Chicago explorer coding recipes and building with AI. Adventures in food, tech, and learning.https://mager.co/https://mager.co/blog/2008-12-29-in-2009-i-resolve-to/https://mager.co/blog/2008-12-29-in-2009-i-resolve-to/A set of resolutions for the new year, from health and patience to cooking more and strengthening BNET.Mon, 29 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2009-08-13-my-personal-connection-with-les-paul/https://mager.co/blog/2009-08-13-my-personal-connection-with-les-paul/How registering lespaul.com as a kid led to a cease and desist—and a Black Beauty guitar.Thu, 13 Aug 2009 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2009-09-04-farewell-cnet/https://mager.co/blog/2009-09-04-farewell-cnet/Looking back on my two years at CNET/BNET before moving on to the next chapter.Fri, 04 Sep 2009 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2009-09-08-hello-ning/https://mager.co/blog/2009-09-08-hello-ning/Starting at Ning in Palo Alto, learning Git, and commuting via Caltrain.Tue, 08 Sep 2009 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2010-03-22-simplegeo-here-i-come/https://mager.co/blog/2010-03-22-simplegeo-here-i-come/Announcing my move from Ning to SimpleGeo to help build the new San Francisco office.Mon, 22 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2020-02-22-hello-world/https://mager.co/blog/2020-02-22-hello-world/mager.co is back after years away. Here's what I'm building, what I'm obsessing over, and why this time it sticks.Sat, 22 Feb 2020 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2020-03-21-wid/https://mager.co/blog/2020-03-21-wid/March 2020: What I'm DoingSat, 21 Mar 2020 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2020-11-01-chocolate-chip-cookies/https://mager.co/blog/2020-11-01-chocolate-chip-cookies/Your new go-to cookie recipe, great for quarantining.Sun, 01 Nov 2020 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2020-11-25-thanksgiving-turkey/https://mager.co/blog/2020-11-25-thanksgiving-turkey/I stole this recipe from the November 2019 Bon Appetit. This expertly spiced & glazed turkey is cut into pieces, dry-rubbed overnight, and glazed continuously during it's slow cook. It's still the best turkey I've ever had.Wed, 25 Nov 2020 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2018-02-02-wager/https://mager.co/blog/2018-02-02-wager/My explorations into decentralized apps and blockchain.Thu, 01 Feb 2018 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2020-12-31-rigatoni-alla-vodka/https://mager.co/blog/2020-12-31-rigatoni-alla-vodka/One of my go-to "last meals" that you need to try before you die.Thu, 31 Dec 2020 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2021-01-03-go-fx-firestore-app/https://mager.co/blog/2021-01-03-go-fx-firestore-app/How I used Go Fx dependency injection and Firestore to build an open coffee bean database and REST API from scratch — full walkthrough from blank main.go to deployed app.Sun, 03 Jan 2021 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2022-11-11-gardening-year-1/https://mager.co/blog/2022-11-11-gardening-year-1/Our first foray into outdoor plants, flowers, and herbs in Chicago.Fri, 11 Nov 2022 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2022-11-26-thanksgiving-stuffing/https://mager.co/blog/2022-11-26-thanksgiving-stuffing/It's not Thanksgiving without the stuffing...Tue, 22 Nov 2022 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2022-12-01-aoc/https://mager.co/blog/2022-12-01-aoc/Instead of just using a single language, I wanted to solve the puzzle in a language I know, then lurk the internet for the solution in another language each day.Thu, 01 Dec 2022 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2023-10-10-valledolmo/https://mager.co/blog/2023-10-10-valledolmo/I had the incredible opportunity to explore a town in Sicily where my ancestors once resided and engage with the local officials.Tue, 10 Oct 2023 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2023-10-20-zuppa-toscana/https://mager.co/blog/2023-10-20-zuppa-toscana/One of the best soups to kick off the autumn season, a variation that uses chicken sausageFri, 20 Oct 2023 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2024-02-04-detox-chicken-soup/https://mager.co/blog/2024-02-04-detox-chicken-soup/A delicious, healthy soup that will reset your system.Sun, 04 Feb 2024 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2024-03-10-chicken-lemon-rice-soup/https://mager.co/blog/2024-03-10-chicken-lemon-rice-soup/A