Archaeologist·Blog Dispatch — The Fly Blog
Vol. I · Field Notes

FlyThe Fly Blog

The Fly Blog is the engineering blog of Fly.io, a cloud platform that runs applications close to users on the edge. It's written by their engineers and covers everything from deploying apps to building AI agents. If you're curious about modern cloud infrastructure or want to see how a startup thinks about distributed systems, this is a great read.

9 May 2026·40 posts·8 clusters
Reading Posture
From the Field
Building and running distributed apps on Fly.io's edge cloud.
Verdict:Reach for it
Reach for it when

Read this when you want to understand practical edge deployment, SQLite at scale, or integrating AI with cloud infrastructure.

Look elsewhere when

Skip it if you need generic cloud tutorials or vendor-agnostic deep dives.

In context

Compared to the AWS Architecture Blog, this one is more opinionated, startup-focused, and deeply tied to Fly.io's own platform.

Complexity●●Medium
Read time~480 minutes
Language
Blog
Runtime
web
Dependencies
0total

What this is

As told for the tourist

The Fly Blog is the engineering blog of Fly.io, a cloud platform that runs applications close to users on the edge. It's written by their engineers and covers everything from deploying apps to building AI agents. If you're curious about modern cloud infrastructure or want to see how a startup thinks about distributed systems, this is a great read.

Start Here

A recommended reading path through the code

Start Here

A recommended reading path through the code

  1. 01

    Start here because it introduces Fly.io's flagship open-source project and the core concept of SQLite at scale.

  2. 02

    A foundational post on their networking architecture, essential for understanding their edge platform.

  3. 03

    Shows the practical deployment patterns that define the platform's value proposition.

  4. 04

    A transparent look at how they handle failures, revealing their operational philosophy.

  5. 05

    Covers their AI infrastructure strategy, a key differentiator in 2024-2025.

  6. 06

    A cutting-edge post on AI agents and model context protocol, showing their forward-looking engineering.

  7. 07

    A deep architectural debate that ties together many themes—distributed systems, trade-offs, and pragmatism.

What's inside

8 sections of the codebase

Posting History

Activity over time

Posting Activity40 posts · 2024-022026-03
2024
10 posts
2025
26 posts
2026
4 posts
Less
More

The Archive

Every post, searchable and filtered

All Posts40 of 40
2026-03

Unfortunately, Sprites Now Speak MCP

4m

Introduces Sprites as disposable cloud computers for running agents with instant startup and durable filesystems.

AI Agents & MCP#infra#architecture
2026-01

Litestream Writable VFS

5m

Describes the new writable VFS feature for Litestream, an open-source backup/restore system for SQLite.

SQLite & Litestream#open-source#database
2026-01

The Design & Implementation of Sprites

7m

Explains the design and implementation of Sprites, a new Docker-like technology for running containers without traditional Docker.

Engineering Culture & Blogging#architecture#deep-dive
2026-01

Code And Let Live

5m

Argues that ephemeral sandboxes for agent isolation are obsolete and introduces a new persistent sandbox approach.

AI Agents & MCP#security#architecture
2025-12

Litestream VFS

4m

Details the Litestream VFS feature for SQLite backup and restore, using a sandwich ratings database as an example.

SQLite & Litestream#open-source#database
2025-11

You Should Write An Agent

3m

Encourages readers to build their own AI agents by comparing the learning process to riding a bicycle.

AI Agents & MCP#tutorial#dx
2025-10

Corrosion

6m

Describes the challenges of gluing servers and network together in Fly.io's platform that transforms Docker containers into micro-VMs.

Networking & Infrastructure#networking#infra
2025-10

Kurt Got Got

4m

Recounts a security incident where Fly.io's Twitter account was compromised and explains how it happened.

Security & Authentication#incident-report#security
2025-10

Litestream v0.5.0 is Here

3m

Announces the release of Litestream v0.5.0, an open-source backup/restore system for SQLite-based applications.

SQLite & Litestream#open-source#database
2025-08

Build Better Agents With MorphLLM

5m

Introduces MorphLLM for building better AI agents, drawing an analogy with audiophile equipment.

