I had something of an epiphany1 while creating this site.

Every single line of code2 on this site has been written by AI. Mostly with Codex but with Claude as well when I ran out of tokens. The original idea, two years ago, was to test how simple it would be to get a static site up and running. I got it working, but I just didn't use the blog at all and left it rotting on the Internet until a few days ago when I got an itch to do something with it.

While I am somewhat of a heavy user of AI, refactoring the earlier site really made it tangible how much the AI workflow has changed in the last two years. From chat & copy-pasting to building with agents is more than a vibe change, it's the difference between being knee-deep in code blocks and letting an assistant handle the dirty parts while you try to decide and express clearly what you really want3.

Instead of chatting and doing cmd-c/cmd-v between ChatGPT and VS Code, the new way of working is about brainstorming and planning with AI in the terminal4, with execution largely hidden. Getting different options and changing anything from layout to publishing workflow is almost too easy. What would a different layout look like? Just command5 AI to create four different options and choose one, or discard all of them.

It would be easy to say no one is going to need professionally built software anymore. In fact, after all this I have more respect for professional developers who are able to direct agents to a more robust solution without hours of back-and-forth. Solving those "pesky" little problems like syncing across devices and protecting content integrity is a lot harder than it sounds.

I might feel differently in two more years, but I still mostly want to use apps someone else made. A well-designed and thoughtful app made by someone who cares about it is a joy.

Empowerment doesn't take away respect for professional work.

Footnotes

  1. or just coffee overdose ↩

  2. but none of the content! ↩

  3. yes yes, this is a simple static site, more complex applications are still a different thing. For now at least. ↩

  4. I did originally try the Codex app as well as Codex on the web, but using the terminal was just so much easier. Less secure, but easier. ↩

  5. command, not ask. This is another learning: asking nicely takes much more tokens compared to simple commands. ↩