Uses

What I actually use.

People ask about the setup, so here it is. Nothing here is sponsored. These are the tools I reach for because they earn their place.

Hardware

Mac (Apple silicon, maxed memory)

Everything runs here. Local Ai models included, which keeps most work fast, private, and free.
A large external display

Writing and code want vertical room. One good screen beats two mediocre ones.
A mechanical keyboard

I type all day. The tool you touch most should feel right.

Software

Obsidian

The second brain. Plain Markdown, my notes, linked. It will still open in twenty years.
VS Code

Where the software gets built.
Git and GitHub

Version control for writing and code alike. Nothing important lives in one place.

The Ai stack

Ai is leverage, not a replacement for judgment. I use it to remove toil.

Claude

My main partner for thinking, drafting, and building. The apex model for anything that needs judgment.
Local models (qwen, nomic-embed)

For bulk, verifiable work. Free, fast, and private on the Mac.
A layered routing system

Match the task to the smallest tool that does it well. Save the expensive model for the hard part.

Writing and publishing

Markdown, everywhere

Every essay and book starts as plain text. Portable, durable, and mine.
A voice system

Documented rules so every piece sounds like me. No em dashes, plain sentences, no clichés.
Astro

This site. Content-first, fast, and built to last.

Reading

Physical books

Most of the ones that shaped me are on paper. I read them slowly and twice.
A running notes file

Every book earns a few lines on what it changed. Reading without capture fades.

Daily systems

One brief each morning

What changed, what matters, what to do. I run the day from a single page.
Capture everything

ADHD taught me to outsource memory to systems. If it is not written down, it does not exist.
Decisions get logged

When a choice matters, I record why. Future me is grateful.