AI Agents & MCP#developer-tools#ml-infra
2025-08

Trust Calibration for AI Software Builders

4m

Discusses trust calibration for AI software, aligning user trust with actual product capabilities.

AI Philosophy & Developer Experience#dx#product-engineering
2025-08

Games as Model Eval: 1-Click Deploy AI Town on Fly.io

5m

Proposes using games as a method for evaluating AI models, with a one-click deploy for AI Town on Fly.io.

AI Philosophy & Developer Experience#ml-infra#tutorial
2025-08

The Future Isn't Model Agnostic

4m

Argues that AI projects should focus on a single model rather than being model agnostic for better results.

AI Philosophy & Developer Experience#ml-infra#product-engineering
2025-06

Phoenix.new – The Remote AI Runtime for Phoenix

6m

Presents a new remote AI runtime for Phoenix framework, enabling LLM agents to work with Elixir.

Engineering Culture & Blogging#developer-tools#ml-infra
2025-06

What are MCP Servers?

4m

Explains what MCP Servers are and how they integrate with AI clients like Claude and VSCode on Fly.io.

AI Agents & MCP#api-design#tutorial
2025-06

My AI Skeptic Friends Are All Nuts

5m

A provocative opinion piece defending AI-assisted programming against skeptical friends who compare it to NFT mania.

AI Philosophy & Developer Experience#culture
2025-05

Using Kamal 2.0 in Production

6m

Shares practical experience using Kamal 2.0 in production for deploying Rails 8 applications.

Cloud Deployment & Orchestration#tutorial#developer-tools
2025-05

parking_lot: ffffffffffffffff...

7m

Describes a gnarly bug in Fly.io's Anycast router, the largest Rust project in their codebase.

Networking & Infrastructure#networking#deep-dive
2025-05

Litestream: Revamped

5m

Announces a major revamp of Litestream, an open-source tool for reliable SQLite recovery from object storage.

SQLite & Litestream#open-source#database
2025-05

Launching MCP Servers on Fly.io

4m

Launches MCP Servers on Fly.io, discussing the six-month-old protocol's rapid adoption and evolving identity.

AI Agents & MCP#api-design#developer-tools
2025-05

Provisioning Machines using MCPs

4m

Introduces using MCPs (Model Context Protocols) to provision cloud resources like Fly volumes via LLM tools.

AI Agents & MCP#developer-tools#api-design
2025-04

30 Minutes With MCP and flyctl

3m

Describes building a basic MCP server for flyctl in 30 minutes to enable LLM-driven infrastructure management.

AI Agents & MCP#developer-tools#tutorial
2025-04

Our Best Customers Are Now Robots

5m

Discusses how automated agents and robots are increasingly becoming the primary users of Fly.io's cloud platform.

Cloud Deployment & Orchestration#culture#product-engineering
2025-03

Operationalizing Macaroons

8m

Provides a deep technical dive into how Fly.io implements and operationalizes Macaroon security tokens for authentication.

Security & Authentication#security#deep-dive
2025-02

Taming A Voracious Rust Proxy

7m

Details a bug and performance optimization journey involving a Rust proxy in Fly.io's global networking stack.

Networking & Infrastructure#performance#networking
2025-02

We Were Wrong About GPUs

6m

Reevaluates Fly.io's earlier assumptions about GPU demand and shares progress on GPU-enabling their cloud platform.

GPU & AI Infrastructure#infra#product-engineering
2025-02

The Exit Interview: JP Phillips

5m

An exit interview with engineer JP Phillips reflecting on his four years building Fly.io's orchestration system.

Engineering Culture & Blogging#culture
2025-02

Did Semgrep Just Get A Lot More Interesting?

4m

Explores how Semgrep's capabilities become more interesting when combined with LLM-driven development agents.

AI Agents & MCP#developer-tools#security
2025-02

A Blog, If You Can Keep It

3m

Announces a shift in Fly.io's blogging strategy toward more varied and less formal content.

Engineering Culture & Blogging#culture
2025-02

VSCode’s SSH Agent Is Bananas

5m

Critiques VSCode's SSH agent implementation and explores integrating Fly.io with remote editing workflows.

Security & Authentication#developer-tools#dx

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The Fly Blog — Blog Dispatch · Archaeologist