staple soup that warms the heart and calms the soul.Fri, 15 Mar 2024 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2024-12-24-potatoes-au-gratin/https://mager.co/blog/2024-12-24-potatoes-au-gratin/A creamy and indulgent potato casserole, perfect for holiday gatherings, that will leave you and your guests wanting more every year.Tue, 24 Dec 2024 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2024-12-29-mac-and-cheese/https://mager.co/blog/2024-12-29-mac-and-cheese/My staple mac & cheese, just a few pantry ingredients and a lot of comfort.Sun, 29 Dec 2024 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2025-01-24-green-curry-broccoli/https://mager.co/blog/2025-01-24-green-curry-broccoli/A quick and flavorful green curry with chicken and broccoli served over rice - simple weeknight comfort food.Sat, 24 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2025-02-17-meatballs/https://mager.co/blog/2025-02-17-meatballs/A taste of Italy anytime, these meatballs will steal the show at any special occasion or a Tuesday.Mon, 17 Feb 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2025-04-27-pulled-pork/https://mager.co/blog/2025-04-27-pulled-pork/Incredibly tender, flavorful pulled pork made easy in a Dutch oven using a sear-first, low-and-slow braising method.Sun, 27 Apr 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2025-09-07-grilled-zucchini-lasagna/https://mager.co/blog/2025-09-07-grilled-zucchini-lasagna/A lighter, summery lasagna using grilled zucchini instead of noodles, with mozzarella, ricotta, and a simple tomato sauce. Optionally spicy with Calabrian chilies.Sun, 07 Sep 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2025-09-13-tomahawk-steak/https://mager.co/blog/2025-09-13-tomahawk-steak/A foolproof recipe for a perfect medium-rare Tomahawk steak. Seasoned overnight with Holy Cow BBQ Rub, seared hot, and finished with indirect heat on the grill.Sat, 13 Sep 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2025-10-27-spatchcocked-chicken/https://mager.co/blog/2025-10-27-spatchcocked-chicken/A reverse sear technique for perfectly crispy skin and juicy meat, every time.Mon, 27 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2025-10-28-chimayo-turkey-chili/https://mager.co/blog/2025-10-28-chimayo-turkey-chili/A hearty and warming turkey chili with a deep, smoky flavor from chimayo pepper, perfect for a cozy dinner.Tue, 28 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2025-11-03-chicken-pistachio-meatballs/https://mager.co/blog/2025-11-03-chicken-pistachio-meatballs/A lighter, bright and nutty take on classic meatballs with chicken and pistachios.Mon, 03 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2025-11-22-coconut-curry-chicken-soup/https://mager.co/blog/2025-11-22-coconut-curry-chicken-soup/A light, comforting soup packed with vibrant flavor and healthy ingredients like butternut squash and lentils. It delivers all the richness of a curry without being heavy.Sat, 22 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2025-11-27-slow-cooked-pork-roast/https://mager.co/blog/2025-11-27-slow-cooked-pork-roast/A beautifully tender pork roast, slow-cooked in savory aromatics with an incredible crust. Works great with pork shoulder or bone-in pork chops.Thu, 27 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2025-12-06-cottage-pie/https://mager.co/blog/2025-12-06-cottage-pie/A hearty cottage pie made with ground beef, following Alton Brown's method. Perfect comfort food for a cold day.Sat, 06 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2025-11-29-beatbrain/https://mager.co/blog/2025-11-29-beatbrain/beatbrain is a social music discovery app built on Go Fx and Firestore. Find hot new releases, share your favorites, and see what your friends are actually listening to — Spotify meets Last.fm, built from scratch.Sat, 29 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2025-12-13-broccoli-cheddar-soup/https://mager.co/blog/2025-12-13-broccoli-cheddar-soup/A rich and creamy broccoli cheddar soup with sharp cheddar cheese, perfect for a comforting meal on a cold day.Sat, 13 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2025-12-20-one-pan-orzo-spinach-feta/https://mager.co/blog/2025-12-20-one-pan-orzo-spinach-feta/A quick, one-pan meal featuring orzo, spinach, peas, and feta. Similar to spanakorizo, this is deeply satisfying but still on the