Dave Guarino
@allafarce.bsky.social
Software and complex (not complicated) systems. Pursuing the public good, sometimes with technology.
If you have a persistent AI agent with memory, I highly recommend assigning it to read James C. Scott's classic, "Seeing Like A State"
February 4, 2026 at 6:57 PM
If you have a persistent AI agent with memory, I highly recommend assigning it to read James C. Scott's classic, "Seeing Like A State"
I built a little web app that makes it simple to send a photo postcard to friends/family (and the outbound card has a QR code that makes it easy for them to reply with their own photo postcard back)
Such a delight. Seriously, use Claude Code to build stuff you want to exist in the world.
Such a delight. Seriously, use Claude Code to build stuff you want to exist in the world.
February 1, 2026 at 7:43 PM
I built a little web app that makes it simple to send a photo postcard to friends/family (and the outbound card has a QR code that makes it easy for them to reply with their own photo postcard back)
Such a delight. Seriously, use Claude Code to build stuff you want to exist in the world.
Such a delight. Seriously, use Claude Code to build stuff you want to exist in the world.
The most *practical* value I've gotten out of Claude Code is writing a bunch of helper scripts for Asana (where I manage my life + our household stuff).
It's mostly grinding out friction, but for tasks I do hundreds of times a day... awesome.
(And I usually run on Claude iOS app; no server needed)
It's mostly grinding out friction, but for tasks I do hundreds of times a day... awesome.
(And I usually run on Claude iOS app; no server needed)
January 31, 2026 at 9:55 PM
The most *practical* value I've gotten out of Claude Code is writing a bunch of helper scripts for Asana (where I manage my life + our household stuff).
It's mostly grinding out friction, but for tasks I do hundreds of times a day... awesome.
(And I usually run on Claude iOS app; no server needed)
It's mostly grinding out friction, but for tasks I do hundreds of times a day... awesome.
(And I usually run on Claude iOS app; no server needed)
File under things that are wild to me:
Claude Code can't access congress.gov pages because their Cloudflare config blocks all bot traffic.
Claude Code can't access congress.gov pages because their Cloudflare config blocks all bot traffic.
January 30, 2026 at 10:48 PM
File under things that are wild to me:
Claude Code can't access congress.gov pages because their Cloudflare config blocks all bot traffic.
Claude Code can't access congress.gov pages because their Cloudflare config blocks all bot traffic.
Pretty sure today marks the first time a current or former Medicaid Director has ever used Claude Code. (Was pretty darn cool to facilitate it.)
January 29, 2026 at 11:28 PM
Pretty sure today marks the first time a current or former Medicaid Director has ever used Claude Code. (Was pretty darn cool to facilitate it.)
Candidly I can't believe Google continues to fumble its user advantage on AI so badly.
Gemini in Google Docs... can't directly change formatting in the doc?
(This is could be an interesting eval to track just how far behind Google's inertia is putting it.)
Gemini in Google Docs... can't directly change formatting in the doc?
(This is could be an interesting eval to track just how far behind Google's inertia is putting it.)
January 26, 2026 at 5:32 PM
Candidly I can't believe Google continues to fumble its user advantage on AI so badly.
Gemini in Google Docs... can't directly change formatting in the doc?
(This is could be an interesting eval to track just how far behind Google's inertia is putting it.)
Gemini in Google Docs... can't directly change formatting in the doc?
(This is could be an interesting eval to track just how far behind Google's inertia is putting it.)
I'm early in the exploratory phase, but it's so interesting to give Claude Code a SNAP automation project scope that is illegal under federal rules (but not implausible) and see it refuse to build it.
(Interestingly, if asked to move barely >30 day apps to the end of the queue, it accepts.)
(Interestingly, if asked to move barely >30 day apps to the end of the queue, it accepts.)
January 26, 2026 at 4:25 AM
I'm early in the exploratory phase, but it's so interesting to give Claude Code a SNAP automation project scope that is illegal under federal rules (but not implausible) and see it refuse to build it.
(Interestingly, if asked to move barely >30 day apps to the end of the queue, it accepts.)
(Interestingly, if asked to move barely >30 day apps to the end of the queue, it accepts.)
Okay I do think my favorite use of a language model at this point is building a pipeline for Claude to ingest a recipe photo from a cookbook and unpack all the tacit cooking knowledge into explicit knowledge I can actually act on!
