue and build notes
Structured, long-form courses Flavio Copes newsletters and guides
Broad reference across many languages MDN Web Docs
Launch communities and feedback Hacker News
Free structured curricula freeCodeCamp

One next step

Choose a single tutorial from the archive that matches a tool you could finish in a weekend, and commit to publishing it — even privately — before starting anything larger. The build notes on the site are most valuable read after you have attempted something, when their trade-offs match decisions you are actually facing.

What apps and tools has Flavio Copes built?

Flavio Copes builds and runs a portfolio of small, practical software products aimed at developers and independent business owners. His site groups them into apps, CLI tools, web services and open source projects, and the site claims 17 apps, 6 CLI tools, 6 websites and 4 open source tools so far.

Apps

These are mostly focused, single-purpose applications, many for macOS, Chrome or Apple TV.

  • Repo Foyer — a Chrome extension that puts your repos on the GitHub home page
  • Footage Ferry — a Mac app to import Blackmagic Camera videos
  • Chip Pops — a collection of 6,000 8-bit sound effects for apps
  • Couch Snake — the classic phone game rebuilt for Apple TV
  • Architecture Dissector — a Mac app that shows how an app is built
  • Slide Lookout — a Chrome extension that shows your next slide
  • VM Peek — a Mac app that shows what coding agents do in a test VM
  • Post Slide Deck — turns posts on X into slides for videos
  • Work Tracebook — a Mac app
  • Other listed apps include Ferry, Pops, Lookout, Releases Manager, Skill Cabinet, Tranquillity Maker and Note Repo

CLI tools

Command-line utilities for development and infrastructure work.

  • testvm — an open-sourced tool that lets coding agents test Mac apps in a VM
  • Cabinet
  • Broadcast
  • Keep
  • Plausible Automation Toolkit
  • Cloudflare Domains Toolkit
  • Port Pilot
  • Local Hoster

Web tools and open source

Small web services and open source libraries, including:

  • Sitebase — website backend
  • Waiting Lists — email collection
  • Vibecode It Yourself — subscription audit
  • Migrating to — migration guides
  • Disaster Lab — recovery playbooks
  • Calculum — calculator library
  • tte.js, Events Logger, Waiting Lists, fstack — open source tools

The pattern is worth noting: these are narrow tools that solve a specific annoyance, often for the same audience that reads his posts. If you want to see how one is built or whether it fits your workflow, browse the products page and start with the tool closest to a problem you already have.

What topics does the Flavio Copes newsletter cover?

The Flavio Copes newsletter is positioned as a companion to the site's broader theme: building and running software products as an independent developer or small business. Based on the site's own description, it's about learning to build software, put it on the internet, find customers, and create an independent business.

What the surrounding content suggests it covers

The site's latest posts and product news give a good picture of the recurring themes:

  • AI and agents in practice — building voice AI agents with LiveKit Agents in Node.js and TypeScript, using OpenCode, understanding "open weights," and working with LangChain/LangGraph.
  • Developer tooling and workflows — compiling JavaScript into a single executable, using coding agents like Claude Code, Codex and Cursor, and running coding agents inside a test VM.
  • Platform-specific building — creating an Apple TV app, installing your own apps on an iPhone with Xcode, and avoiding the "Open Anyway" message when building macOS apps.
  • Shipping and running products — the site lists 17 apps, 6 CLI tools, 6 websites and 4 open source tools, with notes on what was built and why. That product-log style is a strong hint at newsletter content: launches, tools, and lessons from running them.
  • Practical infrastructure — fixing a full Ubuntu server disk, handling web requests in C with CGI, and figuring out what a USB cable can actually do.

Who it's for

The intended reader is someone who wants to build software products and earn a living from them, rather than a general technology news audience. If you're a developer interested in the business side of shipping apps, tools and websites, the topics are aimed at you.

A useful next step

Read the most recent posts before subscribing. If the mix of AI agents, Mac/iOS/Apple TV development, indie product launches and server troubleshooting matches what you want to keep up with, the newsletter is likely a good fit. If you're looking for deep enterprise architecture or pure computer-science theory, the focus here is more hands-on and product-oriented.

For related independent-developer perspectives, you might also look at Indie Hackers or swyx.

How do I find customers for an independent software business?

The site is built around the premise that you can build software, put it online, find customers, and make an independent living — so the customer question is central rather than an afterthought. Its most concrete lesson is structural: the products page groups work into apps, CLI tools, websites, and open source tools, and each entry is paired with a short "I built X, here's what it does" note. That format doubles as a distribution habit: a steady stream of small, specific announcements about things you actually made.

