What Scott means when he says he's a cinder block developer. Clipped from Hotfix v42.0.1. Oh, and here's that episode of The Secret Life of Machines on washing machines| justin․searls․co
Pro-tip: the codex CLI can't search the web by default (even if you bypass all sandbox restrictions). You need to explicitly enable --search. If you ask codex to search the web without that flag, it'll literally guess domain names and try curling their homepages.| justin․searls․co
I wish coding agents came with those Green/Red coasters they give you at Brazilian steakhouses: 🟢 Green: go ahead and pile stuff on my plate 🔴 Red: stop adding, we need to make room first| justin․searls․co
I don't know who needs to hear this, but despite being bare bones from a feature-set perspective, Codex CLI with GPT-5 is much, much better at some coding ecosystems than Claude Code with Opus 4.1/Sonnet. Codex writes competent Swift that does what I ask, nothing more. Claude hallucinates code all day.| justin․searls․co
The day before we recorded our episode of Hotfix, Scott Werner asked a fair question: "so, if you're off social media and your blog doesn't have a comment system, how do you want people to respond to your posts? Just email?" I answered, "actually my blog does have a comment system." Here's how to leave a comment on this web site: Read a post Think, "I want to comment on this" Draft a post on your blog Add a hyperlink to my post Paste an excerpt to which you want to respond Write your comment ...| justin․searls․co
For somebody who hates Apple so much, you'd think Tim Sweeney would be above resorting to the "you're holding it wrong" defense. https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/unreal-engine-5-performance-issues-are-mainly-due-to-devs-not-optimising-properly-epic-ceo-tim-sweeney-says/| justin․searls․co
One thing few people are talking about is how it's not as simple as people being sticks in the mud with respect to the adoption of AI tools, it's that once they get their hands on this tremendously capable set of tools, they lack the imagination to find any use for it. "They've been given this rocket ship and they've got no fucking clue where to fly it." Clipped from the back half of my discussion with Scott Werner on Hotfix.| justin․searls․co
🔥Hotfix🔥 is back with a new guest! Scott Werner is the CEO of Sublayer, helps organize the Artificial Ruby meetup in NYC, and is the author of the extremely well-named (and well-written) Substack, Works on my Machine. In this conversation, we jointly grapple with WTF is happening to programming as a career. Did the unprecedented peacetime the software industry experienced from 2005-2022 make us all soft? Is the era of code-writing agents fundamentally changing the nature of the job? Sho...| justin․searls․co
I think I'm finally at peace with the fact that I'm going to die without ever understanding what happens when an iCloud Calendar invite is sent, received, or responded to. https://support.apple.com/en-au/guide/icloud/mm4a440a7b64/icloud| justin․searls․co
TIRED: Rebinding caps lock to escape because you use vim WIRED: Rebinding caps lock to escape because you use Claude Code| justin․searls․co
With Swift, I'm really speed-running the list of stupid things you do when learning a new language. 3 days ago I wrote a dependency injection framework, 2 days ago I convinced myself I'd found a compiler bug, yesterday I wrote my first macro, today I made a mocking library.| justin․searls․co
The nice thing about server-side LLMs hitting the point of diminishing returns is that it gives local LLMs a chance to catch up and for their utility to approach parity.| justin․searls․co
I would pay so much extra for a version of Claude or ChatGPT that paid the same toll I do whenever I fuck up. Make guilt a stateful property that decays over weeks or months. Trigger simulated self-doubt when similar topics arise. Grant my account bonus GPU-time so the chatbot works ridiculous overtime to make up for its mistakes, just like I would for my boss.| justin․searls․co
I recently started an interview series on the Breaking Change feed called Hotfix. Whereas each episode of Breaking Change is a major release full of never-before-seen tech news, life updates, and programming war stories, Hotfix. It's versioned as a patch release on the feed, because each show serves only to answer the question, "what's the hotfix?" Because I've had to explain the concept over and over again to every potential guest, I sat down to write a list of what they'd be getting themsel...| justin․searls․co
Despite not touching it for several years, I've noticed a marked uptick in KameSame adoption in recent months. I asked a few new users and, like a lot of my stuff, it turns out ChatGPT is driving far more people to it than Google ever did.| justin․searls․co
