Posts tagged: note

markata-go Migration Research

2026-10-06T19:30:00Z

Research on markata-go, the Go rewrite of the Python markata static site generator, to support migrating pype.dev. All sources are primary: the GitHub repo (README, docs/, spec/, releases, issues, commit history), pkg.go.dev, and Waylon’s own sites (waylonwalker.com now runs on markata-go; go.waylonwalker.com is the deployment).

Repo state as of research date: v0.13.0, “Beta (0.x) - API may change between minor versions”, created 2026-01-22, 2 stars, 51 open issues, essentially solo-maintained by WaylonWalker (853 contributions) + dependabot. Source, pkg.go.dev

Important caveat: the project is “open source but not open contribution” — PRs are not reviewed or merged; bugs/feature requests go through issues only. CONTRIBUTING.md

1. Installation + CLI #

Install options #

docs/installation.md, README

# One-liner (Linux/macOS)
curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/WaylonWalker/markata-go/main/install.sh | bash
# (also published at https://waylonwalker.github.io/markata-go/install.sh)

# jpillora installer
curl -sL https://i.jpillora.com/WaylonWalker/markata-go | bash

# eget
eget WaylonWalker/markata-go

# mise (from GitHub releases)
mise use -g github:WaylonWalker/markata-go

# Go install (Go 1.22+; v0.13.0 toolchain reports Go 1.26)
go install github.com/WaylonWalker/markata-go/cmd/markata-go@latest
# or pinned: ...@v0.13.0

Distributed as a single dependency-free binary. markata-go update is a built-in self-update command. v0.5.0 release notes

CLI commands #

docs/reference/cli.md

Global flags: -c/--config, -m/--merge-config (repeatable), -o/--output, -q/--quiet, -v/--verbose, --color/--no-color, --log-format, --no-input.

Command	What it does
`build`	Full build. Flags: `--clean`, `--dry-run`, `--fast` (skip minify/CSS purge/Tailwind/Pagefind), `--benchmark-json`, `--benchmark-detailed`
`serve`	Dev server + live reload. `-p/--port`, `-H/--host`, `--no-reload`, `--no-watch`, `--open`, `--fast`
`new [title]`	Create post. `--dir`, `--draft`, `--tags`; interactive mode via charmbracelet/huh. Built-in content templates: post, page, docs, article, note, photo, video, link, quote, guide, inline, contact, author
`init`	Scaffold a new site
`config show/get/set/validate/init`	Resolved config in YAML/JSON/TOML; dot-notation get (`feeds.defaults.items_per_page`); `set` preserves formatting
`migrate`	Python-markata migration tool (see §2)
`tui`	k9s-style interactive TUI: posts/tags/feeds views, `/` filter expressions
`lsp` / `lsp setup --editor helix`	Language server: wikilink completion, frontmatter completion/hover, diagnostics
`list`	List posts/tags/feeds (`–format table
`search`	Content search: `--filter`, `--fields`, `--fuzzy`, `--limit`
`lint`	Frontmatter/content checks with fixers (incl. natural-language datetime fixing)
`explain <topic>`	Built-in docs, e.g. `markata-go explain feeds`
`benchmark`	Build benchmarks + pprof
`import`	Import external content (PESOS pattern)
`encryption`	`check`, `generate-password`, `encrypt-posts` subcommands
`aesthetic`	Theme/aesthetic tooling
`agent`	Install/doctor bundled agent-skill integrations (`agent doctor` drift-checks installed skill)
`blogroll`	Blogroll commands incl. `blogroll update`
`version`	`--short` supported

2. Config format #

File discovery #

markata-go does not auto-read markata.toml. It looks for (first found wins): ./markata-go.toml, ./markata-go.yaml, ./markata-go.yml, ./markata-go.json, .markata-go.*, ~/.config/markata-go/config.toml, or --config/--merge-config. configuration.md, cli.md

All config is namespaced under [markata-go] (also accepts YAML/JSON). Env overrides use MARKATA_GO_ prefix (e.g. MARKATA_GO_OUTPUT_DIR=dist). Config include = [...] supports splitting config across files; [[markata-go.feeds]] merges by slug. configuration.md

Core schema (`[markata-go]`) #

output_dir (default "output"), url, title, description, author, license, assets_dir (default "static"), templates_dir (default "templates"), hooks (default ["default"]), disabled_hooks, concurrency (0=auto). PWA-ish fields also present in the schema: icon, lang, theme_color, background_color, start_url, display, short_name, site_name, repo_url, repo_branch, twitter_card, twitter_handle/twitter_site, rss_description, site_version. configuration.md + this repo’s own markata-go.toml which already carries them.

