Blog
Technical notes on FileMaker development
This is where I think out loud about how I build — structure, architecture, naming discipline, long-term maintainability. The decisions that determine whether a system holds up over time.
There’s no shortage of excellent technical content in the FileMaker community — tutorials, deep dives, technique breakdowns. That’s not the focus here.
Some posts will go into implementation details or specific techniques — but always as a consequence of those principles.
Written with FileMaker developers in mind.
I’ve been building FileMaker systems since 2003. That’s long enough to have developed strong opinions — and long enough to keep refining them. Take what’s useful, adapt it, or discard it.
June 9, 2026
Maintainable FileMaker Systems · Article 8 of 18
Methods: The Contract Unit
The structure has no remaining place to hide behaviour. What is left is not a design choice. It is the only thing that was never excluded.
June 6, 2026
Maintainable FileMaker Systems · Article 7 of 18
Graph, Naming, and Schema as Controlled Surfaces
Article 6 allowed UI reads. Article 7 constrains what those reads can mean. Three observable surfaces — graph, naming, schema — are brought under the same enforcement discipline.
April 26, 2026
Maintainable FileMaker Systems · Article 6 of 18
Building the Skeleton
The physical structure is known. This article instantiates it. Five files, each with a role, each with constraints that follow from that role.
April 16, 2026
Maintainable FileMaker Systems · Article 5 of 18
One File Is Not an Architecture
No architectural constraint can be enforced inside a shared execution space. The file boundary is the only structural primitive that changes that. This article proves why.
April 12, 2026
Maintainable FileMaker Systems · Article 4 of 18
The Structure the Constraints Require
Constraints don't only exclude behaviours. They require a structure. That structure can be described. It cannot yet be guaranteed.
April 7, 2026
Maintainable FileMaker Systems · Article 3 of 18
How FileMaker Solutions Collapse Under Their Own Logic
The failures aren't random. Each one is a predictable consequence of a violated constraint. Once you see the mechanism, you can't unsee it.
April 3, 2026
Maintainable FileMaker Systems · Article 2 of 18
What Decades of Software Engineering Can Teach a FileMaker Developer
The failures that kill FileMaker systems aren't FileMaker problems. They're system problems — and software engineering solved them a long time ago.
March 26, 2026
Maintainable FileMaker Systems · Article 1 of 18
Building with FileMaker — Beyond "It Works"
The limits of FileMaker's native model — why a system can work and still be fragile.