Where customers usually come from for small software

  • Search and reference content. Long, specific how-to posts attract people at the moment they have the problem. A post about handling web requests in C with CGI or compiling JavaScript into a single executable reaches developers who will later need tools.
  • Owned lists. A newsletter turns readers into a reusable audience you can launch to repeatedly, instead of starting from zero each time.
  • Marketplaces and directories. Browser extensions, Mac apps, and Apple TV apps each have storefronts that supply discovery you don't have to manufacture.
  • Communities around a narrow tool. CLI and open source tools get passed around inside teams and forums, which is cheap reach but weak capture unless you connect it to something paid.
  • Existing customers. For a portfolio of many small products, repeat buyers across your own catalog often outperform cold acquisition.

Matching channel to product type

Product type Strongest early channel Main trade-off
Mac or Apple TV app Store listings plus demo videos Store rules and review delays
Browser extension GitHub home page and browser store Low willingness to pay alone
CLI or open source tool Developer communities, docs, word of mouth Reach without revenue unless paired with a paid tier
Web tool or service Search-friendly guides and a newsletter Slow to compound, needs consistency

A practical next step

Pick one product and write the single most specific page or post that answers the question a buyer would type before they need it — not a feature list. Then put one clear path from that page to the product, and reuse the same announcement text in your newsletter and wherever the product is listed. If you want to see how one developer sequences these small launches and notes, Flavio Copes is a useful model to study for format rather than for guaranteed results.

What are the latest posts and tutorials on Flavio Copes?

The most recent posts on Flavio Copes cluster around two themes: building AI agents and shipping small, practical software tools. Newer entries include a complete guide to LiveKit Agents (building and testing a voice AI agent in Node.js and TypeScript), a walkthrough of OpenCode, an explainer on what "open weights" means for AI models, and a deep dive into LangChain and LangGraph. Alongside those sit hands-on, systems-level pieces such as handling web requests in C with CGI, fixing a full Ubuntu server disk, and compiling JavaScript into a single executable.

A second strand covers Apple-platform development and day-to-day developer tooling: creating an Apple TV app, installing your own apps on an iPhone with Xcode, avoiding the macOS "Open Anyway" message, and using WhatCable to identify what a USB cable can actually do. There are also workflow posts on using Jev with Claude Code, Codex and Cursor.

What the mix tells you

The blog is less a single tutorial series and more a working log. Posts tend to be short, task-focused and tied to something the author is actively building or fixing, which makes them useful when you want a concrete procedure rather than a broad course.

If you want to… Start with
Add voice AI to an app LiveKit Agents guide
Understand AI model licensing The "open weights" explainer
Build agent workflows LangChain/LangGraph deep dive, Jev with Claude Code/Codex/Cursor
Ship on Apple platforms Apple TV app, iPhone/Xcode install, macOS build fixes
Fix a server problem Ubuntu full-disk recovery post

A practical next step

Pick the post closest to a problem you have this week and follow it end to end before reading the next one—these are written as reproducible walkthroughs, so the value comes from doing rather than skimming. If you're deciding where to begin, choose based on your platform: Node.js/TypeScript readers will get the most from the LiveKit and LangChain pieces, while Mac and iOS developers should start with the Apple-focused tutorials.

Related questions

More questions →
Cybersecurity Basics: What It Protects and How to Apply It to Your Website

Cybersecurity is the practice of keeping your data, accounts, and services from being accessed, stolen, altered, or knocked offline by someone who shouldn't have them. For a personal site or small online presence, that reduces to a short list of concrete jobs: protect your login credentials, keep your software current, serve traffic over HTTPS, and lock down the domain and DNS layer that everything else depends on. You don't need an enterprise security team to cover the basics — but you do need to treat your registrar account and your hosting account as the two most valuable things you own, because whoever controls those controls the site.

What cybersecurity actually protects

It helps to separate the assets from the threats, because most small-site incidents come from a handful of causes.

Asset What can go wrong Primary protection
Accounts (registrar, hosting, email, CMS admin) Credential theft, password reuse, session hijacking Unique passwords + multi-factor authentication (MFA)
Data in transit Eavesdropping, tampering, browser warnings HTTPS/TLS certificate
Software (CMS, plugins, themes) Malware, backdoors, defacement Timely updates, minimal plugins
Domain and DNS records Unauthorized transfer, DNS hijacking, spoofed email Registrar account protection, registrar lock, DNSSEC
Availability DDoS, resource exhaustion Hosting/CDN/WAF layer

The pattern: each asset has one or two controls that remove most of the risk. You don't need all of them on day one, but skipping the account and domain layers is the mistake that's hardest to undo.

