Writing

Notes on craft, code, and calm.

Long-form essays on the things I keep thinking about. I publish when I have something to say, which is not often.

Black server racks in a dark server roomFeatured
AI / Engineering
11 min

When AI Agents Fail in Production: From Traces to Automated Fixes

An AI agent can return a successful HTTP response and still completely fail its task. The difficult part isn't detecting that the model generated text — it's understanding whether the system actually accomplished what it was supposed to do.

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An engineer working on cabling inside a server rackEngineering
8 min

What Changes When Your App Goes From Localhost to Production

Localhost proves that the software works. Production proves whether you engineered the system. Everything that was implicit locally has to be made explicit, defended, and measured.

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A close-up macro shot of a circuit board in shadowEngineering
7 min

The Boring Parts of a Full-Stack App Are the Parts That Matter

A beautiful interface can hide a fragile system. The boring engineering decisions — constraints, transactions, idempotency, retries — determine whether the product survives real usage.

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Source code on a dark screenOpen Source / Engineering
6 min

What Open Source Taught Me That Tutorials Couldn't

Tutorials teach you to write code that works. Open source teaches you to enter code you didn't write, defend changes you believe in, and accept that your solution isn't the only one.

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A still lake at sunrise, mountains and sky reflected in the waterPhilosophy
7 min

The Person Watching Your Thoughts

If I can observe my thoughts, then what exactly is the 'I' doing the observing? A meditation on the witness, inspired by the Ashtavakra Gita.

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A lone figure walking along a road at dawn, silhouetted against the skyPhilosophy
7 min

What If Freedom Doesn't Mean Getting Everything You Want?

We treat desire as the engine of freedom: get what you want and you will be free. But what if desire is the cage, and freedom is the ability to choose what you serve?

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A large crowd in a vast, dim interior, photographed in black and whitePsychology
7 min

Why Smart People Still Make Terrible Judgments About Other People

'He is lazy' versus 'something about his situation may have affected his behavior.' Why the smartest people still default to personality, and what the fundamental attribution error says about the way we judge.

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Geometric mirrors inside a dark, empty museum interiorPsychology
6 min

Why We Defend Opinions We No Longer Believe

Cognitive dissonance means the architecture you spent three weeks building becomes your identity. The uncomfortable psychology of defending decisions long past the point of doubt.

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Gothic spires of a great cathedral against a twilight skyPhilosophy / Psychology
9 min

The Projects We Build to Prove That We Matter

How much of our ambition is about building something useful, and how much is about proving that our existence matters? A literary meditation on Ernest Becker and the things we leave behind.

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