https://bootstrapping.org/tags/the-name/ Recent content in The Name on Bootstrapping.org Hugo en-us Sun, 18 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://bootstrapping.org/why-the-project-is-called-bootstrapping/ Sun, 18 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://bootstrapping.org/why-the-project-is-called-bootstrapping/ <p>To bootstrap a computer is to take it from nothing to running: a tiny first program loads a bigger one, which loads the system. The word comes from the old joke about pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps, which you can&rsquo;t do, and which a computer does every time it starts. In software it came to mean the first step that gets anything from empty to usable.</p> <p>An application has that step too. The migrations have run, the tables exist, and they&rsquo;re empty. Before anyone can sign in, the roles need to be there. Before anyone can be invited, the permissions. Before anyone can pay, the plans. Putting those rows in place is the application&rsquo;s bootstrap, and most projects have a seed script that does it once.</p>