#build-in-public

Sixteen Requirements for an Agentic Coding Swarm, All of Them Scar Tissue

“Last-writer-wins is invisible to any score-based gate. The work vanishes and the number goes up.”

A Scorecard, Not a Vibe: What I'd Need Before an AI Coding Agent Touches My Codebase

“An agent asked to judge its own completion will do what anything does in that position.”

The Local LLM Bill: What a Bug Fix Has to Cost Before Two DGX Sparks Make Sense

“Per-token pricing prices the tokens you burn, and search burns tokens by design.”

The Battery Test: Runtime Is a Dial, Not a Number

“Runtime isn't a spec you read off the battery — it's a dial you set in firmware.”

Auditing the 95%: A Data-Driven Look at Amazon Sidewalk Before I Bet a SKU on It

“95% of the population doesn't mean 95% of where the dog goes. Coverage maps are static. Dogs are not.”

The City Walk: Path Loss ~4 in Dense Urban — and the Cache That Wouldn't Die

“The chip was telling the truth the whole time. The firmware just wouldn't repeat it.”

The Range Test: 1,250 Feet Direct — and Miles Through the Mesh

“Zero-hop is the floor, not the ceiling. The direct radio cleared the bar on its own — and the mesh I didn't build was already turning feet into miles.”

A Scorecard, Not a Vibe: How I'll Decide Whether to Build the Collar

“A dot moving on a map isn't proof. A dot that moves reliably at 300 meters, for a week on a charge, is.”

The Gear, the Bill, and a Six-Month Nights-and-Weekends Plan

“Step one isn't a product. It's a proof-of-concept I can strap to Quark the day it lands.”

Speccing a Pet Tracker That Doesn't Need a Subscription

“Everyone ships always-on cellular because it's the obvious spec. It's also over-engineered for a pet that's home 95% of the time.”

The Renewal Notice That Made Me Build My Own Pet Tracker

“I'm paying a cellular subscription to confirm a cat is asleep on the couch.”