Three days at the CGI AI Hackathon during Silicon Saxony Days 2026: building an AI prototype with AWS, Terraform, Dify.ai, Amazon Bedrock, Titan embeddings, and RAG.

I replaced a costly VM-based Discourse forum with a zero-cost Azure Static Web App powered by Hugo and OpenAI Codex. I detail the rationale, savings, automated workflow, and features added—dark mode, client-side search, responsive design, and newsletter integration.

Completed AZ-204 and AZ-400 Azure certifications. Shared 350-question prep sets on GitHub. Integrated Azure API Management into the WTF Model project to improve backend abstraction and security. APIM now manages Azure Functions with proper CORS and auth headers.

Pushed the WTF Minimal Model live at minimal.wtf-model.com with 50 descriptions and no overlays. Set up forum previews, Steam deployment via WPF/.NET 8, and CI/CD with Azure ACI. Public repo, intro video, and PDF planned for 2025. Full release delayed but progressing well.

Completed Azure's AI-900, DP-900, and SC-900 certifications after years of hands-on use. GPT-4o helped deepen service knowledge like Purview, Intune, CosmosDB, etc. Refuse to pursue further certs due to 12-month recert rules. WTF model release coming in 2024.

Launched a Discourse-based forum at forum.wtf-model.com for WTF Model discussions. Used Bitnami image on Azure and a custom .NET8 app to auto-post entries via API. Handled image merging, metadata, and rate limits. OAuth 2.0 login enabled; all content now accessible.

Migrated WTF project from Azure VM to Static Web Apps for cost and scalability. Replaced WooCommerce with Shopify and refactored backend logic into Azure Functions using C#. Integrated key generation, storage, and GitHub Actions deployment. Total cost now under €25/month.