TL;DR — I just overhauled MikePFunk.com and shipped Mnemonics App, a flash‑card style study helper that runs on a fully‑managed serverless stack. The twist? The app lives on AWS, but the domain remains on Cloudflare, so I had to stitch the two together with DNS validation, an ACM certificate, and a CloudFront distribution. Here’s how it all fits.

Why the Re‑build?

1. Performance – Static HTML + global CDN beats my old WordPress every time.
2. Developer Happiness – Amplify + SAM CLI = hot‑reloading Lambda functions and GraphQL schemas in seconds.
3. Security – Cognito User Pools handle auth; no more rolling my own login forms.

Meet Mnemonics App

A distraction‑free web app that helps you memorize anything by creating spaced‑repetition flash cards.

• Create decks in plain language.
• Auto‑generated mnemonics using LLM prompts.
• Adaptive scheduling so harder cards show up more often.

Architecture at a Glance

flowchart TD
    CF[Cloudflare DNS] -->|CNAME validation| ACM[ACM Certificate]
    subgraph AWS
        A[Amazon Amplify] --> CFN[CloudFront]
        CFN --> S3[S3 Static Site Hosting]
        A --> AppSync[(AppSync GraphQL API)]
        AppSync --> DDB[DynamoDB Sessions]
        A --> Lambda[Lambda Resolvers]
        A --> Cognito[Cognito User Pools]
    end
    Users --> CF --> CFN

The Multi‑Cloud Dance

Domain Validation & Certificate Issuance

Step	Action	Service
1	Amplify requests a public certificate in us-east-1.	ACM
2	ACM spits out a unique CNAME token for each host name.	ACM
3	I add those CNAMEs to Cloudflare DNS (grey‑clouded).	Cloudflare
4	ACM polls public DNS, sees the token, marks the domain validated and issues the cert.	ACM

CloudFront + Cloudflare TLS Handshake

Browser  ── TLS #1 ─▶ Cloudflare (Universal SSL)
                     │
Cloudflare ── TLS #2 ─▶ CloudFront (ACM cert)
                     │
CloudFront ── HTTP ▶  Amplify‑hosted app

• Full (Strict) mode ensures Cloudflare speaks HTTPS to CloudFront.
• The certificate you just validated is what CloudFront presents during TLS #2.

Edge Caching & Latency

• CloudFront short‑circuits trips to S3/Lambda by caching at 400+ PoPs.
• Cloudflare adds an extra layer of shielding, DDoS protection, and quick DNS propagation.

AWS Bits Under the Hood

Service	What it does
Amplify Hosting	CI/CD pipeline + S3 origin + managed CloudFront distribution
SAM CLI	Local builds of Lambda & AppSync, then sam deploy --guided straight to CloudFormation
Cognito User Pools	Sign‑up, sign‑in, tokens; hooked into Amplify’s Auth module
AppSync	Managed GraphQL backend; Lambda resolvers add server‑side logic
DynamoDB	Stores per‑user deck progress and spaced‑repetition schedule
S3	Hosts the React front‑end and keeps user‑generated images (mnemonic illustrations)
ACM	Issues the TLS cert, renews it automatically every 13 months

What’s Next

• Offline PWA mode so decks sync when connectivity returns.
• Custom mnemonic generator powered by an on‑device LLM for privacy‑first study sessions.
• Public deck marketplace with Lambda@Edge to geo‑target popular subjects.

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Try It!

1. Head to https://mikepfunk.com (should load in ~100 ms from most regions).
2. Create a free account & make your first deck.
3. Tweet me your feedback → @MikePFunk28.

–– Mike