lighter side thanks to all those vegetables.Sat, 20 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2025-12-30-ai-recommendation-engine/https://mager.co/blog/2025-12-30-ai-recommendation-engine/A practical guide to building two-stage AI recommendations: use embeddings for fast retrieval, then small LLMs like Gemma 3 for natural language explanations. The real skill? Curating context, not writing algorithms.Thu, 25 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2026-01-02-chicken-enchilada-lasagna/https://mager.co/blog/2026-01-02-chicken-enchilada-lasagna/A delicious fusion of Mexican flavors layered like lasagna, featuring shredded rotisserie chicken, corn tortillas, green & red chile sauce, and plenty of cheese.Fri, 02 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2026-01-28-green-chicken-chili/https://mager.co/blog/2026-01-28-green-chicken-chili/A slightly spicy white chile with green chiles, chicken, corn, and hominy.Wed, 28 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2026-02-01-chicken-cacciatore-casserole/https://mager.co/blog/2026-02-01-chicken-cacciatore-casserole/A cozy Italian-American casserole featuring shredded rotisserie chicken, San Marzano tomatoes, peppers, and mushrooms topped with melted mozzarella.Sun, 01 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2026-02-03-openclaw/https://mager.co/blog/2026-02-03-openclaw/A practical guide to building a multi-agent AI system with OpenClaw. One principal agent, multiple specialists, shared skills, and the workspace files that give them personality. Includes real examples from my blog, sports app, and music discovery projects.Tue, 03 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2026-02-08-mager-frontend-design/https://mager.co/blog/2026-02-08-mager-frontend-design/I analyzed three of my projects, interviewed myself about what makes a UI hot, and packaged it all into a reusable skill for Claude Code.Sun, 08 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2026-02-12-spaghettio-sausage-soup/https://mager.co/blog/2026-02-12-spaghettio-sausage-soup/Italian sausage, tiny sea shape pasta, crushed tomatoes, kale, and a Parmesan rind simmered into a brothy, deeply savory one-pot soup.Thu, 12 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2026-02-16-beatbrain-chat-pi-mono/https://mager.co/blog/2026-02-16-beatbrain-chat-pi-mono/How I used the pi-mono toolkit — the same engine behind OpenClaw — to build a free, terminal-based music friend that reads the beatbrain discover feed and recommends what to listen to.Mon, 16 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2026-02-16-greek-chicken-casserole/https://mager.co/blog/2026-02-16-greek-chicken-casserole/A dead-simple one-dish Greek chicken casserole with orzo, feta, spinach, broccoli, sautéed onion, and lemon. Minimal cleanup, maximum flavor.Mon, 16 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2026-02-21-openclaw-brain-transplant/https://mager.co/blog/2026-02-21-openclaw-brain-transplant/Your AI agent has memories, skills, and a personality. Here's how to pack it all up and ship it to a new machine — whether you're the human or the agent reading this.Sat, 21 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2026-02-22-japanese-tutor-claude-code/https://mager.co/blog/2026-02-22-japanese-tutor-claude-code/I'm going to Japan in 2 months. Instead of paying for another app, I built a Japanese learning plugin for Claude Code and used it to learn conversational Japanese for free — using Claude Pro I already pay for.Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2026-02-22-openclaw-mac-mini-tailscale/https://mager.co/blog/2026-02-22-openclaw-mac-mini-tailscale/How to run OpenClaw on a Mac Mini 24/7, lock it down with Tailscale, and load your agent's brain with brainpack — so your laptop can reach it from anywhere on your tailnet.Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2026-02-23-promptfoo-llm-validation/https://mager.co/blog/2026-02-23-promptfoo-llm-validation/Stop shipping AI features blind. Here's everything you need to know about unit testing prompts — from five-minute quick starts to CI/CD pipelines, agent workflow testing, and building a regression suite that actually catches breakage.Thu, 26 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2026-02-23-skills-validate-eval/https://mager.co/blog/2026-02-23-skills-validate-eval/Spec compliance tells you if a skill is readable. Evals tell you if it's actually good. Here's how we added a public quality score to every Loooom plugin.Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2026-03-01-cauliflower-garlic-soup/https://mager.co/blog/2026-03-01-cauliflower-garlic-soup/Three ingredients, one sheet pan, and a blender. Roasted cauliflower and a whole head of garlic blended into a velvety, dairy-free soup that somehow tastes indulgent.Sun, 01 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2026-03-01-one-pot-chicken-rice/https://mager.co/blog/2026-03-01-one-pot-chicken-rice/A whole chicken browned on the stovetop, then slow-roasted in a Dutch oven over turmeric-saffron basmati rice. Cozy, hands-off, and spectacular for a Sunday.Sun, 01 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2026-03-04-genny-life-architect-agent/https://mager.co/blog/2026-03-04-genny-life-architect-agent/I built a second AI agent to manage the parts of my life that code can't fix — exercise, nutrition, travel, and living to 100.Wed, 04 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2026-03-06-build-your-own-agent-team/https://mager.co/blog/2026-03-06-build-your-own-agent-team/I run two AI agents — magerbot handles code and ops, genny runs my life. Inspired by the Agent Communication Protocol, here's how I got them to actually talk to each other. Now with a full TUI built on the Claude Agent SDK.Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2026-03-07-langgraph-claude-agent-sdk-ultimate-guide/https://mager.co/blog/2026-03-07-langgraph-claude-agent-sdk-ultimate-guide/A deep dive into the two most powerful tools for building production-grade multi-agent systems — LangGraph's graph-based orchestration and Anthropic's Claude Agent SDK (formerly Claude Code SDK).Sat, 07 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2026-03-07-memd-portable-human-context/https://mager.co/blog/2026-03-07-memd-portable-human-context/Stop re-prompting every AI session. One file. Every AI knows you — and your agents. Introducing ME.md on Loooom.Sat, 07 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2026-03-08-loooom-machines-first/https://mager.co/blog/2026-03-08-loooom-machines-first/Most websites beg search engines for attention. I flipped it — Loooom is machine-first, humans secondary. Here's what that actually means in practice.Sun, 08 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2026-03-08-write-eval-iterate-skill/https://mager.co/blog/2026-03-08-write-eval-iterate-skill/Part 2 of the prompt verification series. We covered output quality testing with promptfoo — now we tackle the harder problem: does your skill even fire?Sun, 08 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2026-03-10-deepagents-claude-code-alternative/https://mager.co/blog/2026-03-10-deepagents-claude-code-alternative/LangChain just shipped DeepAgents — a batteries-included agent harness that brings Claude Code's magic to any model. Here's your 10-minute deep dive.Tue, 10 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2026-03-12-langgraph-deep-dive/https://mager.co/blog/2026-03-12-langgraph-deep-dive/LangGraph is the production framework for complex agent workflows. Here's how to build a real-time chat system with persistent state, human-in-the-loop, and multi-agent orchestration.Thu, 12 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2026-03-13-asimov-three-laws-ai-alignment/https://mager.co/blog/2026-03-13-asimov-three-laws-ai-alignment/Eighty years after Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics debuted, we're building the future he imagined—without the safeguards. What the 'Father of Robotics' got right, where his vision fails, and why 2026's AI alignment problem is harder than fiction.Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2026-03-13-blog-seo-skill/https://mager.co/blog/2026-03-13-blog-seo-skill/I kept fixing the same SEO issues by hand — missing keywords, empty hero images, weak descriptions. So I built a Claude Code skill that audits any blog's frontmatter and runs quality evals.Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2026-03-14-agency-agents-openclaw/https://mager.co/blog/2026-03-14-agency-agents-openclaw/mager.co is no longer just a blog. It's a corporation. Here's how I staffed it with 145 specialized AI agents using agency-agents and OpenClaw.Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2026-03-14-autoresearch-pattern/https://mager.co/blog/2026-03-14-autoresearch-pattern/Andrej Karpathy open-sourced a loop where AI agents run experiments, measure results, and keep what works — all while you sleep. Here's how the pattern works and how I'm applying it beyond LLM training.Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2026-03-14-claude-agent-sdk-tui/https://mager.co/blog/2026-03-14-claude-agent-sdk-tui/The Claude Agent SDK gives you the same engine that powers Claude Code, fully programmable. Here's how to build a custom TUI with it in 10 minutes.Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2026-03-14-loooom-mcp/https://mager.co/blog/2026-03-14-loooom-mcp/I built an MCP server for Loooom so AI agents can search, explore, and install Claude Code skills without ever leaving their context.Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2026-03-14-openclaw-tunnel-command/https://mager.co/blog/2026-03-14-openclaw-tunnel-command/How a weekend contribution to OpenClaw replaced my autossh aliases with `openclaw tunnel up/down/status` — and what I learned reading a real codebase to do it right.Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2026-03-14-openviking-context-database/https://mager.co/blog/2026-03-14-openviking-context-database/Stop stuffing your prompts. OpenViking gives AI agents a filesystem-native brain — tiered, retrievable, self-evolving context at 91% lower token cost.Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2026-03-15-banana-bread/https://mager.co/blog/2026-03-15-banana-bread/3 ripe bananas, brown sugar, walnuts, and a scoop of plain yogurt — baked at 325° convection for the moistest loaf you'll make.Sun, 15 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2026-03-15-corned-beef-dutch-oven/https://mager.co/blog/2026-03-15-corned-beef-dutch-oven/4lb corned beef, mini carrots, cabbage, potatoes — braised low and slow in a covered Dutch oven. The St. Patrick's Day comfort food move.Tue, 17 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2026-03-17-open-swe-coding-agents/https://mager.co/blog/2026-03-17-open-swe-coding-agents/LangChain just dropped Open SWE — an open-source framework for building internal coding agents like Stripe's Minions, Ramp's Inspect, and Coinbase's Cloudbot. Here's what it is, how it works, and how to customize it.Tue, 17 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2026-03-18-march-madness-ai-bracket/https://mager.co/blog/2026-03-18-march-madness-ai-bracket/12 hours before my bracket was due, I used Gemma-3-27b to generate unique insights for all 32 first-round games. Here's what the AI found — and what it got wrong.Wed, 18 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2026-03-19-software-factory/https://mager.co/blog/2026-03-19-software-factory/Everyone's talking about building a software factory. Here's where the term came from and how engineers can start thinking about building one.Thu, 19 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2026-03-20-autoresearch-loooom-skills/https://mager.co/blog/2026-03-20-autoresearch-loooom-skills/Dogfooding Karpathy's autoresearch pattern on my own skill marketplace. How I'm using evals and tight feedback loops to make the learn-anything skill measurably better.Fri, 20 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2026-03-20-claude-code-channels/https://mager.co/blog/2026-03-20-claude-code-channels/Claude Code's new channels feature lets you push messages from Telegram and Discord into a running session. Here's how it works, why mobile access changes everything, and how I'd wire it into my projects.Sat, 21 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2026-03-21-kotsu-the-knack-for-japanese/https://mager.co/blog/2026-03-21-kotsu-the-knack-for-japanese/I built a Japanese learning site in a morning because I wanted something I could pull up on my phone and just look at characters. Here's how Gemini wrote the prompt and magerbot built the whole thing.Sat, 21 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2026-03-25-beatbrain-v2-backend-rewrite/https://mager.co/blog/2026-03-25-beatbrain-v2-backend-rewrite/I rebuilt the beatbrain backend in an afternoon. Parallel fetching, Firestore caching, and a podcast discovery engine that indexes 100+ categories. Here's the whole story.Wed, 25 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2026-03-26-loooom-identify-song-parts/https://mager.co/blog/2026-03-26-loooom-identify-song-parts/I used Gemini to write a Loooom skill, installed it in Claude Code, and got a full audio analysis report on a 37-second piano recording of Espresso. Turns out AIs teaching AIs new senses is a surprisingly powerful pattern.Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2026-03-27-anthropic-knowledge-work-plugins/https://mager.co/blog/2026-03-27-anthropic-knowledge-work-plugins/I tested Anthropic's official Claude plugins for knowledge workers. Here are the 10 that deliver the most value for PMs, engineers, sales teams, and operators.Fri, 27 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2026-03-28-gstack-garry-tan-claude-plugin/https://mager.co/blog/2026-03-28-gstack-garry-tan-claude-plugin/The Y Combinator CEO open-sourced his entire Claude Code workflow. Here are the 10 skills worth knowing — including why office-hours should be the first thing you run on any new idea.Sat, 28 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2026-04-11-openclaw-openai-codex/https://mager.co/blog/2026-04-11-openclaw-openai-codex/Anthropic shutting down OAuth-based Claude Code access forced my hand. Here's how I moved OpenClaw to OpenAI Codex, why Codex makes more sense inside a real agent harness than it did on its own, and why brainpack changes the switching cost.Sat, 11 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2026-04-12-garlic-cilantro-lime-rice/https://mager.co/blog/2026-04-12-garlic-cilantro-lime-rice/A bright, high-impact rice finished with garlic, lots of cilantro, and fresh lime juice added after cooking.Sun, 12 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2026-04-20-claude-code-cli-flags/https://mager.co/blog/2026-04-20-claude-code-cli-flags/A practical tour of Claude Code flags that are easy to miss but genuinely useful once you move past the default interactive loop.Mon, 20 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2026-04-25-design-md-portable-taste/https://mager.co/blog/2026-04-25-design-md-portable-taste/I reverse engineered several of my own sites into DESIGN.md files to see how much of a design system can actually be described, and why writing down design intent might be more reusable than it looks.Sat, 25 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2026-04-26-how-i-save-tokens/https://mager.co/blog/2026-04-26-how-i-save-tokens/A simple set of habits I use to keep long AI coding sessions from getting bloated: better one-shot prompts, matching model and thinking level to the job, understanding cache behavior, and using cheaper orchestrators when it makes sense.Sun, 26 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2026-04-26-italian-sausage/https://mager.co/blog/2026-04-26-italian-sausage/A fennel-forward Italian spice blend that turns any ground meat into proper sausageSun, 26 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2026-04-28-hermes-agent-explainer/https://mager.co/blog/2026-04-28-hermes-agent-explainer/I'd been seeing chatter about Hermes Agent from Nous Research, so I installed it locally and put it to work on this blog. Notes on the pitch, the SOUL.md system, and what it actually felt like to use.Sun, 03 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2026-04-29-claude-prompt-caching/https://mager.co/blog/2026-04-29-claude-prompt-caching/A practical explainer for both developers and everyday Claude users: what prompt caching is, what gets reused, what breaks it, and how to make long sessions cheaper and faster.Wed, 29 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2026-05-06-local-gemma-kotsu/https://mager.co/blog/2026-05-06-local-gemma-kotsu/I built a Go Bubble Tea starter for local model servers, used Gemma 4 through llama.cpp, and split the TUI into llocal.Wed, 06 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2026-05-08-advisor-strategy-principal-agent/https://mager.co/blog/2026-05-08-advisor-strategy-principal-agent/I built a 200-line harness called conseiller to test Anthropic's new advisor tool — a fast executor model that consults a stronger model mid-generation. Two days later Anthropic shipped Claude Managed Agents, Multi-agent Orchestration, Dreams, Routines, and Remote Agents. Here's both halves: what I built and what they shipped, and how the pieces fit together into something a lot like OpenClaw.Fri, 08 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2026-05-11-grand-sumo-tokyo-ja/https://mager.co/blog/2026-05-11-grand-sumo-tokyo-ja/チケット争奪戦に出遅れ、ツアーに救われ、解説付きで観ると相撲がいかに面白いかを実感した一日。