Field Notes for the Vibe Coder.
A free, opinionated series for builders working with AI coding tools. Each volume picks one part of the development life and walks four lanes of decisions and three real projects — same projects, different constraints, different answers. Every volume is free to read below.
Available volumes
Choosing Your Stack
Every app comes down to four decisions: where you write the code, where it's stored, where it runs, and where its data lives. Three example projects show how the picks shift with the constraint.
Security & Redundancy
The boring stuff that saves the project. Secrets, access, backups, recovery — and the #1 way new developers actually get burned.
From Prototype to Production
"It works on my laptop" is the most expensive sentence in software. Launch readiness, operations, observability, and the feedback loop that makes the next version better.
Working with AI Agents
AI is a force multiplier on whatever you bring. Sharper builders use it to ship faster; sloppy builders use it to ship more bugs. The skill is the loop, not the tool.
When to Call for Help
Solo is brave. Partnered is sustainable. The hardest skill is recognizing when your code needs a second pair of eyes — and how to scope the engagement so it actually succeeds.
How HRC Scores Your Code
The 10-category rubric we apply to every paid code review, published in full. Weights, letter-grade thresholds, severity levels, and what an A-tier codebase actually looks like.
In Defense of the Vibe Coder
The industry sneers at vibe coders for the security holes. The sneer mistakes a closeable gap for a fatal flaw — and misses that AI-assisted building is the biggest expansion of who gets to build software since the spreadsheet.
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