I've been writing about how AI is likely to affect white-collar (or no-collar or hoodie-wearing) computer programmers for a while now, and one thing is clear: whether someone feels wildly optimistic or utterly hopeless about AI says more about their priors than their prospects. In particular, many of the people I already consider borderline unemployable managed to read Full-breadth Developers and take away that they actually have nothing to worry about. So instead of directing the following s...| justin․searls․co
Keep hearing about Finntech and how much money people are making, but never hear anything about tech startups in the other Nordic countries. Does Norway not have as many programmers?| justin․searls․co
I replaced my ChatGPT personalization settings with this prompt a few weeks ago and promptly forgot about it: Be extraordinarily skeptical of your own…| justin․searls․co
I remember back when Rod Hilton suggested The Machete Order for introducing others to the Star Wars films and struggling to find fault with it. Well, since then there have been 5 theatrical releases and a glut of streaming series. And tonight, as credits rolled on Return of the Jedi, I had the thought that an even better watch order has emerged for those just now being exposed to the franchise. Becky and I first started dating somewhere between the release of Attack of the Clones and Revenge ...| justin․searls․co
Interesting analysis of the distinctiveness of the Japanese Web. The biggest cause in my mind has always been bottleneck effect. Japan's Web developed and remains more isolated than any other "free" nation. If every non-Japanese website disappeared tomorrow, many Japanese would go literal months without noticing. THAT's why its web is different. https://sabrinas.space| justin․searls․co
Over the past few days, I got really hung up in my attempts generate data structures using Apple Foundation Models for which the exact shape of that data wasn't known until runtime. The new APIs actually provide for this capability via DynamicGenerationSchema, but the WWDC sessions and sample code were too simple to follow this thread end-to-end: Start with a struct representing a PromptSet: a variable set of prompts that will either map onto or be used to define the ultimate response data st...| justin․searls․co
I don't wish them ill, but the stock price of DuoLingo (and that entire class of language learning apps) hasn't made a lick of sense since ChatGPT released. It's just going to take a single LLM-based product to obviate the entire business model https://yro.slashdot.org/story/25/08/17/194212/duolingos-stock-down-38-plummets-after-openais-gpt-5-language-app-building-demo| justin․searls․co
The first affirmative case I've read for Ruby being a superior choice to Python, TypeScript, Golang, Rust etc. when building autonomous agents. https://worksonmymachine.ai/p/the-system-inside-the-system| justin․searls․co
Thanks for writing so many lovely emails to podcast@searls.co. Hell, thanks even for the unlovely ones. Be sure to look out for me showing up on Dead Code at some point after it records next Tuesday. I'm realizing not all podcasts have a 1-hour-or-less turnaround time like this one does. As promised, some URLs follow:| justin․searls․co
Claude Code's Explanatory and Learning modes are extremely welcome additions to the CLI. Explanatory goes out of its way to give you a tour of the codebase. Learning adds TODO(human) homework for you to do, reinforcing understanding. https://docs.anthropic.com/en/docs/claude-code/output-styles| justin․searls․co
A group of Italian-American feminists should buy an island off the Amalfi coast to establish a women-only community and call it Old Country for No Men.| justin․searls․co
Been using Parachute for iCloud Drive & Photos backups to my Synology NAS over the last few weeks, and generally really impressed by it. Since networked Time Machine targets basically never work, this seems like a great utility app https://www.parachuteapps.com/parachute| justin․searls․co
Everyone complaining about GPT-5 doesn't understand that there are two modes you can choose from: slow and stupid.| justin․searls․co
You know that meme where the best developers actually wind up deleting more lines of code than they add? The more time I spend wrangling agentic codegen tools, the more the task feels like chiseling than sculpting. I suspect the deleters are better poised for this moment.| justin․searls․co
Hilariously, Japan just discovered Myers-Briggs and it's super popular with the youths as a trending personality quiz. My friend asked me if I had seen "MBT" and (once I figured out WTF they were talking about) was floored when I told them about its origins https://note.com/yanotomoaki/n/nbb31a0e5604f| justin․searls․co
Free idea for anyone who wants it. I've been juggling so many LLM-based editors and CLI tools that I've started collecting them into meta scripts like this shell-completion-aware edit dingus that I use for launching into my projects each day. Because many of these CLIs have separate "safe" and "for real though" modes, I've picked up the convention of giving the editor name in ALL CAPS to mean "give me dangerous mode, please."| justin․searls․co
