Slow pages and images
I trace loading cost through assets, scripts, layout behavior, caching, and the application layer.
Independent technical work · Spokane, Washington
I find the failure between systems.
I am Peter Baumgardner. I take on website, backend, database, deployment, and AI infrastructure problems that have become difficult to explain, difficult to own, or easy for every vendor to blame on someone else.
01 / Work
I build systems, but the useful part is usually finding what will not hold.
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Website systemsHighlands Nordic Sno-Park
A legacy site rebuilt from scratch while preserving the club’s original identity. Hosting, content workflows, event data, contact delivery, payments, and an interactive trail map were moved into a documented system.
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AI infrastructureCognitive Mesh
A production AI memory system built independently. The work includes a domain-driven backend, multi-tenant Postgres data, retrieval, governance rules, and a controlled audit that documented serious failure modes instead of hiding them.
02 / Website rescue
The fastest way to hire me is to hand me a website problem.
Domains, DNS, and email
I work across records, routing, authentication, forms, hosting, and provider boundaries.
Migrations and hosting
I inventory what exists, protect rollback, move the system, and verify the production cutover.
Database and login plumbing
I diagnose data, environment, authentication, and deployment failures without pretending every account can be recovered.
03 / Method
No mystery process. No claim before evidence.
- Reproduce
I start from the failure the user can actually see. I do not begin by replacing the whole system.
- Trace
I follow the request, account, record, deployment, or data path until the responsible layer is clear enough to price.
- Protect
Before production changes, I establish backup, access, rollback, and the boundary of the work.
- Repair and verify
The repair is not finished because the code changed. It is finished when the behavior works and the relevant checks pass.
- Hand off
You receive what changed, what owns the behavior now, and what must be kept safe.
04 / Background
“I spent fourteen years building things that had to hold weight. Software changed the material, not the standard.”
I came into software through construction, rental operations, sales, and years of being the person accountable when a physical system failed. I now work in Python, JavaScript, Postgres, Cloudflare, Vercel, Fly.io, APIs, authentication, retrieval, and deployment.
I use AI tools in development. I remain responsible for the architecture, tests, production behavior, and failures.