Notes from building Fidero entirely with AI agents. Fidero is a data platform for companies whose customer data breaks across domains and systems.https://danhopwood.comhttps://danhopwood.com/posts/be-concise-is-the-wrong-instructionhttps://danhopwood.com/posts/be-concise-is-the-wrong-instructionLength rules don't fix verbose agent replies. Changing the definition of a reply does – to the Slack message a colleague would send after doing the work. The full instruction file, free to copy.Wed, 19 Aug 2026 20:40:43 GMThttps://danhopwood.com/posts/i-replaced-granola-in-2-hourshttps://danhopwood.com/posts/i-replaced-granola-in-2-hoursGranola labels every guest "Them" – useless on 3+ person calls. So I built a replacement in 2 hours.Sat, 08 Aug 2026 16:30:00 GMThttps://danhopwood.com/posts/the-context-engineering-skillhttps://danhopwood.com/posts/the-context-engineering-skillOne skill that holds every skill, agent and CLAUDE.md in my setup to the same standards. It reviewed all 38 of my others on day one – three didn't survive. Free to copy.Thu, 06 Aug 2026 19:20:36 GMThttps://danhopwood.com/posts/cowork-vs-claude-codehttps://danhopwood.com/posts/cowork-vs-claude-codeCowork is the right choice for most knowledge workers – one great assistant, one task at a time. Claude Code is for going past one agent: 10, then 100, then 1,000.Fri, 24 Jul 2026 12:00:00 GMThttps://danhopwood.com/posts/claude-code-for-founders-who-hate-the-terminalhttps://danhopwood.com/posts/claude-code-for-founders-who-hate-the-terminalPaste one command and you'll never have to re-explain your company to AI again.Fri, 24 Jul 2026 12:00:00 GMThttps://danhopwood.com/posts/two-ways-to-change-claudes-personalityhttps://danhopwood.com/posts/two-ways-to-change-claudes-personalityAn output style fixes Claude's grating default voice in five minutes. Or go further: run a custom agent as the main agent and replace Claude's persona entirely.Sat, 18 Jul 2026 21:40:33 GMThttps://danhopwood.com/posts/forgetting-isnt-the-problemhttps://danhopwood.com/posts/forgetting-isnt-the-problemBigger context windows fix the wrong half of the AI codebase problem. The half they don't fix gets worse as your codebase grows.Fri, 10 Jul 2026 20:04:17 GMThttps://danhopwood.com/posts/the-memory-bank-frameworkhttps://danhopwood.com/posts/the-memory-bank-frameworkFive files, a session loop and a 30-second ritual. The structured memory system I install on every new project.Fri, 10 Jul 2026 20:04:17 GMThttps://danhopwood.com/posts/rebuilding-fidero-com-with-an-ai-agenthttps://danhopwood.com/posts/rebuilding-fidero-com-with-an-ai-agentIt took four builds of the same site to get here. The fourth runs on a reference doc (a contract for every component) and each new page now comes out about 95% right in a single pass.Tue, 30 Jun 2026 11:29:00 GMThttps://danhopwood.com/posts/the-order-you-build-a-software-factory-inhttps://danhopwood.com/posts/the-order-you-build-a-software-factory-inSix investments turn agents into a software factory. The order you make them in decides whether you get 10x the output or 10x the waste.Tue, 23 Jun 2026 21:17:14 GMThttps://danhopwood.com/posts/writing-loopshttps://danhopwood.com/posts/writing-loopsBoris Cherny says his job now is writing loops, not prompts. There's a Claude Code command called /loop – assuming that's what he means is the mistake. It's level one of five.Tue, 09 Jun 2026 22:36:51 GMThttps://danhopwood.com/posts/i-run-my-ai-customer-notes-like-a-databasehttps://danhopwood.com/posts/i-run-my-ai-customer-notes-like-a-databaseThe framework that keeps my AI's customer knowledge trustworthy is data governance under another name – source-of-truth rules, validation constraints, schemas that grow on demand.Tue, 02 Jun 2026 21:27:08 GMThttps://danhopwood.com/posts/maturity-not-complexityhttps://danhopwood.com/posts/maturity-not-complexitySomeone else's AI setup looks impossible because it's had longer to grow, not because it's a harder idea than yours.Mon, 18 May 2026 12:00:00 GMThttps://danhopwood.com/posts/the-recording-was-the-easy-bithttps://danhopwood.com/posts/the-recording-was-the-easy-bitThe fix for graveyard call transcripts isn't a better recorder. It's a pipeline that turns each transcript into agent-ready context the moment it lands.Wed, 06 May 2026 01:00:00 GMThttps://danhopwood.com/posts/i-used-claude-code-to-read-its-own-source-codehttps://danhopwood.com/posts/i-used-claude-code-to-read-its-own-source-codeIts source code leaked. So I used it to explore itself – 8 parallel agents, 1,884 TypeScript files and a hidden digital pet.Wed, 01 Apr 2026 01:30:00 GMT