Jerod Santo

Jerod Santo

@jerod.bsky.social

I rate all my best cron jobs * * * * * jerodsanto.net is cross-posted to this account, POSSE-style

470 followers19 following45 posts

Jerod Santo
@jerod.bsky.social

I'm observing a change in my computing desires that is both exciting and concerning. I don't really want other people's software anymore. I much prefer my own, personalized clone of other people's software. jerodsanto.net/2026/10/vibe...

jerodsanto.netVibe cloning all the thingsI’m observing a change in my computing desires that is both exciting and concerning. Exciting because my life is more fun and fulfilling this way. Concerning because of what it all means. Let me …
Jerod Santo
@jerod.bsky.social

As I made my way through @socket.dev's onboarding materials, I was pleasantly surprised to see Ken Thompson’s "Reflections on Trusting Trust" in the list of required reading. I pulled a few quotes and jotted down notes as I went: jerodsanto.net/2026/09/refl...

jerodsanto.netReflections on Reflections on Trusting TrustAs I made my way through Socket’s onboarding materials, I was pleasantly surprised to see Ken Thompson’s Reflections on Trusting Trust in the list of required reading. I read this essay as part of my ...
Jerod Santo
@jerod.bsky.social

I want Claude to keep writing software for me, but I’m done with: “smoking gun” “load baring” “honest opinion” “just say the word” “you’re right to push back” “shapes the entire conversation” Thankfully, I recently stumbled upon an easy trick that helped immensely jerodsanto.net/2026/08/clau...

jerodsanto.netMake Claude Code sufferable with this one easy trickWith every auto-update, Claude Code has gotten better at writing software. What it hasn’t improved at, tragically, is communicating to me in a way that doesn’t make me want to punch it square in the /...
Jerod Santo
@jerod.bsky.social

GitHub is having issues? I didn't notice Forgejo is now my default git origin Had Claude set it up on my mac mini Served to my entire Tailnet Took less than 30 minutes I'm not the first one Nor will I be the last GitHub is in legit trouble

Jerod Santo
@jerod.bsky.social

Sometimes, while agentic coding… I feel like Michael Scott. Sometimes, while agentic coding... I feel like Jean-Luc Picard. Hey, wait, what is Bill Lumbergh doing here?! Find out: jerodsanto.net/2026/07/of-t...

jerodsanto.netOf two minds about agentic codingSometimes, while agentic coding… I feel like Michael Scott: Dunder Mifflin’s best salesman who got Peter principle’d into a management role1 he’s kinda terrible at and now spends his days watching oth...
Jerod Santo
@jerod.bsky.social

I see Claude’s writing style on Reddit, I see it on X, I see it on Hacker News, and I see it on LinkedIn. I hear Claude’s voice in a house, I hear Claude’s voice with a mouse. jerodsanto.net/2026/06/clau...

jerodsanto.netClaude's writing style has me on edgeI was enjoying Benn Stancil’s latest column1 on generalized vs specialized models (his typical, punchy, link-ridden screed) until this paragraph jump scared me: And that’s the turn nobody priced in. ...
Jerod Santo
@jerod.bsky.social

Had Apple’s software engineers been equipped with AI coding agents back in 1983, much of the work would’ve been easier to accomplish. But shipping?! That’s one thing AI isn’t a huge help with (yet). jerodsanto.net/2026/06/real...

jerodsanto.netReal artists still shipThe legendary adage Steve Jobs deployed to push the original Macintosh team over the finish line has outlived the hardware it helped ship. Had Apple’s software engineers been equipped with AI coding a...
Jerod Santo
@jerod.bsky.social

Simplicity has a marketing problem. It’s hard to achieve, but it looks easy. Unimpressive, even. In a humble attempt to convince you that simplicity is a virtue worth working toward, here’s an unordered list of impressively simple systems that I think are great. jerodsanto.net/2026/05/simp...

jerodsanto.netSimple systems are the best systemsWhen it comes to systems design, John Gall knew his stuff. He even has a LAW1 about it: A complex system that works is invariably found to have evolved from a simple system that worked. A complex sys...
Jerod Santo
@jerod.bsky.social

You can take me out of software, but you can't take software out of me 🤷‍♂️

jerodsanto.netPlanting trees and dreaming of softwareI guess I can’t help myself. ¯(ツ)/¯ When I retired from The Changelog two months back, the only real plan I had1 was to plant a little tree farm on our land.2 Check! ✅ It might not look like much,3 but that’s 250 evergreen seedlings, planted and mulched.4 Oh, and watered. Sooo much water. I was going to install a drip system immediately, but that’s an entirely different story. For now, it’s been all manual watering, baby… 🚿
Jerod Santo
@jerod.bsky.social

After 13 years, 1042 podcasts, 452 newsletters, and countless friends made along the way...

