Principles for AI-native engineering
How I use context, plans, worktrees, review, testing, and automation with coding agents.
Jul 24, 2026
5 min read
Hi, I’m Brian.
I’m a staff software engineer and two-time founder writing about AI-native engineering, building ambitious products, and helping teams move faster.
More about me →Harness engineering: How small pods move faster
Small pods can move faster without sacrificing quality by giving coding agents clear context, boundaries, tools, and feedback loops.
Jul 18, 2026
9 min read
Auto-format all changed files with one command, for your AI agent
Stop telling your AI agents how to auto-format your code. Give them one command that auto-formats all files correctly. Introducing fast-format-x (ffx).
Dec 14, 2025
2 min read
How to AI: Stop throwing away prompts. Start managing context.
Manage context with plan files to give your AI agents memory. Use an AGENTS.md file and a gather-files script for deep thinking critique.
Sep 27, 2025
3 min read
FastAPI for ML inference
How to use FastAPI for machine learning inference, Dockerized and deployed using Kubernetes
Feb 28, 2023
5 min read
ML papers
A collection of interesting and important machine learning papers
Jan 27, 2023
7 min read
ML on a Mac
Steps for Machine Learning on Apple Silicon M1/M2 chips, with Stable Diffusion
Jan 23, 2023
2 min read
ML snippets
Snippets of code for getting started with machine learning, using PyTorch, Pandas, NumPy, and Kaggle
Dec 29, 2022
2 min read
Machine Learning quick start
Learn how to quickly get started using fastai, Hugging Face, and Gradio to deploy a demo ML app
Dec 21, 2022
4 min read
Learn Neural Networks with Andrej Karpathy
Notes from Karpathy’s machine learning lectures - Neural Networks: Zero to Hero
Nov 22, 2022
21 min read
Debug scientifically
Try a more “scientific” process to solving bugs and reducing Mean Time to Recovery (MTTR)
Aug 27, 2022
4 min read
Design Docs for software architecture review
An intro to using Design Docs aka RFCs to help teams build better software and share knowledge
Aug 6, 2022
3 min read
Code Review best practices
Follow clear guidelines for code review to help improve code quality and products
Jul 23, 2022
4 min read
Dark mode with CSS variables and Stimulus
How to add Dark Mode using CSS variables and Stimulus, plus a color palette picker
Jul 22, 2022
4 min read
Software Engineering Toolbox
A collection of posts for software engineers and engineering leaders
Embeddable JavaScript widgets
How to create a GitHub gist-like embeddable widget using Rails
May 22, 2022
2 min read
Automate dependency updates
Use automated tools like GitHub’s Dependabot and Actions to automate dependency updates
Mar 12, 2022
3 min read
“Problems are good. We solve problems”
An optimistic, action-oriented attitude for software engineering
Feb 16, 2022
2 min read
The Beyoncé Rule
“If you like it, then you shoulda put a CI test on it.”
Feb 1, 2022
1 min read
Rails on Kubernetes
Build a CI/CD pipeline with GitHub Actions to Kubernetes for a Ruby on Rails app
Sep 1, 2021
9 min read
Prevent pushing to main branch
Use a .git hooks script to prevent accidentally pushing to main branch
Aug 15, 2021
1 min read
A modern app tech stack, built for speed
Small teams can iterate more quickly using Rails with ViewComponent + Tailwind CSS + Hotwire. Build faster with no custom CSS and limited JS.
Jun 13, 2021
2 min read
Principles for engineers
Focus on delivering value to customers, communicate proactively, encourage critique, take initiative, debug scientifically, and practice habits.
Jun 6, 2021
2 min read
Auto-format and lint everything
Build faster with automated formatting, linting, and vulnerability scanning
May 30, 2021
5 min read
“Win and help win”
A guiding philosophy for tech that is ambitious, positive-sum, and collective.
May 9, 2021
1 min read
Baby vocab in English, French, and Arabic
Vocabulary lists of fruit, vegetables, animals, and more.
Apr 1, 2021
4 min read
Favorite Ruby gems
A list of my favorite Ruby gems, mostly for Rails projects.