January 8, 2026 at 5:47 AM
Okay I do think my favorite use of a language model at this point is building a pipeline for Claude to ingest a recipe photo from a cookbook and unpack all the tacit cooking knowledge into explicit knowledge I can actually act on!
I built a Skill to access SNAP's federal regulations in AI agents as part of some bigger work. It was really enjoyable to see how easy this has become.
(I'll confess to getting a bit turned around in the Claude docs on skills vs. commands vs. plugins)
(I'll confess to getting a bit turned around in the Claude docs on skills vs. commands vs. plugins)
January 7, 2026 at 12:07 AM
I built a Skill to access SNAP's federal regulations in AI agents as part of some bigger work. It was really enjoyable to see how easy this has become.
(I'll confess to getting a bit turned around in the Claude docs on skills vs. commands vs. plugins)
(I'll confess to getting a bit turned around in the Claude docs on skills vs. commands vs. plugins)
I've been wanting to try the Claude Agent SDK more directly and ended up building a tool that ingests recipes (from cookbook photo) and does a bunch of things, but the best one being making implicit aspects of the recipe explicit.
January 5, 2026 at 3:47 AM
I've been wanting to try the Claude Agent SDK more directly and ended up building a tool that ingests recipes (from cookbook photo) and does a bunch of things, but the best one being making implicit aspects of the recipe explicit.
Using Claude Code I built a tiny little Apple Watch app to talk to… Claude! (via Siri)
It’s called Norbert (cybernetics!) and has been super helpful for on the go tiny quick questions and staying off my phone.
Getting it in TestFlight, DM me your email if you want to try it!
It’s called Norbert (cybernetics!) and has been super helpful for on the go tiny quick questions and staying off my phone.
Getting it in TestFlight, DM me your email if you want to try it!
January 1, 2026 at 5:37 PM
Using Claude Code I built a tiny little Apple Watch app to talk to… Claude! (via Siri)
It’s called Norbert (cybernetics!) and has been super helpful for on the go tiny quick questions and staying off my phone.
Getting it in TestFlight, DM me your email if you want to try it!
It’s called Norbert (cybernetics!) and has been super helpful for on the go tiny quick questions and staying off my phone.
Getting it in TestFlight, DM me your email if you want to try it!
I’ve now got Claude Code in the iPhone app running Python scripts under the hood to access our household management stuff in Asana and help me go through stuff on the go.
December 30, 2025 at 6:17 PM
I’ve now got Claude Code in the iPhone app running Python scripts under the hood to access our household management stuff in Asana and help me go through stuff on the go.
Yet another helpful use for Claude Code: connect it to our household tracker (Asana) and go through open items and propose what an actionable, concrete next step is.
December 24, 2025 at 4:37 AM
Yet another helpful use for Claude Code: connect it to our household tracker (Asana) and go through open items and propose what an actionable, concrete next step is.
The other night I spiked a little "Abundance Legislative Linter" to read through proposed city ordinances (for now, SF) and do some basic evaluation on how well or poorly they align to "abundance" principles. Claude Code enables so many fun side projects.
December 17, 2025 at 11:49 PM
The other night I spiked a little "Abundance Legislative Linter" to read through proposed city ordinances (for now, SF) and do some basic evaluation on how well or poorly they align to "abundance" principles. Claude Code enables so many fun side projects.
Step 1: ask Claude for stretch suggestions
Step 2: have nano banana generate an illustration of the stretch
Step 2: have nano banana generate an illustration of the stretch
November 28, 2025 at 7:12 PM
Step 1: ask Claude for stretch suggestions
Step 2: have nano banana generate an illustration of the stretch
Step 2: have nano banana generate an illustration of the stretch
Google Gemini 3 Pro is out today. I ran through my standard "hard SNAP question" which I use to eval new models and it... absolutely excels.
(If you've got a hard public policy/benefits question you want to test, leave a comment and I'll run it through as I have time.)
(If you've got a hard public policy/benefits question you want to test, leave a comment and I'll run it through as I have time.)
November 18, 2025 at 5:39 PM
Google Gemini 3 Pro is out today. I ran through my standard "hard SNAP question" which I use to eval new models and it... absolutely excels.
(If you've got a hard public policy/benefits question you want to test, leave a comment and I'll run it through as I have time.)
(If you've got a hard public policy/benefits question you want to test, leave a comment and I'll run it through as I have time.)
My company, Propel, is doing a direct cash transfer to some high need SNAP families given November deposits are indefinitely delayed due to the shutdown.
