Ben Houston's Blog

Ben is currently available for contract work for 3D & web solutions — reach out.

This is the personal blog of Ben Houston (bio here), a 3D computer graphics software developer. For a quick overview of the work I am proud of, see my portfolio. I've worked on projects like Web3DSurvey, Three.js, Deadline, Krakatoa, and Exocortex VFX plugins. I'm also an entrepreneur, having founded Land of Assets, Threekit, Clara.io, Exocortex, and Frantic Films Software.

Latest writing, page 4

June 20, 2026
Optimizing TanStack Start for Cloud Run
This site's first render on Cloud Run took 12.4 seconds; bundling Nitro's server output brought it to 1.64 seconds. Pre-warming Node's compile cache helped next—but adding it before bundling can make the filesystem bottleneck worse.
June 14, 2026
A Solution to Rampant Token Theft: Proof of Possession
Static API keys in environment variables and files are too easy to steal. A better model is proof-of-possession, where every API call must be signed by a non-exportable private key that is available only through a constrained signing interface.
June 10, 2026
Introducing vitest-command-line
Testing command-line tools is deceptively hard - hanging processes, lost stderr, temp file juggling, and unreadable failures. I built vitest-command-line to make CLI testing in Vitest simple and robust.
June 9, 2026
React Server Components
Part of the React Internals Series
Server rendering can send HTML early and still ship component code to the browser. React Server Components change which code ships at all—but their payload is not HTML, and interactive components still need hydration.
June 8, 2026
Server-Side Rendering and Hydration
Part of the React Internals Series
Server-rendered HTML can appear before the app is interactive, but hydration still renders your components in the browser. Reusing that HTML depends on the first client render matching—a timestamp or browser-only value can break the agreement.
June 6, 2026
React Spring: Motion Between Renders
Part of the React Internals Series
A menu fade driven by setState sends every frame through React's render-commit loop. React Spring moves those intermediate writes straight to the host—but it needs a real host instance, and browser layout can still drop frames.
June 6, 2026
An Introduction to Tailwind CSS
Tailwind makes JSX busier so styling is easier to find. Its utility classes also avoid runtime style generation—a trade that becomes more consequential when React components can stay entirely on the server.
June 5, 2026
One Reconciler, Many Renderers
Part of the React Internals Series
React can update a button, a native view, or a Three.js mesh without knowing how to create any of them. The renderer supplies that knowledge—and determines what your refs actually expose.
June 5, 2026
An Introduction to CSS
A CSS rule can match and still lose; a hidden element can still take up space. Following the browser from selectors to boxes and layout makes these beginner surprises easier to diagnose.
June 4, 2026
React Skips: How Rendering Optimization Works
Part of the React Internals Series
A React component can render without changing the DOM, and memoization can cost more than rerendering. Understanding which work React actually skips makes the difference between a useful optimization and extra bookkeeping.
June 3, 2026
React Scheduling
Part of the React Internals Series
React can abandon a render without changing a pixel on screen. Lanes, transitions, and Suspense let urgent input run ahead of expensive work while React prepares the next UI and keeps the committed tree intact.
June 2, 2026
React Fiber Tree: The Virtual DOM
Part of the React Internals Series
React can prepare a new screen, pause, and throw the work away while the current UI stays intact. The same fiber structure explains why keys preserve list state and why hook order cannot change.