NOTES ON BUILDING

Building software that ships.

Practical notes on shipping products fast: AI, full stack, and the engineering decisions that actually matter.

accounting integration
What Integrating the Same Accounting System Across Five Clients Taught Me
Five integrations of the same accounting system taught me one thing: the API is never the real problem. Data model mismatches, missing error handling, and unclear ownership of failed syncs are where projects break. Here is what the work actually involves and what to ask before you hire anyone.
Read the guide → 6 min
content automation
How I Built a Content Engine That Rivals Paid Ad Tools at Zero Per Image
Spending hundreds per month on Canva, stock photos, and scheduling tools and still hitting bottlenecks? I built a content engine using open image models and compositing scripts that produces finished ad assets at zero per image after setup. Here is exactly how it works and whether it fits your operation.
Read the guide → 6 min
AI agents
The Unglamorous Timeline of Shipping an AI Agent to Production
What actually happens between 'it works in my notebook' and 'it works for real users.' A phase by phase breakdown of the unglamorous timeline of shipping an AI agent to production, including what causes delays and what a realistic engagement looks like.
Read the guide → 7 min
AI integration
Putting an AI Order Desk into a Decades Old ERP: What Actually Broke
Built an AI order desk on top of a legacy ERP? Here is what actually broke: stale stock data, session auth failures, undocumented schema quirks, and approval workflows the AI could not see. A builder who has shipped this integration explains the real sequence, realistic timeline, and the middleware architecture that keeps the ERP safe.
Read the guide → 6 min
self hosting
Why I Self Host My Whole Automation Stack Instead of Paying for SaaS
Paying $300 to $500 a month for automation tools that keep repricing and limiting you is a solvable problem. This post walks through exactly why I self host my whole automation stack instead of paying for SaaS, what the architecture looks like, and how I migrate clients from a leaky SaaS setup to infrastructure they fully own.
Read the guide → 6 min
api
What I Learned Waiting on API Approvals from Meta, LinkedIn and TikTok
API approvals from Meta, LinkedIn and TikTok can take weeks and derail a product build if you sequence the work wrong. This is what I learned building through those review processes and how to structure the work so the wait does not cost you.
Read the guide → 7 min
ai transformation
What I Learned Waiting on API Approvals From Meta, LinkedIn and TikTok
The AI is rarely the hard part. Getting the platforms to let you publish is. Here is what waiting on Meta, LinkedIn and TikTok API approvals taught me, and how I plan around it now.
Read the guide → 1 min

What Integrating the Same Accounting System Across Five Clients Taught Me

How I Built a Content Engine That Rivals Paid Ad Tools at Zero Per Image

The Unglamorous Timeline of Shipping an AI Agent to Production

Putting an AI Order Desk into a Decades Old ERP: What Actually Broke

Why I Self Host My Whole Automation Stack Instead of Paying for SaaS

What I Learned Waiting on API Approvals from Meta, LinkedIn and TikTok

What I Learned Waiting on API Approvals From Meta, LinkedIn and TikTok