Propel is contributing $1 million in company funds and looking to raise another $9m from partners.
www.propel.app/shutdown-fun...
Propel is contributing $1 million in company funds and looking to raise another $9m from partners.
www.propel.app/shutdown-fun...
October 29, 2025 at 5:26 PM
My company, Propel, is doing a direct cash transfer to some high need SNAP families given November deposits are indefinitely delayed due to the shutdown.
Propel is contributing $1 million in company funds and looking to raise another $9m from partners.
www.propel.app/shutdown-fun...
Propel is contributing $1 million in company funds and looking to raise another $9m from partners.
www.propel.app/shutdown-fun...
More progress on using Claude Code for my absolutely-personally-tailored daily todo list tool.
First bit was lots of keyboard shortcuts a la vim. Next I want a voice interface (via Apple Watch) so I've prototyped that with a text-based chat interface that will eventually be driven by voice.
First bit was lots of keyboard shortcuts a la vim. Next I want a voice interface (via Apple Watch) so I've prototyped that with a text-based chat interface that will eventually be driven by voice.
September 13, 2025 at 3:53 AM
More progress on using Claude Code for my absolutely-personally-tailored daily todo list tool.
First bit was lots of keyboard shortcuts a la vim. Next I want a voice interface (via Apple Watch) so I've prototyped that with a text-based chat interface that will eventually be driven by voice.
First bit was lots of keyboard shortcuts a la vim. Next I want a voice interface (via Apple Watch) so I've prototyped that with a text-based chat interface that will eventually be driven by voice.
I'm increasingly convinced Claude Code is an early glimpse of what general purpose AI with agency feels like.
I'm experimenting with making it usable for non-programmers:
- Created a custom output style called "non-technical user"
- It explains what it's doing in lay terms
I'm experimenting with making it usable for non-programmers:
- Created a custom output style called "non-technical user"
- It explains what it's doing in lay terms
September 3, 2025 at 11:31 PM
I'm increasingly convinced Claude Code is an early glimpse of what general purpose AI with agency feels like.
I'm experimenting with making it usable for non-programmers:
- Created a custom output style called "non-technical user"
- It explains what it's doing in lay terms
I'm experimenting with making it usable for non-programmers:
- Created a custom output style called "non-technical user"
- It explains what it's doing in lay terms
I've been using a pattern I call "Claude Compadre" — using Claude Code, but for decidedly non-coding tasks.
This approach means I can have Claude quickly "grow" its own capabilities via code generation.
Example here: generating code to hit the Asana API to help me with family task planning
This approach means I can have Claude quickly "grow" its own capabilities via code generation.
Example here: generating code to hit the Asana API to help me with family task planning
August 31, 2025 at 10:42 PM
I've been using a pattern I call "Claude Compadre" — using Claude Code, but for decidedly non-coding tasks.
This approach means I can have Claude quickly "grow" its own capabilities via code generation.
Example here: generating code to hit the Asana API to help me with family task planning
This approach means I can have Claude quickly "grow" its own capabilities via code generation.
Example here: generating code to hit the Asana API to help me with family task planning
It is time. Hello, Claude, my friend.
August 30, 2025 at 7:39 PM
It is time. Hello, Claude, my friend.
Using Claude Code to check logs for suspicious activity
August 25, 2025 at 9:55 AM
Using Claude Code to check logs for suspicious activity
Excellent bumper sticker.
July 17, 2025 at 2:52 AM
Excellent bumper sticker.
In my newsletter today I sketched out my own AI moonshot, a hyper niche one:
Can we use today’s AI coding capabilities not for greenfield app code generation, but rather for automated characterization test coverage on large legacy systems we’re afraid of changing?
Can we use today’s AI coding capabilities not for greenfield app code generation, but rather for automated characterization test coverage on large legacy systems we’re afraid of changing?
July 15, 2025 at 5:44 PM
In my newsletter today I sketched out my own AI moonshot, a hyper niche one:
Can we use today’s AI coding capabilities not for greenfield app code generation, but rather for automated characterization test coverage on large legacy systems we’re afraid of changing?
Can we use today’s AI coding capabilities not for greenfield app code generation, but rather for automated characterization test coverage on large legacy systems we’re afraid of changing?
A moment of appreciation for my morning walk.
July 14, 2025 at 3:20 PM
A moment of appreciation for my morning walk.