Personally, I was inclined to doubt the GPT-5 haters, but I've gotta say: this thing reminds me more of 3.5-turbo. Asking about Xcode 26 just gets me a full page of explanation that this hypothetical IDE that's been out for 2 months doesn't exist. (That's WITH search enabled!)| justin․searls․co
I'm glad I pointed Scott to Orta's Claude post, because his analogy (God, why is this man so good at analogies?) comparing agentic coding to "ZIRP for technical debt" is A-fucking-plus thoughtleading. Jealous. https://worksonmymachine.ai/p/entering-technical-debts-zirp-era| justin․searls․co
I recently wrote I'm inspecting everything I thought I knew about software. In this new era of coding agents, what have I held firm that's no longer relevant?…| justin․searls․co
who the hell called it golden shower sex and not "whiz bang"?!| justin․searls․co
Best part about being CEO of a company named after yourself is receiving cold e-mail openers like: "Congrats on your new role at Searls" "Super impressed by your work at Searls" "We want to help grow Searls beyond your wildest imaginations"| justin․searls․co
Easily my all-time favorite short story is "There Will Come Soft Rains" by Ray Bradbury. (If you haven't read it, just Google it and you'll find a PDF—seemingly half the schools on earth assign it.) The story takes place exactly a year from now, on August 4th, 2026. In just a few pages, Bradbury recounts the events of the final day of a fully-automated home that somehow survives an apocalyptic nuclear blast, only to continue operating without any surviving inhabitants. Apart from being a ca...| justin․searls․co
I've made it! I'm over the hump! I'm actually writing* my language-learning app in Swift! Send an email expressing how proud you are of me to podcast@searls.co. Or if there's any news worth following that isn't about AI. Too much AI stuff lately. *And by "I'm writing", I admit Claude Code is doing a lot of the heavy lifting here. Hyperlinks:| justin․searls․co
Shout-out to Orta for pulling on the "full-breadth developer" thread with such a concrete, detailed accounting of his agentic coding experiences https://blog.puzzmo.com/posts/2025/07/30/six-weeks-of-claude-code/| justin․searls․co
Consider this one of a thousand signposts I'll erect for the sake of anyone on the journey to becoming a full-breadth developer. What's discussed below is…| justin․searls․co
My OGs from high school and college still have the note "Courtesy of thefacebook." in their vcards, because early-days Facebook let you export all your friends' contact information lol| justin․searls․co
Time is our most precious resource, as both humans and programmers. An 8-hour workday contains 480 minutes. Out of the box, running a new iOS app's test suite…| justin․searls․co
AppleCare One is a great deal if you like Apple's more expensive products. An iPad Pro ($10.99/mo), Vision Pro ($24.99/mo), and Pro Display XDR ($17.99/mo) somehow adds up to $19.99. That's $33.98/mo cheaper than ala carte pricing. https://www.apple.com/applecare/| justin․searls․co
Did Satya write this for current and former employees or did Satya write this for Satya? https://blogs.microsoft.com/blog/2025/07/24/recommitting-to-our-why-what-and-how/| justin․searls․co
Finally, vindication. I've been calling bullshit on resting meat since I first heard of it. Get the meat to the right temp and shove it in your face while it's still hot. You can rest when you're dead. https://www.seriouseats.com/meat-resting-science-11776272| justin․searls․co
Xcode 16 and later come with swift-format baked in. Unfortunately, Xcode doesn't hook it up for you: aside from a one-off "Format File" menu item, you…| justin․searls․co
Almost made it 2 hours working in Xcode before hitting my first Spinning Beachball of Death. I triggered it by scrolling a file listing. Nostalgic!| justin․searls․co
Starting my first new iOS app in over 15 years and on Day 1 I've spent more time debugging build errors in Keychain Access than I have in Xcode. Some things never change.| justin․searls․co
The first draft of my "Full-breadth Developers" post included a throwaway line like "Forget 10x developers; think 100x" but then I came to my senses and deleted it. https://www.businessinsider.com/surge-ceo-ai-100x-engineers-2025-7| justin․searls․co
If my name were Albert, I would take advantage of the prevalence of sans-serif fonts and juice up that résumé. Tout what an expert in Al I was. Claim to be an Al-first developer. An Al-native. In the top 0.1% of the field with respect to Al.| justin․searls․co
Never get high off your own supply. This guy must be new at this. https://futurism.com/openai-investor-chatgpt-mental-health| justin․searls․co
Get yourself a girl who understands the plot of Tenet| justin․searls․co
Finally, a recommendation-heavy, full-mailbag show. Been a while. New to the pod are achievements—watch your BreakingScore™ increase each time you write in to podcast@searls.co. The winner will receive nothing, probably. Lynx:| justin․searls․co
