Hey friends,

Did you hear about the SQL query that walked into a bar, walked up to two tables, and asked…

"Can I join you?!"

Thinking Too Hard 🤔

There are so many different emerging approaches and workflows for leveraging AI — it's pretty crazy, and frankly overwhelming. Some approaches are incredibly complex (like building your own multi-agent ecosystem a la Gastown), and some techniques are a little more approachable...

One relatively simple approach I've had some success with recently is spec-driven development as Addy Osmani outlines it. The basic premise is:

• You set a core memory file (like CLAUDE.md for Claude Code) that sets some boundaries in things like 'Always Do', 'Ask Before', and 'Never Do'. One of the 'Always' enforces writing and running tests.
• You then feed the agent details about what you'd like to build, working together to draft up a multi-step plan (SPEC.md) BEFORE you let it loose.
• Then you keep referencing that multi-step plan, letting the agent do one step at a time and building it's own tests as it goes.

The multi-step plan helps keep the agent focused on a single vision. I've found fewer instances of the agent wandering off into the woods chasing something irrelevant. It also helps when you work in chunks, as you don't have to work to preserve ephemeral context inside the agent — it's all written down as a plan!

The tests also help the agent check itself, allowing it to identify errors early and fix them before they become more difficult to resolve.

Interesting Web Bits 🍜

Web Stuff

• The Claude Code leak is everywhere. Take your pick of reviews and analyses.
• Cloudflare rebuilt Next.js recently, now they've rebuilt WordPress overtop Astro.
• Sohoon Choi thinks good code will win over slop. Perhaps there's truth in that enough of us are wary of the complexity demon in our codebases to leave the slop behind.
• So I took this coding font selector quiz and wound up unintentionally with the same coding font I've been using for years (JetBrains Mono). Maximum validation!

Other Stuff

• I agree with Alex, don't let AI write FOR you. Use it to check, inspire, help with grammar — but we miss a chance to increase our understanding when we let AI do it ALL.
• And if you need more encouragement to start writing, Dave Bushell argues there's never been a BETTER time to blog.
• I'd be curious to learn of what are the things I ACTUALLY use most in a year — but I think my family would be concerned once I started covering the fridge and everythign else with dots.
• David Ok writes about how the spreadsheet shaped America.

👽 Weird, 📺 Watch, and 🎮 Play

• 👽 WigglyPaint!
• 🎮 Slide and solve with Skub
• 📺 Relax and watch this tiny watercolor painting 🖼️
• 📺 What it looks like to have 80+ guinea pigs
• 📺 In addition to being my nap-time spirit animal, the viscacha are not rabbits