Starting Out — I Don't Write Code

I don't write code, but I build most of my own tools with AI. This blog documents that process — and the real lesson so far: the hard part was never writing the solution, it was figuring out what the actual problem was.

I don't really write code anymore. But almost every tool I use is something I built for myself.

Sounds contradictory, but it really isn't anymore. If you ask AI to build something these days, it usually can. The real problem is somewhere else — most of the time, I don't even know what to ask for.

At one point I thought, "I wish my editor's UI looked more polished." If I'd just told AI to build that, I probably would've gotten something flashy with features I'd never actually use. But when I asked myself why I wanted it polished, the answer was somewhere else entirely. I wanted to run my channel better. That meant fixing my analytics tools first, not the UI. As I dug into the analytics tools, the real problem turned out to be a JSON file I kept editing by hand—and occasionally breaking. Most of the work isn't building the solution. It's discovering what the problem actually is.

This blog is where I write that process down.

What I'm doing here:

Documenting real personal projects I actually use and keep improving
Showing the full arc from "I vaguely want this" to something that actually works
AI writes most of the code. My job is figuring out what I actually want, designing the workflow, and deciding what should be built first

What this isn't:

"Just use this one prompt" style showcases
Reviews or trend roundups of tools I haven't actually used

In a world where AI can build almost anything, I think the skill that actually matters isn't coding — it's knowing precisely what you want. This blog is a record of those attempts.