Hugotunius.se is a personal blog and static website by Hugo Tunius, built with Jekyll, hosted on Amazon S3, and fronted by Cloudflare.
What is Hugotunius.se?
Hugotunius.se is the personal blog and website of Hugo Tunius, a software engineer focused on Rust, Swift, iOS security, and web performance. The site is generated with Jekyll, a Ruby-based static site generator, and the output is stored on Amazon S3 with Cloudflare providing edge caching and HTTPS. The blog has been running since 2014 and contains over 40 long-form posts covering topics like async Rust, App Store privacy labels, sideloading debates, and efficient terminal drawing.
What makes Hugotunius.se stand out?
- Jekyll static generation — The entire site is compiled from Markdown and Liquid templates into static HTML, with no server-side dynamic rendering.
- S3 + Cloudflare hosting — All files are served from Amazon S3, while Cloudflare edge-caches both static assets and HTML pages, cutting TTFB by almost 90% according to the author.
- Rock-bottom cost — The author documents running the site for about $0.01 per month, a figure that varies with traffic, in the post "The One Cent Blog".
- Automated deployment — New posts are published automatically via Travis-CI whenever the repository receives a push.
- Deep technical content — Posts include reproducible benchmarks (SIMD in Rust, f64 vs f32), reverse-engineering walkthroughs (TLS session keys, clipboard snooping), and thought pieces on web architecture.
- Long archive — Content spans from 2014 to 2025, offering over a decade of posts on Apple platforms, static sites, and language design.
Who should use Hugotunius.se?
- Rust developers — Read benchmarks and walkthroughs like "Efficient Terminal Drawing in Rust" and "Exploring SIMD in Rust" to see real performance measurements and implementation tricks.
- iOS and security enthusiasts — Posts such as "Stealing TLS Session Keys from iOS Apps" and "Snooping on the Clipboard Snoopers" provide practical reverse-engineering techniques.
- Static site owners — The blog documents a complete, low-cost Jekyll-on-S3 architecture with Cloudflare caching that others can replicate.
- Tech opinion readers — Essays on sideloading, full-stack development, and the "pendulum" of programming trends offer perspective on industry debates.
Use cases
- Learning Rust performance: Study the author's experiments comparing f64 and f32, and his SIMD implementation in a raytracer.
- Exploring mobile privacy: Analyze App Store privacy labels and microphone indicators to see which apps claim to collect user data.
- Setting up an ultra-low-cost blog: Follow the "One Cent Blog" and "Edge Cached Static Sites on CloudFlare" posts to deploy a Jekyll site on S3 for pennies.
- Understanding Svelte and front-end trends: The post "Why Svelte is Like Rust" draws parallels between the framework and the language.
Pricing
The website is entirely free for readers; no paywall or subscription exists. The author's hosting cost, as detailed in the blog, is approximately $0.01 per month on S3 and Cloudflare.
Alternatives
- Hugo — A Go-based static site generator known for very fast build times.
- Gatsby — A React-based SSG with a rich plugin ecosystem and GraphQL data layer.
FAQ
What is on hugotunius.se?
Hugotunius.se is a personal blog focused on software engineering, with articles about Rust, Swift, iOS privacy, web performance, and developer culture.
How is hugotunius.se built?
The site is built with Jekyll and deployed to Amazon S3 via Travis-CI, with Cloudflare serving as the CDN and edge cache.
Does hugotunius.se cost money to read?
No, every post is publicly accessible and the site is ad-free and donation-free.
How much does the author pay to host it?
According to "The One Cent Blog", the hosting bill is around $0.01 per month, depending on traffic.
Can I use the same setup for my own blog?
Yes, the repository is public on GitHub and the blog post explains the S3, Jekyll, Cloudflare, and Travis-CI setup step by step.