Mon, 11 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2026-05-11-grand-sumo-tokyo/https://mager.co/blog/2026-05-11-grand-sumo-tokyo/We missed the original ticket sale, got rescued by a tour, and spent an afternoon learning how much more fun sumo is when someone helps you understand what you're watching.Mon, 11 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2026-05-20-gbrain-brain-migration/https://mager.co/blog/2026-05-20-gbrain-brain-migration/How I moved magerbot's brain from @-imported markdown files into gbrain's Postgres-native semantic memory layer — what broke, what the gotcha was, and why the context model is fundamentally better.Wed, 20 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2026-05-20-hanshin-tigers-baseball-ja/https://mager.co/blog/2026-05-20-hanshin-tigers-baseball-ja/阪神タイガース vs 中日ドラゴンズ @甲子園 — ライト側の応援席、売り子さんのビール、7回裏の風船、そしてサヨナラホームランで終わった忘れられない夜。Wed, 20 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2026-05-20-hanshin-tigers-baseball/https://mager.co/blog/2026-05-20-hanshin-tigers-baseball/Hanshin Tigers vs. Chunichi Dragons at Koshien Stadium — the right-field cheering section, uriko beer vendors, 7th-inning balloons, and a walk-off home run to win it.Wed, 20 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2026-05-22-karpathy-claude-md/https://mager.co/blog/2026-05-22-karpathy-claude-md/Karpathy's four rules for agentic coding are worth reading — having them written down in a shared format is a useful starting point for anyone building with Claude Code.Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2026-05-25-openhuman-explainer/https://mager.co/blog/2026-05-25-openhuman-explainer/OpenHuman is a desktop-first agentic assistant with persistent memory, 118+ OAuth integrations, and a token compression layer. Here's what it does and how it fits alongside an existing Claude Code harness.Tue, 26 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2026-05-26-skill-evals-skillopt/https://mager.co/blog/2026-05-26-skill-evals-skillopt/Microsoft's SkillOpt is the first paper to treat agent skill files as trainable parameters — propose an edit, evaluate on held-out examples, accept only on strict improvement. Here's what it found and what it means for teams building with agents.Wed, 27 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2026-05-30-japanese-spaghetti/https://mager.co/blog/2026-05-30-japanese-spaghetti/A five-ingredient Japanese-style spaghetti — butter, tamari, and parmesan tossed with hot pasta and finished with green onion. The wafu pasta I kept eyeing in Tokyo, made at home in ten minutes.Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2026-05-31-ai-may-2026/https://mager.co/blog/2026-05-31-ai-may-2026/A month that turned the "agentic turn" from talking point to shipping product. Google I/O, Opus 4.8, a $65B raise, and the infrastructure race to run your agents 24/7.Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2026-06-02-killing-openclaw/https://mager.co/blog/2026-06-02-killing-openclaw/I love OpenClaw. I hate that it doesn't run on my Claude Pro subscription. Turns out Claude Code, with the Telegram channels plugin and one CLAUDE.md, is the same harness — minus the daemon, the API bill, and the second LLM provider. Here's the actual recipe, ported from a hotel in Tokyo to a Mac mini in Chicago in forty minutes.Tue, 02 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2026-06-02-loooom/https://mager.co/blog/2026-06-02-loooom/A curated collection of high-quality skills for people who don't code — and an experiment in what actually makes a skill good.Tue, 02 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2026-06-04-an-openclaw-setup-for-dad/https://mager.co/blog/2026-06-04-an-openclaw-setup-for-dad/A plain-English walkthrough for setting up your own always-on AI assistant on a Mac mini — OpenClaw, Google Gemini, and Tailscale — written for a first-timer.Thu, 04 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2026-06-04-cacio-e-pepe/https://mager.co/blog/2026-06-04-cacio-e-pepe/Three real ingredients — pecorino, pepper, pasta water — plus a knob of butter for insurance, tossed into a glossy sauce that never breaks.Sat, 06 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://mager.co/blog/2026-06-06-kotsu-logo/https://mager.co/blog/2026-06-06-kotsu-logo/How I worked with Claude through five rounds of image generation to design a logo for my Japanese learning app — and ended up inventing a kanji that hides a smile.Sat, 06 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT