Back in Feb I wrote about using Claude Code like a junior dev. Five months later there are several of them, running on a server, in git worktrees, herded with herdr and reviewed with hunk. Wrote up the whole setup: www.penkin.me/ai/developme...

Herding Claudes: My Agentic Workflow, Five Months On | Christopher Penkin

How my Claude Code workflow has evolved: parallel agents in git worktrees, herdr as an agent multiplexer, hunk for live diff review, glow for markdown previews, and running the whole thing on a…

penkin.me

Testing SA tax software? I built a Chrome extension that generates valid SA ID numbers, PAYE refs, income tax numbers, all with proper validation. Free, open source, no data collection. www.penkin.me/development/...

I Built a Chrome Extension for Generating SARS Test Data | Christopher Penkin

A Chrome extension that generates valid South African tax reference numbers for testing. SA ID numbers, income tax, company registration, PAYE, UIF, and SDL references; all with proper check digit…

penkin.me

Just wrote up how I'm actually using Claude Code in my daily dev work. The CLAUDE.md file is a game-changer, plan mode is brilliant, and it really does turn 4-hour tasks into 5 minutes—but only if you guide it properly. www.penkin.me/ai/developme...

I used to be hardcore "remote work only." If it didn't work for you, you weren't trying hard enough. Then I spent a month back in the office mentoring junior devs at DSF. Turns out, I was wrong. Sometimes you're building people, not just products. www.penkin.me/remote/devel...

Sometimes You're Building People, and the Product is Just the By-Product | Christopher Penkin

From remote-only advocate to nuanced believer. How mentoring junior developers in-person revealed the limitations of remote work I'd been missing.

penkin.me

A few months back I wrote why I couldn't leave Arc for Dia. Gave it another shot. I was wrong. Tab groups ✅ Sidebar ✅ Splits ✅ The team listens and is shipping great features. I'm switching. www.penkin.me/browsers/arc...

A Second Look at Dia: Pleasantly Surprised | Christopher Penkin

After criticising Dia browser for lacking Arc's best features, I gave it another chance. With tab groups, sidebar support, and splits now available, Dia has addressed my concerns and earned my switch…

penkin.me

Wanted to play around with WebGL and ThreeJS so built this little "digital card" builder in @codepen.io to see how things work. Currently the QR code goes nowhere. I don't like how much darker the colours of the card face looks with how I have done it. codepen.io/penkin/full/...

3d Business Card

...

codepen.io

🚨 New Blog Post! When I first discovered DHH's Omarchy, I loved how clean and out or the way it felt. There was just one problem: my MacBook Pro M1 can’t run Omarchy as a Linux distribution. www.penkin.me/development/...

Building an Omarchy-Inspired Setup on macOS | Christopher Penkin

Learn how to build a keyboard-driven tiling window manager setup on macOS using yabai, sketchybar, and skhd. Inspired by Omarchy's philosophy of minimal aesthetics and instant workspace switching,…

penkin.me

Meet Elixir Language Tour – a tool created to make Elixir learning easier 🪄 Written in pure Elixir, running fully in the browser – all thanks to Popcorn 🍿 Check it out – link below!

🚨 New Blog Post! How I use GNU Stow to manage dotfiles across macOS and Arch Linux. Simple symlink-based config management for zsh, neovim, and other tools. www.penkin.me/development/...

My Dotfiles Setup with GNU Stow | Christopher Penkin

How I use GNU Stow to manage dotfiles across macOS and Arch Linux. Simple symlink-based config management for zsh, neovim, and development tools.

penkin.me

I recently did an Elixir course to learn the language and decided to do it all in @zed.dev and I have to say I love this editor. 1. It's fast. 2. It's really clean and beautiful. 3. Did I mention it's fast? zed.dev

I recently got into fishing because my son is super keen to do it. I was told about this channel on YouTube that has been really great especially in the South African context. Super helpful for a complete noob like me :D buff.ly/Mm1wAMW #fishing #angling

FISHING WITH LEGACY SERIES

Share your videos with friends, family, and the world

youtube.com

Oh man another great documentary from @cultrepo.bsky.social, this time on @vite.dev. I always find these really inspiring. www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmWQ...