jerodsanto.netSo long, and thanks for all the logsAfter 13 years, 1042 podcasts, 452 newsletters, and countless friends made along the way… it’s time to say goodbye to The Changelog. I shipped my final News last Monday and Adam shipped our Friends finale yesterday. For reasons I cannot explain, during “big change” moments like this my brain shoots clichés at me like Nitro fired tennis balls at approaching American Gladiator contenders.1 “Parting is such sweet sorrow” “All good things must come to an end”
Jerod Santo
@jerod.bsky.social

I'm not the only one who's feeling it, am I?

jerodsanto.netAgentic anxietyOne fascinating part of our conversation1 with Steve Ruiz from tldraw started when he confessed that he feels bad going to bed without his Claudes working on something. I share the feeling. But why? We analyze it on the pod, but I wanted to jot down some thoughts here as well, if for no other reason but to get it out of my head. Just one more level… After talking with tldraw Steve, I read a different Steve’s confession post, AI Vampire, in which he points to one aspect of what’s going on: good ol’ fashion addiction
Jerod Santo
@jerod.bsky.social

"I'm not condensating, you're condensating." "Sir, this is a Wendy's."

jerodsanto.net7 phrases that need to die before I doGod, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to make people stop typing this drivel into textareas near me. Tell me you’re $X without telling me you’re $X1 You 👏 don’t 👏 have 👏 to 👏 clap 👏 between 👏 words2 I was today years old when…3 The. One. Where. Every. Word. Is. A. Sentence.4 I don’t know who needs to hear this…5 I’m not crying, you’re crying.6 Six Seven7 That’s all for now. I’m sure I’ll despise future phrases in the future. Before I go, here’s one more from the past: “automagically” is a dumb word (but makes for a pretty good song)
Jerod Santo
@jerod.bsky.social

Batten down the hatches. "Show Hacker News" signals the coming flood. 🌊

jerodsanto.netThe shovelware comethIn September of last year, I covered a post by Mike Judge arguing that AI coding claims don’t add up, in which he asked this question: If so many developers are so extraordinarily productive using these tools, where is the flood of shovelware? We should be seeing apps of all shapes and sizes, video games, new websites, mobile apps, software-as-a-service apps — we should be drowning in choice. We should be in the middle of an indie software revolution. We should be seeing 10,000 Tetris clones on Steam.
Jerod Santo
@jerod.bsky.social

Custom software? Embrace. Extend. Enjoy!

jerodsanto.netThinking about custom software in a new wayAt this point, anybody saying things about AI’s usefulness in software development like notch did on X the other day is either a) burying their head in the sand, b) an old man yelling at clouds, or c) seriously entrenched for some other reason. Here’s notch’s take, so you don’t have to bounce: Reminder that using AI to write code is an incredibly bad idea still, and anyone advocating for it is either incompetent or evil.
Jerod Santo
@jerod.bsky.social

Remember when people used to say *boss*, when they were describing something that was really cool?

jerodsanto.netRemember when people used to say *boss*, when they were describing something that was really cool?One of my goals when I refreshed my blog was to publish with Hugo, but write with Obsidian. Turns out that was as simple as: ln -s ~/src/jerodsanto/net/content/posts ~/Dropbox/obsidian/Jerod/blog That’s a good start, but once I’m writing in Obsidian… I don’t exactly want to leave. There’s friction when managing various Hugo tasks from a separate terminal session. So, I had Claude Code write me an Obsidian plugin to add those features. It’s called Hugo Boss1 and I submitted it to the Obsidian community plugins list, so hopefully you’ll be able to install it from there soon2. The plugin adds a button that has four features today:
Jerod Santo
@jerod.bsky.social

How companies are sponsoring OSS 🎙️ https://changelog.fm/539

changelog.fmHow companies are sponsoring OSS with Alyssa Wright, Chad Whitacre & Duane O’Brien (Changelog Interviews #539)This week we’re celebrating Maintainer Month along with our friends at GitHub. Open source runs the world, but who runs open source? Maintainers. Open source maintainers are behind the software we use everyday, but they don’t always have the community or support they need. That’s why we’re celebrating open source maint...
Jerod Santo
@jerod.bsky.social

Just dropped the latest Changelog News 💥 https://changelog.com/news/43

changelog.comMojo might be huge, chatbots aren't it, big tech lacks an AI moat & monoliths are not dinosaurs (Changelog News #43)Jeremy Howard thinks Mojo might be the biggest programming language advance in decades, Amelia Wattenberger is not impressed by AI chatbots, a leaked Google memo admits big tech has no AI moats & Werner Vogels reminds us that monoliths are not dinosaurs.
Jerod Santo
@jerod.bsky.social

José and his team have been working on some really cool stuff. It’s always fun catching up with him https://changelog.fm/538

changelog.fmLivebook's big launch week featuring José Valim (Changelog Interviews #538)José Valim joins Jerod to talk all about what’s new in Livebook – the Elixir-based interactive code notebook he’s been working on the last few years. José made a big bet when he decided to bring machine learning to Elixir. That bet is now paying off with amazing new capabilities such as building and deploying a Whisper...

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