Jhonatan Arenas 🎨
Explore a curated selection of my projects and case studies that showcase my ability to turn ideas into impactful digital products.
Client For:
Personal Project
Services:
Fullstack Development, Self Hosting, Infrastructure Automation, Email Integration, SEO Optimization
https://www.jarenass.comOverview
JasFolio is my personal portfolio website, a fullstack project designed and deployed entirely by myself. The frontend was built using Next.js and TypeScript, with server side rendering and static generation for SEO optimization. The project runs on my own VPS using CapRover as the deployment platform. It integrates Appwrite (self hosted) for authentication, a NestJS REST API for backend utilities, and Poste.io as a self managed mail server for handling contact form submissions. All services are secured, containerized with Docker, and orchestrated via custom domain routing and TLS management.
Challenges
Building a personal portfolio from scratch involved addressing challenges across the entire stack, from infrastructure and security to frontend performance and backend integration. Managing a self hosted environment meant handling Linux system administration, container orchestration, mail server configuration, and CI/CD workflows independently. Ensuring smooth UX, high availability, and a robust architecture in a solo project required careful planning and disciplined execution.
Infrastructure & Self Hosting
- Challenge: Setting up and maintaining a VPS with multiple Dockerized services, including Appwrite, Poste.io, and the main application stack.
- Solution: Used CapRover to manage deployments, defined isolated containers for each service, and configured HTTPS and domain routing with custom Nginx settings.
Full-Stack Integration
- Challenge: Connecting a React based frontend with a NestJS backend and Appwrite services in a fully self hosted environment.
- Solution: Developed custom APIs and used Appwrite’s Node.js SDK to handle authentication and serverless logic, while ensuring consistency and performance across services.
Email Delivery and Contact Form Automation
- Challenge: Sending transactional emails reliably without relying on third party services like SendGrid.
- Solution: Installed and configured Poste.io on the same VPS, ensuring SPF/DKIM/DMARC setup, and linked it with a custom serverless function for handling secure form submissions.
SEO and Performance Optimization
- Challenge: Ensuring that the site is indexed correctly by search engines and loads efficiently across devices.
- Solution: Implemented static pre rendering with Next.js, structured metadata with JSON-LD, and optimized asset delivery for improved lighthouse scores.
Results/Conclusion:
JasFolio gave me full control over my professional digital presence. It allowed me to demonstrate real world expertise in DevOps, fullstack development, infrastructure automation, and SEO. The project strengthened my skills in Linux server administration, container orchestration, and secure service configuration, while also serving as a robust and modern portfolio that I can expand and maintain independently.