The threat categories a small site actually faces

  • Credential theft — reused or weak passwords, or credentials leaked from another breached service. This is the most common way small sites fall.
  • Phishing — fake login pages or "your domain is expiring" emails designed to capture your registrar or hosting password.
  • Malware and backdoors — usually arriving through an outdated CMS, plugin, or theme.
  • DDoS — flooding a site until it's unreachable; often handled by your host or a CDN rather than by you.
  • Misconfiguration — an open admin panel, directory listing, or default credentials left in place.

Notice that four of the five are about access, not exotic exploits. That's why the basics work.

Core protections to apply first

Use strong, unique passwords and a password manager

Every account tied to your site — registrar, host, CMS, email — should have a different password. A password manager makes this practical. The goal is that one leaked password can't be replayed anywhere else.

Turn on multi-factor authentication

MFA is the single highest-value control for your registrar and hosting accounts. Even if a password is stolen, an attacker without the second factor can't log in. Prefer an authenticator app or hardware key over SMS where the service supports it.

Serve everything over HTTPS

An HTTPS/TLS certificate encrypts traffic between visitors and your site and prevents browser "not secure" warnings. Most hosts and registrars offer a free certificate; the important part is that it's installed and that HTTP redirects to HTTPS.

Update promptly and keep the surface small

Apply CMS, plugin, and theme updates as they're released, and delete anything you're not using. Fewer components means fewer places for a known vulnerability to sit unpatched.

Apply least privilege

Give each person (and each integration) only the access they need. Don't run your site day-to-day from an administrator account, and don't hand out admin rights for tasks that don't require them.

Secure the domain and DNS layer

This layer is easy to overlook and expensive to lose, because a hijacked domain can point anywhere.

  • Protect the registrar account with a unique password and MFA. Your registrar account is the root of control over the domain.
  • Enable the registrar lock (often called a transfer lock or clientTransferProhibited) so the domain can't be moved without your action.
  • Keep registrant contact email secure — that inbox is often the recovery path for the domain.
  • Enable DNSSEC where your registrar and DNS provider support it, so responses can be cryptographically validated and spoofing is harder.
  • Watch for unauthorized DNS changes — if records you didn't touch appear, treat it as a compromise.

Porkbun is an ICANN-accredited domain registrar, which means it operates under ICANN's registrar rules — relevant here because those rules govern transfers, locks, and registrant contact requirements. Its site lists Stripe among its payment platforms. Beyond that, check your specific registrar's and DNS provider's current feature set for lock and DNSSEC support, since availability varies.

Warning signs and first steps if something looks wrong

Watch for: unexpected DNS records, visitors reporting malware warnings, unexplained admin accounts, a sudden traffic drop, or emails about transfers you didn't request.

If you suspect a compromise:

  1. Change passwords on registrar, hosting, and CMS accounts, starting with the registrar.
  2. Revoke active sessions and reset MFA where possible.
  3. Check DNS records against what you expect and revert unauthorized changes.
  4. Restore from a known-good backup if files were altered.
  5. Re-scan and update the software before reopening the site.

Containment first, then recovery — don't try to clean a live, still-compromised site.

What to outsource vs. manage yourself

Decide based on Manage yourself Outsource
Site size Small static or low-traffic site Growing or high-traffic site
Risk tolerance Low-stakes personal project Anything handling user data or payments
Time You can patch and monitor regularly You can't commit to ongoing upkeep
Threats Basic credential and update hygiene DDoS, WAF, and 24/7 monitoring needs

Hosting-level security, CDN, and WAF are usually worth outsourcing because they require scale and constant attention. Account hygiene, MFA, updates, and domain/DNS protection are things you should keep in your own hands regardless of size — they're cheap to do and costly to skip.

Website Overview

An established domain and managed infrastructure suggest continuity of operations and may support dependable delivery, although neither guarantees service quality. Page metadata, canonical configuration and social previews work together to provide more consistent search and sharing presentation.

Domain and Registration

Registered in 2012, this domain has about 13 years of history. That suggests continuity, although ownership and purpose may have changed. Transfer-protection status is present, helping reduce the risk of unauthorized domain transfers. The registrar is Cloudflare, Inc., a widely used domain service provider. The domain uses the common .com extension, which is not an independent safety signal.

DNS and Email

Nameservers are provided by Cloudflare, indicating managed DNS hosting. MX records point to the Fastmail email service. No CNAME was found; the observed records resolve directly to addresses. SPF and DMARC are configured. DKIM status is unknown. TXT records include verification markers for Google. Such markers may also remain after a service stops being used.

