I'm building an email list service because I can (think Mailchimp or ConvertKit). Old me of a year ago would never have tried such a ridiculous thing but new me? Rob in 2026? I want to see what we can get up to, and learn, by flexing my Claude Max subscription.
Even though I've been working with AI tools non-stop over the last few years, I still get up, pace the room, and talk to myself every few hours as Claude Code continues to break my brain. It just keeps getting better! When I made the switch from Sonnet 4.5 to Opus, I stared at what was happening on my screen, and flatly stated:
The singularity is here. I trust Claude to write code more than I trust myself.
Yes, I know. I truly, completely understand that I sound like a breathless AI hype boy. I like to think there's a major difference between the hype-types and me, which is that I will FAFO for a very long time before I form any kind of opinions.
And wow do I have opinions now, and I don't care how mad people get at me: the industry we have worked in and loved for so, so many years has gone and upgraded itself. AI coding skills are absolutely critical at this point.
New Industry, Who Dis?
Let me explain why I'm leaning in to this opinion as hard as I am. It's for a simple, direct reason: I am getting things done at 100 times the speed that I otherwise would. Actually, it's infinitely faster than that because I wouldn't even try doing the things I'm doing now because who in their right mind would create an email list service!?
This doesn't just apply to my little email list app. I also created a full markdown-based CMS tool that pushes my Obsidian documents into Ghost:
This is The AI Pro workshop I'm currently editing and working on, and will hopefully complete in the next two weeks. The email list application I'm writing about (Hoku), came from this workshop. I had so much fun working on it I decided to keep going.
I used to use a starter template or some kind of framework generator to get a project like this off the ground. Now, I use a skill I created for Claude called scaffold to create a Claude-powered app for me:
One of the neat things about skills is that you can add reference documents or scripts to them. You can see the skill file in the editor above, and to the right is my shell script that generates the directories and files I need.
Here are my skills for my email server project:
I created that email-marketing skill especially for this project as I'm not exactly a subject matter expert on digital marketing. But Russel Brunson is, so I made a skill out of him.
Well, sort of. I try not to write stored prompts, skills or agents any more. I have Claude do it for me:
Create a digital marketing skill that will help me design and build a world-class email marketing system. I don't want architecture, just help with features. This skill should be technical, not marketing - as if a digital marketer like Russel Brunson learned to code and is now helping people build out systems like ConvertKit. I don't mind prompting, but I've learned that it's much easier to let the tools do the heavy lifting for you. When I say "prompting", by the way, I mean the full-tilt, "You are X, I need Y, create Z for me" kind of structured prompt. I still have to tell Claude what to do, but I let it fill in the details for me.
Have Claude Do It
Every skill you see above is used by one or more agents in my application. The difference between the two is kind of weird at the moment, especially with the different toolsets available (Claude, Copilot, Cursor, etc).
With Claude Code, it's pretty straightforward: agents execute a well-defined task on your behalf. They do this using skills, or instructions that you write when defining the agent.
Once again, let Claude create the agent for you by heading into /agents and Create New Agent:
This agent is an expert TypeScript coder, but is willing to bend the rules in order to deliver working code. Type safety is good, shipping is better. They are a behavior-driven design fan, and like to work against a solid set of specifications for everything they create. They are a former Ruby programmer and love clarity, precision, and readabilty. They use comments to convey the "Why", not the "How" or "What". They don't debate semicolons, don't put oatmilk in their cappuccino, and have a fun sense of humor.I have 4 agents helping me out, just like this one:
Arranging all of this stuff feels like the rise of DevOps so many years ago. What used to be a set of shell scripts, FTP, and rsync turned into an entire industry powered by YAML in a few short years.
This feels the same way. We used to write prompts, now we arrange skills and agents and press play.
The Future Is Here
I try not to write full prompts, if I can get away with it. What I like to do instead is use my sprint-pm agent to come with a sprint plan based on my architecture document:
I created that architecture document during a 90 minute Q&A session with Claude, which was using my email-marketing skill together with my bdd-typescript-developer agent. Once I was happy with the overall direction, I saved our conversation to ARCHITECTURE.md, which is what you see above.
