Personal annotations from the archive. What I noticed looking back at two months of building with Claude.
On Starting Projects
The vision prompts share a structure: destination + reference + constraint.
You don't prescribe the route—just the vibe and the boundaries.
You don't prescribe the route—just the vibe and the boundaries.
The Best Starts Are Impossible
"A digital afterlife for philosophers"
"Fashion archaeology"
"The first renaissance occurred from translations"
Productive tension between ambition and constraint.
"Fashion archaeology"
"The first renaissance occurred from translations"
Productive tension between ambition and constraint.
Four Words
"too busy. simplify."
That's a complete prompt. The context does the heavy lifting.
That's a complete prompt. The context does the heavy lifting.
Delegation Phrases
"do your research"
"help me think through"
"can you figure out"
State the problem, not the solution.
"help me think through"
"can you figure out"
State the problem, not the solution.
The Personal Thread
Milo's music site. Lilbookies for the kids. Your personal site.
These surface in every phase. Commercial and creative stay interleaved.
These surface in every phase. Commercial and creative stay interleaved.
On Persistence
"Wow, why is this so hard to figure out?"
The frustration is visible. But you keep returning. The work continues.
The frustration is visible. But you keep returning. The work continues.
Selected Prompts
designtherapy
take a look at designtherapy.org. Download all the components and style. Then recreate the site based on contemporary design concepts (do your research!). Make sure it appeals to people who are top designers and instagram influencers.
morniplus
Focus it on fashion archaeology—finding ancient symbols and turning into embroidery for jackets, dresses, etc. Let's call it Garden of Eden.
philosopherslibrary
I basically want a system where characters can walk around and speak to each other about their works. And also to read books in the library. Like, a digital afterlife for the philosophers where they can keep exploring, disputing and understanding through dialectic.
secondrenaissance
I think the front page needs to communicate the idea, briefly, that the first renaissance occurred from translations—but we haven't translated the renaissance, which might inhibit a second renaissance...
minibooks
I want to make minibooks for reading with kids in non-flowing epub format so that they can be printed nicely. Look up how to print small kids books with glossy cover and color pages, like the pixi books in germany.
milo
I want to take my music career to the next level. I probably need a website or a way to post a lot of videos of weird things with my music... or something?
playpowerlearn
I want to start a project to create an LMS for AI-generated educational activities. Such as, creating complete common core coverage for each grade.
Research + Build = Same Session
No separation between learning and doing.
"first research similar game aesthetics & styles... find some example games i can model"
Then immediately: implementation.
"first research similar game aesthetics & styles... find some example games i can model"
Then immediately: implementation.
Projects Spawn Projects
Source Library → translation engine
Minibooks → lilbookies → funbookies
The work is generative, not linear.
Minibooks → lilbookies → funbookies
The work is generative, not linear.
Quality Control Stays Manual
"Look at each image—make sure they make sense with the text."
"coherence is poor. Like what is the emotional arc?"
Delegation has limits.
"coherence is poor. Like what is the emotional arc?"
Delegation has limits.