This site ran on a WordPress install I set up many years ago now. 1 single page and a PDF résumé, handled by a heavy database and expensive hosting. Google Tag Manager at Stape, when AI now helps us go beyond our technical limits.
In two evenings everything was migrated, and I save 100 euros a year.
What changed
- The site is hosted for free on Firebase Hosting. The texts are Markdown files in GitHub, and every change is published automatically.
- Server-side Google Tag Manager now runs on Cloud Run, in my own Google Cloud project. It is the same container as before. It costs nothing when nobody visits the site, and an alert warns me if the bill goes over CA$5.
- The domain stays at OVH. Only the DNS changed.
- Tracking still goes through
wws.victormarquis.com, a subdomain of the site, which now points to Cloud Run.
An AI agent as the tech team
This whole migration was done with an AI agent working directly in my tools: the site’s code, Google Cloud and Google Tag Manager. It took inventory of the GTM container, built the new site, and set up Cloud Run and automatic publishing.
I stay in control of every change: the agent works read-only by default, and any change to DNS, GTM or the live site waits for my approval. Before touching DNS, it records the old values so they can be restored. Access keys are never displayed or stored in the code.
What broke
1. A mistake Stape was quietly fixing
After the switch, Cloud Run received no GA4 data. The agent found the cause: in the Google tag, the server address was written without https://. The browser sent the data to the site itself, where it got lost.
Stape was fixing this mistake without saying so. It showed up as soon as I left their service. Before you change providers, check what they do on your behalf.
2. DNS keeps its own schedule
Once the DNS was changed, Firebase and Cloud Run took over an hour to issue the HTTPS certificates. The old values stayed cached for 1 hour, including an IPv6 address I had forgotten. Next time, I will cut that delay to 5 minutes a few hours before the switch.
3. DNS to clean up
The www subdomain still had old records from OVH. I cleaned them up before pointing the site to Firebase.
What it costs
- Before: 100 euros a year for OVH hosting and the Stape subscription.
- After: 0 euros for hosting. At this site’s traffic, server-side Google Tag Manager should stay within Cloud Run’s free tier. I will publish the actual bill in a few months.