Dec 6, 2020
2 min read
US county ratings
A spreadsheet to rate US counties objectively across many factors from “Best Places To Live” to climate change and earthquake risks.
Oct 17, 2020
1 min read
API design patterns
Key principles and learnings for API design
Sep 1, 2020
4 min read
Language syntax review
Quick review of basic syntax for Go, JavaScript, Ruby, Rails, and SQL
Jul 16, 2020
15 min read
Parallel tests on CircleCI
Speed up builds by running Rails tests in parallel and learn more about CircleCI 2.1 features.
Jan 12, 2020
3 min read
Reading list
My favorite books and what I’m currently reading.
Dec 31, 2019
3 min read
Practicing Scrum
Agile training notes from a Scrum workshop by Ron Lichty.
Aug 27, 2019
5 min read
Learning Go
Some resources I’ve found incredibly useful in learning Go, aka Golang.
Aug 10, 2019
2 min read
Postgres tips
A quick reference for working with PostgreSQL databases.
Oct 15, 2018
4 min read
Metaprogramming in Ruby
Some patterns, approaches, and “spells” for metaprogramming in Ruby.
Aug 20, 2017
1 min read
Ruby code gists for Rails
Snippets of Ruby code for faster Rails setup, development, and testing.
Aug 17, 2017
1 min read
SaaS pricing using PPP rates
How we made Playpass pricing more fair in all countries by using country purchasing power parity (PPP) rates instead of currency exchange rates.
Jul 30, 2017
3 min read
Nature meditation videos
Relaxing videos for meditating or reconnecting with nature.
Nov 15, 2015
1 min read
Dubai startup resources
Crash course on Dubai’s startup ecosystem from co-working spaces to accelerators and a list of Dubai startups.
Jun 22, 2014
2 min read
Cooking recipes
Delicious cooking recipes that I come back to again and again
Jan 27, 2014
6 min read
Poetry
Poems for the love of my life
Time Capsule
My favorite books, podcasts, apps, and more from 2013, 2020, and 2023
Dec 27, 2013
4 min read
Setting up Jekyll with Bootstrap, GitHub Pages and a custom domain
Here’s how I set up this blog with Jekyll, Bootstrap, GitHub Pages. Tip - clone a working Jekyll site!
Jul 26, 2013
2 min read
CrossFit WOD log book
Template of a Google Sheet spreadsheet to track CrossFit WODs and PBs.
Mar 6, 2013
1 min read
Learning with MOOCs
Mass Open Online Courses are an amazing way to learn online, for free. Here’s a list of some great free courses.
Feb 23, 2013
1 min read
Mapping relatives from Europe to America
A 2012 project to find out where my family came from in Germany, England, and Scotland and where they ended up in the US
Jan 1, 2013
3 min read
Travel guide for Dubai guests
My Airbnb guidebook of travel tips for visitors to Dubai.
Jun 1, 2012
7 min read
Arabic to English sports phrasebook
Sports phrases in 6 languages - English, Arabic, French, Spanish, Italian and Tagalog.
Nov 30, 2011
1 min read
Verbs in Arabic, English, and French
250+ colloquial Palestinian Arabic verbs with English and French translations.
Mar 6, 2011
1 min read
Basketball drills menu
A compact menu of youth basketball drills for ball handling, passing, finishing, footwork, and competitive play.
Oct 1, 2008
5 min read
My basketball career, in numbers
From getting cut at Harvard as a freshman to starting at center as a sophomore and a short pro career in Portugal, Denmark, the USBL, and Taiwan.
Sep 1, 2008
24 min read
On being a PeacePlayer in Jerusalem
Excerpt from profile on PeacePlayers Intl by ESPN writer Chad Ford.
Oct 1, 2007
3 min read
Posts from the West Bank in 2006
A series of blog posts capturing the first few months of joining a peace non-profit in the West Bank and Israel. First published on TrueHoop.
Jan 1, 2007
26 min read
About me
Building ambitious products from prototype to production and helping teams move faster with AI-native engineering.