I was red-pilled by Claude Code over 4th of July weekend. Its performance was incredible. Ever since, it's been unbelievably incompetent by comparison. Now the AI bros tell me Anthropic's servers get slammed during US business hours and Claude becomes 70% stupider. It's 4pm on a Friday and I only realized because Claude stopped fucking everything up. Great job, everyone.| justin․searls․co
I am 40 damn years old and still believe it is a moral failing to take two trips to carry shit from one place to another, even if it's likely I'll drop everything.| justin․searls․co
Thanks to a bug in Apple Mail, my Gmail archive likes to revert to sort by ascending date every now and then. Today, I scanned through some of those early emails and stumbled upon this incredible artifact: the e-mail invoice from Apple.com for my first Mac. It was a build-to-order 12" iBook G4 in July 2004. Besides being set in such carefully-coifed monospace plaintext, the invoice provides an almost hilarious level of detail and verbiage by today's standards. Also, it never gets old to marve...| justin․searls․co
A couple years ago, Aaron and I had an idea for a satirical test runner that enforced fast feedback by giving up on running your tests after 1.8 seconds. It's…| justin․searls․co
This Reddit post is better marketing than Kiro's home page. https://www.reddit.com/r/ClaudeAI/s/5I5jXPeKJC| justin․searls․co
Welcome to the first episode of 🔥Hotfix🔥! Breaking Change's first show-within-a-show, wherein I let somebody else talk for once. Each episode will show up as a patch release in the Breaking Change feed and feature guests with Hot takes about a relevant issue and a clear fix in mind for what we can do about it. That first guest is a long-time collaborator and top 5 all-time colleague of mine named Dave Mosher, who's here to drop some truth bombs labeled "agentic coding" on the unsuspecti...| justin․searls․co
I taught Claude Code a new trick this weekend and thought others might appreciate it. I have a very bad habit of staring at my computer screen while waiting for it to do stuff. My go-to solution for this is to make the computer do stuff faster, but there's no getting around it: Claude Code insists on taking an excruciating four or five minutes to accomplish a full day's work. Out of the box, claude rings the terminal bell when it stops out of focus, and that's good enough if you've got other ...| justin․searls․co
If my blog post about Full-breadth Developers has you the tiniest bit curious about how to get started with coding with AI, read this: https://addyo.substack.com/p/the-ai-native-software-engineer| justin․searls․co
If candidates are cheating your interview process by using AI, the solution is not to quiz them on computer science topics. It's to pair with them and watch them cook! If they can cheat with AI better than you can, hire them.| justin․searls․co
People email me asking for my consulting rate and I tell them I'm not taking clients. People email me about my blog post and I give them 3000 words of free consulting over six replies.| justin․searls․co
The software industry is at an inflection point unlike anything in its brief history. Generative AI is all anyone can talk about. It has rendered entire product categories obsolete and upended the job market. With any economic change of this magnitude, there are bound to be winners and losers. So far, it sure looks like full-breadth developers—people with both technical and product capabilities—stand to gain as clear winners. What makes me so sure? Because over the past few months, the en...| justin․searls․co
Anybody else have a recent MacBook Pro (M4 Pro in my case) for which the keyboard suddenly became really squeaky? Every time I hit the space bar, it's like nails on a chalkboard.| justin․searls․co
Using Claude Code makes me realize my trademark disposition that "nobody's work is nearly good enough and I can reflexively list 20 specific ways in which this code sucks" is finally valuable. REALLY valuable.| justin․searls․co
Claude Code gives me better apologies than I think I've ever received from a human.| justin․searls․co
Amazingly, Russian doesn't have a word for "no," only "not yet."| justin․searls․co
Everything we learn about Shizuoka just makes us more excited that we chose it as the place to get a condo. Turns out, it's a huge soccer town! Bonus: Fuji-adjacent stadium 🗻⚽️ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txanTKRQXmI| justin․searls․co
Huge unlock working with Claude Code: Ultrawide mode in Vision Pro's Mac Virtual Display. Keep a terminal off to the side and still have plenty of room for your own work. If Claude is worth $200/mo, this display experience is worth $3500.| justin․searls․co
Today, I want to share with you a handy edit script I use to launch my editor countless times each day. It can: edit posse_party – will launch my editor with project ~/code/searls/posse_party edit -e vim rails/rails – will change to the ~/code/rails/rails directory and run vim edit testdouble/mo[TAB] – will auto-complete to edit testdouble/mocktail edit emoruby – will, if not found locally, clone and open searls/emoruby This script relies on following the convention of organizing work...| justin․searls․co
