I recently launched Trivet, and I've enjoyed seeing people install it on websites ranging from personal homepages to business blogs.
Before AI, Trivet would have taken me a few weeks to build. Now, Codex wrote the first version in 40 minutes.
In the past, building software was so difficult that launching something was impressive in and of itself. But as things get easier to build, it's harder to stand out. Code has become content - abundant, disposable, something you produce rather than labor over. We've transitioned from "make something people want" to "make anything you want".
For example, I'll open-source the theme powering this site. A few years ago, this would have represented a lot of work. There would have been utility for people making their own templates. Instead, today it's a footnote - a curiosity for those who want to "view source" on this website and see how it works.
As a maker, AI enables me to build more and faster than I ever could have dreamed. But projects are no longer the investment they used to be. I find myself with decision fatigue - I ask "what should I build next?" every few days, instead of every few months. In the age of AI, it's harder to think of a "big project" to work on slowly in my free time.
With code getting easier, I find myself thinking more about data. My old coworker Jason posted a video about using Claude Code to organize his notes. There's so much useful knowledge spread out across many sources. People know Claude for writing code, but its superpower is searching and understanding thousands of files.
When I went to Japan last year, I wanted to ask "what is every Tokyo coffee shop and jazz kissa mentioned on craigmod.com," but I couldn't. That desire led me to build Contraption MCP - so I could have a research agent over my writing. The first time I used it and got a real answer synthesized from years of posts, it felt like a new kind of utility - a digital proprioception enabling me to fluidly navigate and explore my writing.
Exploring information is still a hard problem in the age of AI. MCP is useful, but more of a technical protocol. "RSS for AI," as Stan summarized to me.
The next project I'm contemplating is codenamed "Bell" — a search agent for this blog, built on top of the Contraption MCP. I want it to be more accessible than raw MCP: something you can use in a browser, drawing on a variety of sources. It could answer questions like "which craft-focused books are mentioned on this blog," but also "how does subscriber export work on Postcard." Part of the motivation for Bell is building software for myself. But, the other part is continuing to explore the future of digital tools through making projects.
So, what should I build next? Two things feel true: we should default to building for ourselves, and understanding our own data is where some hard problems now live.
I think the widespread impulse to take a photo of everything is in fact, at root, a creative one. It reflects a desire to not just receive life passively, but to intervene in it creatively: To frame the shot, to find the most compelling angle, to draw out the emotion, to honor the light… to participate.
- This life gives you nothing, Blackbird Spyplane
