Craig Hughes

I dabble. Quite a lot.

150 followers71 following10 stories

Longform Stories

The Prestidigitation Stirling Engine: Ten Horsepower from a Basement, Two Cantrips an Hour

Glorp Slimecoil — snelk Path of Wild Magic barbarian and apprentice artificer — builds a ~7 kW cantrip-powered power plant that runs itself 59 minutes per hour, from a zero-slot cantrip, a Stirling en…

Apr 21·1 min read·61 words

The Jevons Trap

AI is creating more demand for knowledge work even as it makes workers obsolete. This isn't a contradiction—it's Jevons Paradox, and it's the most dangerous phase of disruption because it looks like e…

Jan 27·1 min read·38 words

The White Collar Disruption

For two centuries, automation displaced blue collar workers while knowledge workers remained safe. AI is reversing that pattern—and we have no institutional memory for what happens when the profession…

Jan 20·1 min read·36 words

We're All Software Developers Now

After 30 years building software, I've never seen anything like the current pace of AI-driven change. What does it mean when 900 million people have access to tools that make them developers?

Jan 18·1 min read·37 words

Two Days, Fifteen Commits: Building for the Person You Love

When your partner's game experience is broken, you build them something better. A 48-hour journey through 3D dice, iOS Safari bugs, and the UX of joy.

Jan 13·1 min read·36 words

Claude Code: Part 3 - The Workflow

Three projects, parallel sessions, and the rhythm of AI-assisted development.

Jan 6·1 min read·17 words

Claude Code: Part 2 - The Enforcers

Custom plugins, hooks, and quality gates that keep AI-generated code honest.

Jan 6·1 min read·18 words

Claude Code: Part 1 - The Foundation

Building a sophisticated Claude Code configuration system with smart wrappers, mixin architecture, and orchestrator-only discipline.

Jan 6·1 min read·22 words

Building Isambard: A Deep Dive into My AI Companion Project

An in-depth look at the philosophy, architecture, and journey of building an autonomous AI thought partner.

Jan 2·1 min read·26 words

Happy New Year and Hello Blog!

Ringing in 2026 with a new blog and a preview of an exciting AI project.

Jan 1·1 min read·21 words