Build vs Pull: Docker Deploy Strategies for Solo Devs

Solo devs and small teams face a deceptively simple question: where should your Docker image get built, and how should your server know to deploy it? This episode breaks down the two independent axes of deployment — build location (registry-first vs on-machine) and trigger mechanism (cron polling, self-hosted runners, or webhooks). We walk through the tradeoffs each choice creates, from RAM constraints on a $5 VPS to Docker Hub pull rate limits, and show how the hybrid pattern combines registry-first builds with push-based triggers for near-zero deploy latency. Episode #232417 — open it directly at myweirdprompts.com/232417