Random notes to myself

Developers celebrate migrating blogs to Astro or Next.js, describing complex build processes as 'easier than React.' But why does a blog need to fly? Sometimes simple tools are the sophisticated choice.

While working on the blog series Metalsmith Redux (Static Site Generation in 2025), I developed several new plugins with the assistance of Claude AI, which led me to create a standardized template for Metalsmith plugins.

We explore a common challenge when working with Markdown-based content: how do you include structured, reusable components within your long-text content?

Templating with Nunjucks is central to how Metalsmith transforms content into a polished website. It provides the structure and logic needed to create consistent, maintainable sites while keeping content separate from presentation

We examine package.json, one of the most important files in any Node.js project. While it might not be the most exciting file in our project, package.json is crucial. It defines our project, what it depends on, and the commands we can run to build, develop, and maintain it

We examine package.json, one of the most important files in any Node.js project. While it might not be the most exciting file in our project, package.json is crucial. It defines our project, what it depends on, and the commands we can run to build, develop, and maintain it

Understanding the file structure of a Metalsmith project is key to working with it effectively. Don't worry if it seems a bit overwhelming at first—we'll walk through each part step by step, explaining what it does and why it matters.

Now it's time to set up our first Metalsmith project. Don't worry if you're new to static site generators or even to web development in general. This guide is writtento be straightforward and approachable.

Let's talk about Metalsmith. It's a static site generator that's been around for a while, and for good reason. Metalsmith keeps things simple and stable. It's particularly good for the kind of sites most of us actually build day-to-day.

My AI journey evolved from ChatGPT to Claude, which felt like having a human co-programmer. Then GitHub Copilot eliminated context-switching, followed by Claude Code automating entire workflows.

While Copilot excels at line-by-line suggestions, Augment Code understands your entire codebase as context. This isn't just a marketing pitch – it's a game-changer in practice.

I've been integrating AI tools into my daily workflow, and I want to share my perspective on how they're transforming software development - not by replacing developers, but by enhancing our capabilities and productivity.