The Lab
Notes on the craft.
Recipes, retrospectives, and the occasional rant about software we wish was different.
LatestClaude Code · statuslineOct 3, 20264 min read
A Claude Code Statusline That Warns You Before Auto-Compact
A Claude Code statusline can do far more than echo a model name. Color the context-remaining number and you /compact on your own terms instead of the tool’s.
Read entryArchive49 entries
- 01
Add AI to Existing Business Processes at the Edges
AISep 20, 20269 min read - 02
10 n8n AI Automations That Save Hours
n8nSep 16, 20269 min read - 03
Wire an AI Agent Into n8n
n8nSep 16, 20268 min read - 04
AI in Customer Support 2026: Deflection That Works
customer-supportSep 15, 20266 min read - 05
Best AI Coding Tools 2026: Our Hard-Won Picks
ai toolsSep 14, 20265 min read - 06
AI Regulation in 2026: What Businesses Need to Know
ai complianceSep 14, 20266 min read - 07
Fine-Tune an Open-Source LLM on Your Own Data
fine-tuningSep 12, 20267 min read - 08
Open Source LLM Cost Is a Hardware Bill, Not a License Fee
open sourceSep 12, 20265 min read - 09
When to Use an Open Source Model Instead of a Frontier API
AI strategySep 11, 20265 min read - 10
Local LLM for Data Privacy: A Practical Guide
local LLMSep 11, 20268 min read - 11
Best Open Source LLMs for Business Use in 2026
open sourceSep 10, 20266 min read - 12
How to Self-Host an Open Source LLM: A Practical Setup Guide
self-hosted LLMsSep 10, 20266 min read - 13
Building an AI Support Agent That Reads Your Help Docs
RAGSep 8, 20266 min read - 14
Escalate or Deflect: The AI Support Handoff Decision Framework
AISep 8, 20268 min read - 15
8 Real AI Voice Agent Use Cases That Won’t Break Your Business
AI voice agentSep 7, 20267 min read - 16
AI Cold Calling: Laws, Tactics & What Wins Meetings
ai cold callingSep 7, 20265 min read - 17
Automate Customer Support Calls with AI Without Losing Trust
voice AISep 7, 20269 min read - 18
How to Make an AI Phone Agent Sound Human
voice AISep 7, 20265 min read - 19
How to Set Up an AI Receptionist That Never Misses a Call
AI receptionistSep 7, 20267 min read - 20
AI Voice Agents Called: Inside a Real Call
AI Voice AgentsSep 7, 20265 min read - 21
7 WhatsApp Bot Ideas for Local Businesses
whatsapp business apiSep 4, 20267 min read - 22
Build an Outbound AI Calling Agent That Actually Sounds Human
AI calling agentSep 4, 20266 min read - 23
WhatsApp AI Agents That Qualify Leads While You Sleep
AISep 3, 20267 min read - 24
WhatsApp AI Customer Support Bot That Won’t Drop Context
customer-supportSep 3, 20267 min read - 25
9 WhatsApp Automations That Save Small Teams Hours
whatsapp automationSep 2, 20267 min read - 26
How to Build a WhatsApp AI Chatbot for Your Business
whatsappSep 2, 20266 min read - 27
How We Cut an LLM Feature's Cost 60% in Production
LLMSep 1, 20264 min read - 28
What We Automate With n8n and What We Refuse To
n8nAug 17, 20268 min read - 29
n8n Schedule Triggers and Daylight Saving: Set the Timezone
n8nAug 16, 20265 min read - 30
n8n Webhook Authentication: Header Auth Done Right
n8nAug 16, 20267 min read - 31
The One Field That Saves Your SEO When You Auto-Post to dev.to
n8nAug 16, 20265 min read - 32
n8n Loop HTTP Request Until Done
n8nAug 14, 20266 min read - 33
Two Scheduled Workflows Beat the n8n Wait Node
n8nAug 14, 20268 min read - 34
RAG Pipeline Architecture, with Failure Modes
RAGAug 8, 20269 min read - 35
Custom AI Agents for Non-Developers: What’s Real
ai-agentsAug 8, 20269 min read - 36
Don’t Hash IPs Without Salt: The Math That Breaks It
privacyAug 6, 20266 min read - 37
How to Create llms.txt
llms.txtAug 6, 20265 min read - 38
SearXNG JSON API for LLM Grounding
searxngAug 4, 20267 min read - 39
When to Turn Off Next.js Image Optimization
Next.jsAug 4, 20263 min read - 40
AI Automation Agencies: Real vs Repackaged
ai-automationAug 3, 20264 min read - 41
What Agentic AI Development Services Actually Ship
agentic AIAug 3, 20267 min read - 42
When Not to Use an AI Agent
ai-agentsAug 3, 20265 min read - 43
Shiki in Next.js App Router: Zero Client JS
ShikiAug 3, 20265 min read - 44
What the Claude API Actually Costs
AIJul 31, 20264 min read - 45
Next.js Hydration Mismatch: The SVG Gradient Trap
Next.jsJul 30, 20265 min read - 46
Getting Reliable JSON Out of an LLM in Production
LLMJul 30, 20265 min read - 47
Block AI Crawlers: The 15 Bots That Matter
ai-crawlersJul 29, 20268 min read - 48
Next.js Sitemap Not Updating? Here's the Real Fix
Next.jsJul 29, 20264 min read - 49
What AI-Assisted Posts Actually Do for a New Domain
AI contentJul 28, 20267 min read
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