TLS and Certificates

The public key uses EC with 256 bits. The server supplied a complete certificate chain. No organization name is present in the certificate; the available fields are consistent with domain validation. The certificate was issued within the Google Trust Services cloud or CDN ecosystem. The certificate's total validity is about 90 days, consistent with a short renewal cycle.

HTTP and Browser Security

The response lacks these common security headers: HSTS, CSP, Permissions-Policy, clickjacking protection. CORS permits any origin to read this response. This is common for public resources; sensitive responses need narrower handling. No X-Powered-By header was found, reducing one common source of backend fingerprinting information. The cf-ray response header indicates a CDN or caching proxy in the delivery path. No obvious internal addresses or debug information were found in the headers.

Technology Stack Analysis

The public page identifies Astro, Cloudflare without precise versions, leaving fewer clues for version-specific scanning.

Search and Social Sharing

The Generator tag identifies Astro, making the publishing system easier to fingerprint. Twitter Card metadata is configured. The title has 12 characters, within a common display range. A meta description is present, with 140 characters. The observed directives allow indexing and link following.

Hosting and Email
DNSCloudflare
HostingCloudflare
EmailFastmail
Approximate IP geolocation (inferred; a CDN or proxy may differ from the origin server) Location unknown Inferred 104.21.44.157

Registration details

RDAP / WHOIS

RegistrarCloudflare, Inc.
Registered2012-12-17
Expires2026-12-17
Domain statusclient transfer prohibited
Nameservershenrik.ns.cloudflare.com、maleah.ns.cloudflare.com
DNSSECunsigned

DNS records

DNS

TypeNameValueTTLPriority
Aflaviocopes.com104.21.44.157300—
Aflaviocopes.com172.67.201.42300—
AAAAflaviocopes.com2606:4700:3030::ac43:c92a300—
AAAAflaviocopes.com2606:4700:3033::6815:2c9d300—
MXflaviocopes.comin1-smtp.messagingengine.com30010
MXflaviocopes.comin2-smtp.messagingengine.com30020
NSflaviocopes.comhenrik.ns.cloudflare.com86400—
NSflaviocopes.commaleah.ns.cloudflare.com86400—
TXTflaviocopes.comgoogle-site-verification=BXdH-G2jnJMZ_7mqGBnzAeNkjxRYvAFA2jGj5IBbRPg300—
TXTflaviocopes.comv=spf1 include:spf.messagingengine.com ~all300—
DMARC_dmarc.flaviocopes.comv=DMARC1; p=quarantine;300—

TLS and certificates

TLS / SSL

AssessmentNormal configuration
Supported protocolsTLSv1.2、TLSv1.3
Negotiated protocolTLSv1.3
Certificate subjectflaviocopes.com
IssuerGoogle Trust Services
Valid until2026-11-15T15:33 · Remaining when checked: 31 days
Verification detailsCertificate trust: Passed · Hostname match: Passed

HTTP response headers

HTTP

HeaderValue
content-typetext/html; charset=utf-8
cache-controlpublic, max-age=0, must-revalidate
servercloudflare
x-content-type-optionsnosniff
referrer-policystrict-origin-when-cross-origin
access-control-allow-origin*

Identified technologies
AstroCloudflare

Pages, Search and Sharing
Meta descriptionLearn to build software products, put them on the internet, find customers, and create an independent business that can make a great living.
Canonical URLhttps://flaviocopes.com/
LanguageEnglish (default)
Twitter Cardsummary_large_image

Social Sharing Preview

15 fields

robots.txt (opens in a new tab)

15 rules
All bots 1 allowed · 1 disallowed
  • Allow/
  • Disallow/drafts/
gptbot 1 allowed · 0 disallowed
  • Allow/
oai-searchbot 1 allowed · 0 disallowed
  • Allow/
chatgpt-user 1 allowed · 0 disallowed
  • Allow/
claudebot 1 allowed · 0 disallowed
  • Allow/
claude-searchbot 1 allowed · 0 disallowed
  • Allow/
claude-user 1 allowed · 0 disallowed
  • Allow/
anthropic-ai 1 allowed · 0 disallowed
  • Allow/
perplexitybot 1 allowed · 0 disallowed
  • Allow/
perplexity-user 1 allowed · 0 disallowed
  • Allow/
google-extended 1 allowed · 0 disallowed
  • Allow/
applebot-extended 1 allowed · 0 disallowed
  • Allow/
meta-externalagent 1 allowed · 0 disallowed
  • Allow/
ccbot 1 allowed · 0 disallowed
  • Allow/

Sitemaps

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