2008: Social Network 2014: Social Media 2025: Content Platform| justin․searls․co
I have exactly one inbox for reading blogs and following news, and it's expressly not my e-mail client—it's my feed reader. (Looking for a recommendation? Here are some instructions on setting up NetNewsWire; for once, the best app is also the free and open source one.) Anyway, with the rise of Substack and the trend for writers to eschew traditional web publishing in favor of e-mail newsletters, more and more publishers want to tangle their content up in your e-mail. Newsletters work becau...| justin․searls․co
I have returned to the nation of freedom and tariffs and all my shit has stopped working! Which shit? Why? What did I buy now? Listen and find out. Remember, listeners who write in to podcast@searls.co will be spared on judgment day. Website stuff follows:| justin․searls․co
Apologies for lighting up my feed with restaurant photos and reviews for so long—it was an inevitable consequence of being stuck in business hotels for two months. I'm back home and I'm cooking food and my gut is slowly recovering.| justin․searls․co
I visited ハシゴ on May 29, 2025. I gave it a 3.3 on Tabelog.| justin․searls․co
I visited 串焼き居酒屋ゴバン on May 29, 2025. I gave it a 3.3 on Tabelog.| justin․searls․co
I visited 米沢牛・焼肉 さかの on May 29, 2025. I gave it a 3.5 on Tabelog.| justin․searls․co
I visited ピッツェリア エ オスタリア ダヴェッロ on May 29, 2025. I gave it a 3.7 on Tabelog.| justin․searls․co
I visited 餃子 照井 福島駅東口店 on May 29, 2025. I gave it a 3.7 on Tabelog.| justin․searls․co
MCP is doing the heavy lifting here. I've written two "agentic" apps. I immediately realized I could improve both by replacing the LLM part with normal fucking code. The revolution here is MCP shoehorning API access into many more programs and services than we previously had https://worksonmymachine.substack.com/p/mcp-an-accidentally-universal-plugin| justin․searls․co
Hat tip to Kyle Daigle for sending me this Instagram reel: View this post on Instagram A post shared by Justin Searls (@searls) I don't scroll reels, so I'd hardly call myself a well-heeled critic of the form, but I will say I've never heard truer words spoken in a vertical short-form video. It might be helpful to think of the harmony we witness in Japan as a collective bank account with an exceptionally high balance. Everyone deposits into that account all the ingredients necessary for maint...| justin․searls․co
After almost two years of being annoyed by this, I finally submitted the most annoying bug I'm currently dealing with. Filed as feedback FB18414183 with description: For like 2 years (ever since Oppenheimer came out)? I listened to ONE EPISODE of Script Notes by manually navigating to it in the Podcasts app and listening to it. Now, across all my devices—iPad, iPhone, and every Mac, as if it's on some kind of bizarre timer, the Podcasts app will launch to the Script Notes page. Sometimes it...| justin․searls․co
I would love to go to one of these but for the fact that the kind of people who'd love to go to one of these are not my kind of people https://www.theoffline-club.com/| justin․searls․co
If you or a loved one are exhibiting symptoms of Hustlebrosis, please discontinue use of Claude Code and seek help from a medical professional immediately https://www.reddit.com/r/ClaudeAI/s/I5kWGHn2EL| justin․searls․co
I visited さわやか 新静岡セノバ店 on May 24, 2025. I gave it a 3.4 on Tabelog.| justin․searls․co
I visited 鳥藤 on May 24, 2025. I gave it a 3.8 on Tabelog.| justin․searls․co
I visited 多可能 on May 24, 2025. I gave it a 4.0 on Tabelog.| justin․searls․co
I visited 無庵 on May 23, 2025. I gave it a 4.0 on Tabelog.| justin․searls․co
I visited うなぎや せきの on May 22, 2025. I gave it a 3.9 on Tabelog.| justin․searls․co
I visited めしのタネ on May 22, 2025. I gave it a 3.3 on Tabelog.| justin․searls․co
I visited 全国ご当地グルメコート 大宮横丁 on May 22, 2025. I gave it a 3.0 on Tabelog.| justin․searls․co
I visited いづみや 本店 on May 22, 2025. I gave it a 3.4 on Tabelog.| justin․searls․co
What my Japanese friends imagined when I told them I was headed back to Florida| justin․searls․co
I get asked from time to time about the t-shirts I wear every day, so I figured it might save time to document it here. The correct answer to the question is, "whatever the cheapest blank tri-blend crew-neck is." The blend in question refers to a mix of fabrics: cotton, polyester, and rayon. The brand you buy doesn't really matter, since they're all going to be pretty much the same: cheap, lightweight, quick-drying, don't retain odors, and feel surprisingly good on the skin for the price. Thi...| justin․searls․co
I visited 熟成和牛ステーキグリルド エイジング・ビーフ 横浜店 on May 21, 2025. I gave it a 4.0 on Tabelog.| justin․searls․co
So, I built this little bit of UI today as part of an email-based authentication flow for Becky's new app:…| justin․searls․co
Sick of flaky Rails system tests? Try blaming Selenium and swapping it with Playwright! I did and it's going great. Here's how| justin․searls․co