My sprint-pm agent created my first sprint, complete with goals and tasks, which in then put into the docs/sprints/sprint-one-poc.md document. I reviewed that document, edited it a bit, and then handed it to my ddd-typescript-developer agent, which started creating specs and writing code...
This is the future of coding. It's taking shape all around us, as programmers like you and me have their "OH WOW" moments, feeling the world shift a little under their feet.
As William Gibson famously said:
The future is already here - it's just not evenly distributed
Am I Still Relevant?
Of course I am. I have 25+ years of experience that I'm able to flex in order to build these skills and agents in the first place. They don't have that, even with the best instructions written in gold fairy dust.
I know the questions to ask and I understand how to build complex software using rigor and patience. Claude is just a computer following instructions.
Yes, Claude can write outstanding code, but it can only do so because I tell it how to do that. I can have Claude structure a killer set of tests, write a beautiful README, and draft up a concise, clear commit message for Git too - but only because I have learned how to do these things and am sharing that with Claude.
Claude is just a series of tubes and wires, nothing more.
This, to me, is the most pressing need for developers today: learning how to flex their application building skills with these amazing AI tools. Not to replace you, but to carry out your orders, improving your efficiency.
Of course we're still relevant! As Willie Wonka says (actually he was quoting Arthur O'Shaughnessy):
We are the music makers
And we are the dreamers of dreams
Wandering by lone sea-breakers
And sitting by desolate streams
World-losers and world-forsakers
On whom the pale moon gleams
Yet we are the movers and shakers
Of the world for ever, it seems
I can't emphasize this enough: these tools only do what you tell them to do, because they can only know what they have learned from us. They don't have inspiration or insight. They can't make that amazing leap or write a sonnet in their sleep.
We do those things, and we always will. We just have to be able to make music with these AI tools and you can only do this by actually doing it, not watching videos, listening to talking heads on podcasts, or pondering it on your ride home.
You have to practice and be patient. You have to use rigor, and you have to be dedicated. You can't do any of this, however, until you make the move. So many people are in a "wait and see" mode right now, and that's going to cost them. The early adopters in this industry are pouring nitrous on their career, going full boost-n-juice, shipping like freaks and saving their companies millions.
Wait and see isn't an option any more.
Join Me
This whole AI freak show is moving at light speed. A few months ago I was pretty sure we'd hit the zenith of what AI tools could do, and then Claude Code announced skills and, oh yeah, Claude Cowork. I lost an entire weekend with that as I built out my own personal assistant that time blocks my week, structures my tasks, and organizes my notes. It even triages my email...
Anyway: I'm putting together a program for people who want to take the big step and move quickly into this world. The job landscape is changing quickly, and AI skills are going to be a must-have for anyone looking to not retire over the coming year.
Here's a bit more, if you're interested:
This will be a 4 week gig where we:
- Spend 90 minutes, twice a week, meeting as a group (I'm thinking 15 to 20 people max).
- Full email support from me.
- One 60-minute "office hours" session, where you bring whatever code you're working on and feel like sharing, and we focus on how to flex Claude the best way possible.
- Tasks, assignments, and a commitment from me that your career will be transformed.
- A Team Starter Kit you can use on your next project. This includes some of the agents and skills discussed here, plus quite a few more. Use them as examples, or just pop them in when you need them.
- My scaffold template, which will create a site for you that's Claude Code ready.
- A Quickstart "playbook" for your first week on your own. Reference materials on prompting, metaprompting, what files go where, etc.
- A full yearly membership to my site, bigmachine.io, and all the videos and tutorials I create.
I want to make this worth your time in every way, with the ultimate goal of transforming your career and life in a positive way.
I've done over 50 training sessions like this, but they've been for big companies, not a small group of enthusiasts who are looking to make a change right now. If that's you, I would love to have you join me.
I have invited a few folks already, and I need to keep this group smaller - around 20 people or so. I also need to be selective here because I want to be sure it's a good fit for you. If you're interested, please answer a few questions and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.
Thanks again for reading and, as always, I wrote all of this myself without the help of AI. I like writing, it makes me happy.
Cheers!
Rob