Vite: The Documentary

"If you're using a JavaScript framework, you're probably using Vite." Created by Evan You (the mind behind Vue.js), Vite began as a frustrated response to slow build times with Webpack. What started…

youtube.com

🚀 We just released Zed v0.207! Multiple font rendering issues have been resolved, most notably on Linux, so smaller fonts will look more crisp. (We promise the difference is real, even if image compression tries to hide it.) Before vs After:

McLaren #F1 constructors champions!

Oof, and they were doing so well :(

Formula 1@f1tv.bsky.social · 10mo ago

BREAKING: Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz have been disqualified from qualifying Both Williams cars failed post-qualifying checks on their rear wings #F1 #SingaporeGP

5 DAYS TO GO!!! ⚡ #vitedocumentary @vite.dev

NEW BLOG POST How we sped up our .NET monolith app with this one simple little build trick. #dotnet #builds www.penkin.me/development/...

Speeding up our .NET builds | Christopher Penkin

Learn how we reduced .NET build times from 7+ minutes to under 1 minute using a custom BUILD_CACHE property and smart file change detection for hybrid applications with frontend assets.

penkin.me

It's really good when people freak out that @Xbox gamepass subscription increase is going to be so much that they are cancelling. It made me check with my kids and none of them are even using it. #saving

⏳ September is almost here… Variants in Penpot are on the way. Smarter, cleaner, closer to code.

Vite: The Documentary premieres October 9th at @viteconf.org in Amsterdam ⚡ youtu.be/46fe5AFc0tY

It'll soon be time for the State of React 2025 survey! feel free to suggest questions here: github.com/Devographics...

State of React 2025 Suggestions · Issue #262 · Devographics/surveys

YAML config files for the Devographics surveys. Contribute to Devographics/surveys development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

NEW POST Just a quick one on how I built the blog. Kept it super simple so that I can work on why I built it; to practise writing www.penkin.me/blog/jekyll/... #jekyll #tailwind #githubpages

One of our team members just dropped a quick preview of font family tokens! (we’re screaming!) 😍😍😍😍😍 community.penpot.app/t/font-famil...

Font Family token in the oven!

Hey folks! Just wanted to drop a quick preview of font family tokens 🎉 Here is a quick short video to show it working along with other tokens types, like font-size 😃

community.penpot.app

I launched PocketCal on Product Hunt if y'all wouldn't mind passing along an upvote! ❤️ www.producthunt.com/products/poc...

PocketCal: Pick dates, share a link, and that's your calendar! | Product Hunt

Pick dates, share a link, and that's your calendar. PocketCal is a free, open-source web app that lets you select dates and instantly share them. No accounts, just a link, and nothing in your way.

producthunt.com

🚀 We just released Zed v0.195! Zed now supports models from the xAI provider, such as Grok 4.

We released #Phoenix 1.8.0-rc.4 yesterday and Phoenix #LiveView 1.1.0-rc.3 just now. This should be the final RC before 1.1.0, so please check it out if you can! #MyElixirStatus

Heydon Pickering takes a fresh look the Every Layout Sidebar layout, 6 years on, to see if modern CSS selectors can improve it. piccalil.li/blog/a-revis...

A revisit of the Every Layout sidebar with :has() and selector performance

Heydon Pickering takes a fresh look the Every Layout Sidebar layout, 6 years on, to see if modern CSS selectors can improve it.

piccalil.li

We ran a randomized controlled trial to see how much AI coding tools speed up experienced open-source developers. The results surprised us: Developers thought they were 20% faster with AI tools, but they were actually 19% slower when they had access to AI than when they didn't.

NEW POST Why I'm battling to move off The Browser Company's Arc browser and onto their new Dia browser. Some of my thoughts and reflections on a browser 😆 www.penkin.me/browsers/arc...