Datum Cloud account management and performance improvements

[mattdjenkinson]

Overview

This release focuses on quality-of-life improvements across Datum Cloud, with enhancements to account management, performance, and overall UI consistency.

• Improved linked account identities
  The linked account identities view in Account Settings has been refined to make it clearer which social login providers are connected to your Datum Cloud account, along with clearer controls for managing them.
  Issue #487

  

• Real-time resource updates
  We now leverage the Kubernetes Watch API to deliver real-time updates for your resources.

• Lighter, faster BFF layer
  Replaced the Express BFF with Hono, a framework that’s approximately 93% smaller.

• More consistent design
  Expanded the use of the Olli Design System across the application for a more cohesive and polished experience.

[yahyafakhroji]

Thanks for putting together this release overview, Matt! I wanted to add some additional context around the performance work that went into this release.

Over the holiday break, we took dedicated time to focus on speed across the platform. After a busy period shipping updates, we cleaned up, optimized, and refactored our codebase to set a solid foundation for what's ahead. The results are reflected in our metrics—things are running noticeably faster.

On the customer portal specifically, here are the key improvements:

Real-Time Updates (Watch API)

• Before: UI updated every 5–10 seconds via polling
• After: Instant updates when resources change (DNS, DNS records, domains, secrets, proxies)
• Users now see changes immediately without requiring a page refresh
• Perceived latency for all CRUD operations has been reduced significantly

See It in Action

The difference is night and day. Here's a quick demo showing the Watch API in action—notice how DNS and other resources update instantly as changes are made, with zero polling delays:

Screen.Recording.2026-01-05.at.19.22.38.mp4

Screen.Recording.2026-01-05.at.16.09.58.mp4

Performance Wins

• 93% smaller framework footprint (Express → Hono)
• Faster page loads leveraging SSR hydration + React Query cache
• Optimistic updates mean the UI responds instantly while syncing changes in the background
• Connection resilience with auto-reconnect and health checks

Reliability

• Watch connections automatically recover after network interruptions
• Structured error handling with Sentry correlation for better observability

This groundwork positions us well for the next phase of improvements. Feel free to check out the PR for additional implementation details!