Kyra's Developer Diary Part 1: First Nap - Docker Disasters

So Tucker brings me over to Ryan’s place sometimes to check on the grumpy old man. Tucker’s my Cat Daddy - he gets it. Feeds me at 7am sharp, never misses. Ryan’s his dad, and honestly? Ryan doesn’t know what time it is when he’s debugging WordPress.

Let me introduce you to the family:

The Malloy Crew:

• Ryan - Grumpy old programmer dad, approximately 127 in developer years
• Cooper (oldest son) - Almost done with college at University of Idaho (Go Vandals!), checks in on dad via video call
• Tate (older son) - Just started college at University of Idaho (Go Vandals!), texts Ryan coding advice (which is hilarious)
• Tucker (18, middle son) - My Cat Daddy, still at home, somehow became the most responsible person in the family
• Paige (youngest, daughter) - Just started high school, makes sure dad eats sometimes

The siblings have a group chat. I know this because Tucker reads messages out loud. Today’s status: “Dad debugging for 6 hours. Food status: negative.”

Lead Nap Supervisor reporting for duty

This is Part 1. The morning shift. Where everything goes wrong before breakfast.

Chapter 1: First Nap - Morning Observations (6am-10am)

Tucker feeds me at 7am. Every day. Like clockwork. Ryan? I watched him eat cold pizza at 3am last night because he forgot dinner existed.

But this morning, Tucker brought me over to supervise Ryan working on this “TigerStyle SEO” plugin thing. September 16th, 2025. And oh boy, was Ryan having a morning.

The Docker Container Disaster

Ryan’s problem? WordPress was deleting his source code.

Here’s what was happening:

# WRONG APPROACH (Ryan's first attempt)
volumes:
  - ./src/tigerstyle-seo:/var/www/html/wp-content/plugins/tigerstyle-seo

WordPress would see that mounted directory, let you deactivate the plugin, and BOOM - source code gone.

I watched Ryan spend an hour figuring this out.

I spent that hour napping.

Strategic napping: Quality assurance through rest

The Scratch Space Pattern (Or: The Litter Box Analogy)

Ryan’s solution? Think of it like my litter box. There’s the main house (source code) and the box (where things happen). You don’t poop in the house.

# Project structure
src/tigerstyle-seo/          # The "house" - protected source code
hot-reload-plugins/           # The "litter box" - scratch space
  tigerstyle-seo/            # Copy WordPress can mess with

The workflow:

1. Edit in src/ (the safe house)
2. Copy to hot-reload-plugins/ (the danger zone)
3. Container sees changes immediately
4. WordPress can delete scratch space files all day - source stays safe

volumes:
  - ./hot-reload-plugins:/var/www/html/wp-content/plugins

Ryan muttered “I need to remember this” about five times.

Meanwhile, Tucker’s phone buzzes. The sibling group chat:

Cooper: “How’s dad doing?” Tucker: “Discovered WordPress deletes mounted source code. Again.” Tate: “Third time this year?” Tucker: “Fourth.” Paige: “Is that bad?” Cooper: “Only if you like having code.”

Yeah right. Like I can keep Ryan out of trouble. This family knows better.

Chapter 2: Breakfast Break - Priorities

7:00am. Tucker feeds me.

7:03am. Cooper video calls. I can hear him from across the room.

Cooper: “Morning, Dad. You eat dinner last night?” Ryan: “Uh…” Cooper: “That’s what I thought. Tate and I are betting on whether you’ve slept.” Tate (in background): “My money’s on ‘no sleep, cold pizza at 3am.’” Ryan: “How do you-” Cooper: “We know you, Dad. Go Vandals, by the way.” Ryan: “Go Vandals.”

Tucker’s 18 and still at home. Cooper and Tate are at University of Idaho, probably enjoying actual adult schedules and regular meals. Meanwhile Tucker’s stuck here managing the grumpy old programmer dad.

This family’s hierarchy is upside down.

I ate my breakfast, groomed myself, and settled on Ryan’s desk. Right on the warm spot by his monitor. The sun hits perfect here in the morning.

Tucker watches his older brothers on the call, then looks at Ryan. “Dad, seriously. Eat something.”

Back to supervising.

Optimal supervision position acquired

What I Learned (So Far)

Technical Lessons:

1. Never mount source code directly to WordPress

   • Use the scratch space pattern
   • Think “git push” - explicit sync from source to deployment
   • WordPress plugin management can’t touch your real source

2. Docker volume mounts need protection

   • Containers see changes immediately (good)
   • But WordPress will modify/delete files (bad)
   • Separate source from deployment space

3. The litter box analogy actually works

   • Keep the house clean (source code protected)
   • Do business in the designated space (scratch directory)
   • Easy cleanup without affecting the main living space

Life Lessons:

1. Tucker feeds me at 7am sharp. Ryan doesn’t know what time it is when debugging.

2. The Malloy kids run on a family group chat coordination protocol that’s more reliable than any CI/CD pipeline.

3. Cooper and Tate at University of Idaho (Go Vandals!) check in on dad more than most project managers check on their teams.

4. This family’s skill distribution is inverted. The 18-year-old is the responsible one. The college kids provide remote monitoring. The high schooler ensures food intake. And the grumpy old programmer needs all of them.

Up Next in Part 2: Hook Timing Hell

Next time: Three hours of WordPress hook timing hell. Ryan’s admin menu won’t appear. Debug logs look perfect. Everything should work.

It doesn’t.

Spoiler: Ryan doesn’t read the docs. Tucker and I watch from our strategic positions (him gaming, me napping). The Malloy siblings provide remote technical support via group chat roasting.

Also: Cooper and Tate drop some knowledge bombs about modern PHP frameworks. Paige questions life choices. Tucker demonstrates why he’s the Cat Daddy.

Coming soon.

Kyra out. 🐱

P.S. - Tucker says hi. He’s the one keeping this operation running. Ryan’s lucky to have him.

P.P.S. - The scratch space pattern saved Ryan’s code three more times this week. You’re welcome, Ryan.