Luca Nerlich - Tech Documentation
Code-first reference guides for Adobe Experience Manager, Java, JavaScript, Strapi, AI, and web development. Built around real-world examples and the pitfalls that actually trip you up.
Most Popular
- Touch UI Component Dialogs - 2,800+ lines of copy-paste-ready Granite UI dialog XML. Empty templates, complex fields, show/hide logic, multifields, RTE config, and validation.
- Groovy Console Scripts - 30+ ready-to-run script templates for bulk activation, content migration, workflow ops, and AEM maintenance.
- Custom Component Guide - End-to-end walkthrough: Sling Model, dialog, HTL, clientlibs, and OSGi service - everything in one page.
- AEM Architecture - How Sling, JCR, and OSGi fit together, with a minimal component example.
- AEM Recipes - Task-oriented checklists for dynamic dropdowns, headless delivery, slow queries, bulk-editing, and debugging.
Start Here - Beginners' Guides
Multi-chapter guided introductions, from zero to working knowledge:
Web Fundamentals
- JavaScript Beginners' Guide - 15 chapters covering fundamentals, the DOM, events, error handling, and deployment
- TypeScript Beginners' Guide - 12 chapters from basic types to advanced generics and real-world project setup
- CSS Beginners' Guide - 18 chapters from selectors to Flexbox, Grid, responsive design, and modern CSS
Languages
- Java Beginners' Guide - 17 chapters from variables and control flow through streams, testing, and build tools
- PHP Beginners' Guide - 17 chapters from your first script to OOP and a complete web application
- Rust Beginners' Guide - 19 chapters covering ownership, traits, and a CLI + REST API project
Platforms & CMS
- AEM Beginners' Guide - 22 chapters covering JCR, Sling, OSGi, components, HTL, Sling Models, templates, clientlibs, and deployment
- Strapi Beginners' Guide - 17 chapters on content modeling, the REST API, authentication, lifecycle hooks, and deployment
Tooling & Ops
- Git Beginners' Guide - 12 chapters on branching, merging, rebasing, and team workflows
- Docker Beginners' Guide - 12 chapters from your first container to multi-service Compose deployments
- Linux Beginners' Guide - 12 chapters from filesystem navigation to server administration
- Testing Beginners' Guide - 12 chapters from your first unit test to CI integration and TDD
By Topic
AEM - Adobe Experience Manager
67+ pages across architecture, components, backend, content, infrastructure, and Edge Delivery Services.
- Architecture - Request pipeline: Sling, JCR, OSGi
- Custom Component Guide - Full-stack component walkthrough
- Component Dialogs - Granite UI dialog XML copy-paste reference
- HTL Templates - Sightly template language reference
- Sling Models - Annotations, injectors, exporters, best practices
- Groovy Console - Script templates and API reference
- Client Libraries - CSS/JS bundling, aggregation, caching
- AEM Recipes - How-tos that stitch the deep-dives into workflows
- Standalone ACS Commons - Drop-in replacements for individual ACS Commons features
- Edge Delivery Services - Blocks, authoring, Universal Editor, Admin API
AI
Practical introductions to the building blocks of modern AI, from LLMs through agents and RAG to production operations.
- Large Language Models - How an LLM works, how it is trained, what it is and is not good at
- AI Agents - Tool use, multi-agent patterns, MCP and A2A protocols
- RAG - Grounding LLMs with embeddings, vector databases, and hybrid retrieval
- Build a Local LLM App - Run Ollama or LM Studio and connect a simple app
- Local & Offline Copilot Alternative - Ollama + Continue.dev in your editor
- AI Agent Harnesses - opencode, pi, and herdr in the terminal
- Glossary - Quick definitions for all AI terms on the site
Building for the Web
Practical guides for building good websites end-to-end.
- Content Modeling - CMS-agnostic guide to types, relations, and performance
- Semantic HTML - Element reference, accessibility, anti-patterns
- Web Performance - Core Web Vitals, Lighthouse, caching, CDN
- Web Content - 8-part series on readability, structure, forms, microcopy, color, images, and information architecture
- Build a Simple Blog - HTML, CSS, vanilla JS from scratch
- Docusaurus - Notes on building docs sites with Docusaurus
- Mermaid Diagrams - Flowcharts, sequence, class, and more
Java
20+ pages covering core language features, the standard library, and modern Java (11-21).
- Streams and Collectors - Pipelines, groupingBy, partitioningBy, parallel streams
- Concurrency - Threads, ExecutorService, CompletableFuture, Virtual Threads
- Modern Java Features - Records, sealed classes, pattern matching
- Testing - JUnit 5, Mockito, AssertJ
- Maven - POM structure, dependencies, multi-module projects
- Generics - Bounded types, wildcards, PECS, type erasure
JavaScript
15+ pages of practical JS and TypeScript with code examples and browser compatibility notes.
- Async/Await Patterns - Promises, error handling, concurrency control, pitfalls
- Intl API Formatting - Locale-aware number, date, currency formatting
- Error Handling - Custom error classes, global handlers, structured reporting
- Performance Basics - Big O, memoization, debouncing, profiling
Strapi
Guides for building and extending a Strapi headless CMS.
- Custom Controllers and Services - Extending core CRUD, custom actions, service delegation
- Relations and Population - Deep population, filtering, performance optimization
- Authentication and Permissions - JWT flow, RBAC, API tokens, OAuth
Design Patterns
23 GoF patterns with Java and TypeScript examples - creational, structural, and behavioural.
- Overview - When and why to use each pattern
- Anti-Patterns - Common misuse and what to do instead
- Glossary - Quick reference for pattern terminology
More Topics
- CSS Container Queries - Component-level responsive design with interactive demos
- SQL Guide - Complete guide to querying and designing SQL databases
- My Shell Setup - Terminal workflow, aliases, and dotfiles
- Local Version Management with mise - One tool for node, java, python, and CLI tool versions, per project
- Ideal Working Environment - Notes on the five DevOps ideals from The Unicorn Project
Projects
- Browse all project docs - Quickstarts and write-ups for Omarchy widgets, Coolify, RSS tooling, and more
- Live projects: Steam5, RSS-Analyzer, EZ-Budget, Mindestens 10 Zeichen, First Class Performance, Complete Motion CrossFit, Nerlich / Puls GbR, and Omarchy Plugins
All projects are self-hosted on a Hetzner VPS using Coolify and Docker. Lightweight, GDPR-friendly analytics via self-hosted Umami.