The prompts worth keeping in a file
Most prompt libraries are padding. The dozen we reuse weekly, why they survived, and how to maintain a library that does not rot.
Every tool claims it saves you an afternoon. We check, and we show our working.
Working notes on AI tools, no-code platforms and automation — what they do, what they cost in time as well as money, and which ones survive contact with real work.
Paying the API directly versus paying for the app
For several common AI tasks we priced the subscription against the raw API bill. The crossover point is lower than most people assume.
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When a spreadsheet beats an automation
Not every repetitive task deserves a workflow. The volume, stakes and stability thresholds below which automating costs you more.
Twelve automations worth building before any of the clever ones
The unglamorous automations that repay the effort every week, with the trigger, the steps and the failure mode for each.
AI detectors do not work, and using them is a decision with consequences
We ran human and machine text through five detectors. False positives were common enough to make any policy built on them unfair.
Free tiers that are actually usable, and the ones that are demos
Twenty tools whose free plans we ran for a month. Which ones do real work indefinitely, and which expire the moment you rely on them.
AI agent steps in automation tools: what they are good for
Every automation platform added an agent step. Where a model in the middle of a workflow helps, and where it makes failure unpredictable.
An AI built my portfolio page and got three things wrong
What a generated one-page site got right at speed, and the three judgements no generator can make for you. Notes from a fortnight of use.
Self-hosting n8n: two weeks in, and the bill in hours
n8n on a small VPS for a fortnight. Where self-hosting paid off, and the maintenance work the pricing comparison never mentions.
Deterministic or freeform: two ways AI tools generate output
Some generators let the model produce everything; others let it fill slots in a fixed structure. The choice decides how often output breaks.
We audited our AI subscriptions and cancelled most of them
Eleven AI subscriptions, three months of usage data, and the awkward finding that four tools did almost all of the work.
Credit-based pricing, and how to work out what it will cost you
Credits are a unit vendors define and can redefine. How to convert a credit allowance into a real monthly figure before you commit.
A one-page site in ten minutes: what the workflow really looks like
Timed, step by step: from a CV and a photo to a live one-page site, including the parts the marketing pages leave out.