About stackshapes.dev
Every platform has a shape. We’re here to map them.
StackShapes.dev is a publication about Internal Developer Platforms, developer experience, and the beautiful, messy, opinionated world of platform engineering in the real world.
This site exists because most platform blogs either read like product documentation in disguise, or try to retell transformation stories without showing the sharp edges. StackShapes is different.
We explore how real teams build platforms—warts, wisdom, and all.
What You’ll Find Here
This is a space for thoughtful breakdowns, opinionated commentary, and useful context. A few things you can expect:
The Shape of Your Stack
Our signature series: teardowns of real-world IDP stacks, exploring how platform teams shape developer experience through architecture, tools, and intent. Startups, enterprises, high-growth chaos, beautifully boring stability, we'll break down what works and what doesn’t.
Sharp Opinions, Soft Landings
We’re critical of fluff, not of people. There’s no “one stack to rule them all,” but we do believe there’s a better way to build for your context. We write about platform thinking, not just platform tooling.
Field Notes from the Friction
Every post comes from lived experience: onboarding gaps, golden path bloat, integration dead-ends, or the subtle pain of a pull request that almost worked. This is for people doing the work.
Platform Philosophy
We care about developer workflows. But we also care about governance, cognitive load, request queues, and how your platform makes people feel. Because the platform is the interface.
Who’s Behind This
StackShapes.dev is run by engineers and consultants who’ve built, sold, and supported platforms in the wild. We’ve worked in startups, global enterprises, and everywhere in between.
Sometimes we write anonymously. Sometimes we share stories directly from the field. Always, we aim to be honest, useful, and grounded.
Why “StackShapes”?
Because every platform has a shape.
It’s shaped by the tools you choose.
It’s shaped by your company’s constraints.
It’s shaped by who you’re building for and how much you listen to them.
We think those shapes are worth studying. Not to idolize. Not to copy. But to understand.
If you care about frictionless engineering, platform product thinking, or the real work of enabling developers at scale—you’re in the right place.
Have a platform story worth sharing?
Reach out. We might feature your stack in a future teardown.