thinksmall studio

Writing

  1. Alfred, the Batcave, and the Tiny SSH TunnelHow I access a private Hermes dashboard on a VPS without putting it on the public internet: SSH keys, tunnels, ports, and the small command that hides the plumbing.
  2. Why the Cheap AI Model Can Still Cost MoreA simple explanation of API billing, prompt caching, and why a subscription model can feel much cheaper than pay-per-token usage.
  3. The agent is not the harnessTwo words that appear constantly in AI writing and almost never get explained. Here is what they actually mean and why the difference matters.
  4. Alfred lives in Helsinki nowI put an AI on a server in Helsinki. It texts me good morning. Here is what it took to get there, and why it feels different from every other AI tool I have used.
  5. Running AI on your own laptop is real now, but your laptop will remind you of its limitsDownloaded LM Studio today, tried a Google Gemma model, and immediately started wanting a bigger Mac.
  6. Two copies of the same folder, because AI tools can't agree on where to put thingsClaude uses .claude/. Other agents use .agents/. Nobody agreed on this. Here's how to stop duplicating files.
  7. Your agent doesn't know what good looks likeSkills are portable instruction sets for AI coding agents. Here is why that matters, and one skill that actually gets design right.
  8. Multiple git branchesGit lets you have multiple branches checked out at the same time. Here is how that works and when it's useful.
  9. Git Is Just Text Files Pointing at Other Text FilesInside every Git repo is just a folder of small text files pointing at each other. Here is what they are.
  10. How to PromptHow to ask AI better questions: not vague, not clever, just specific and clear.
  11. The AI EcosystemA plain-language map of the AI tools worth knowing: assistants, builders, local runners, and more.
  12. How Claude Code Decides What to Listen ToClaude Code reads several layers of instructions at once. Here is what they are and how they interact.
  13. Building AI ProjectsA step-by-step workflow for building software with AI: from idea to working app.
  14. Claude CodeHow to install Claude Code, what it can do, and how to get the most out of it.
  15. Tools and the CLIIDE extensions like Copilot versus terminal agents like Claude Code: what they are and when to use each.
  16. What is MCPMCP is the standard that lets AI models connect to external tools. Here is what it is and how it works.
  17. The Model LandscapeGPT, Claude, Gemini, Llama: what they are, who makes them, and how to choose.
  18. How LLMs WorkTokens, context windows, temperature, attention: the basics of how a language model actually works, without the hype.
  19. A Brief History of AIFrom the 1956 Dartmouth conference to ChatGPT and beyond: the short version of how we got here.
  20. What AI Actually IsAI is not magic and it is not a person. It is a prediction machine. Here is what that actually means.
  21. A Brief History of How the Web Got So ComplicatedA confused dev's guide to how the web actually works: servers, clients, static vs dynamic, and what all those acronyms really mean.
  22. SSH - The Secret Handshake of the InternetEver wondered what SSH actually *does* when you push to GitHub? This guide breaks it down: keys, tunnels, trust, and why your terminal doesn't ask for your password anymore.
  23. Scroll Containers & OverflowA deep (and slightly magical 🪄) dive into how CSS handles overflowing content, exploring everything from scroll containers to the mysteries of block formatting contexts and stacking order.
  24. Closure & Figure-GroundSome thoughts on how our brains perceive the world around us and how this relates to design.
  25. What are Prime Numbers?A short introduction to prime numbers and how to check if a number is prime
  26. ReactUnderstanding React