Other sections seen in docs: [markata-go.glob] (patterns default ["pages/**/*.md","posts/**/*.md"], use_gitignore, slug_mode, slug_rules), [markata-go.markdown] + [markata-go.markdown.highlight], [markata-go.wikilinks] (warn_broken, strict_wikilinks under [markata-go]), [markata-go.theme], [markata-go.feed_defaults], [[markata-go.feeds]], [[markata-go.nav]] (label, url, external), [markata-go.components.nav], [markata-go.sidebar]/[[markata-go.sidebar.nav]], [markata-go.encryption], [embeds], [markata-go.head] + [[markata-go.head.alternate_feeds]], [markata-go.blogroll], [content_templates]. configuration.md

Migration tooling — `markata-go migrate` #

cli.md

markata-go migrate                          # full analysis
markata-go migrate --dry-run
markata-go migrate config -i markata.toml -o markata-go.toml   # also accepts pyproject.toml
markata-go migrate filter "templateKey in ['blog', 'til']"     # check a filter expression
markata-go migrate templates [path]                           # check pongo2 compat

Exit codes: 0 clean, 1 warnings, 2 incompatibilities, 3 error. There is a docs/guides/migration.md in the repo.

Known bug: the migrate tool has emitted invalid TOML (nested [markata-go.description.description] tables from a [markata.auto_description.description]-style Python config) — WaylonWalker/waylonwalker.com issue #20, supposedly fixed by fix(migrate): generate valid TOML for string fields (#208) in v0.5.0. Always run markata-go config validate after migrating.

This repo’s markata-go.toml already exists and appears to be migrate-tool output — feed filter strings carried over verbatim, page_size preserved.

3. Markdown features #

Engine: goldmark (deps include yuin/goldmark, goldmark-highlighting, goldmark-emoji, goldmark-figure, goldmark-anchor, CJK ext, abhg.dev/goldmark/*). pkg.go.dev deps, v0.10.0 changelog

Config: [markata-go.markdown] extensions = ["tables","strikethrough","autolinks","tasklist"]; spec also lists typographer (smart quotes, default true), definition_list, footnote. configuration.md, spec/CONTENT.md

Admonitions !!!: supported via a goldmark extension in the render stage. Verified against source: types are a hardcoded whitelist — note, info, tip, hint, success, warning, caution, important, danger, error, bug, example, quote, abstract, aside, seealso, reminder, attention, todo, settings, vsplit, chat, chat-reply (admonitionTypes map in pkg/plugins/admonitions.go). Unknown types are NOT parsed — they render as literal paragraphs. !!! scripture / !!! background-thought do not work. Confirmed live: ???+ success in this repo rendered <details class="admonition success" open> while !!! scripture rendered literal text. No config option for custom types exists. plugins.md, markdown.md, pkg/plugins/admonitions.go:17
Collapsible ??? / ???+: supported (??? collapsed, ???+ open), renders native <details>/<summary>. markdown.md
Wikilinks: [[slug]], [[slug|text]], [[slug#fragment]], [[slug#frag|text]]; case-insensitive slug lookup, then aliases frontmatter (synonyms: alias, handle, handles); unresolved → rendered literal + wikilink_warnings in post.Extra; strict_wikilinks = true fails the build. [[ slug ]] WITH SPACES WORKS — wikilinks.go:151 does strings.TrimSpace(groups[1]), verified against this repo’s build output (spaced daily-note links resolve with full hover-preview data attributes). plugins.md, pkg/plugins/wikilinks.go:151
Attrs {#id .class}: supported — spec shows ![alt](img.png){.shadow .bordered}, *em*{.accent}, `code`{.inline-code}, [[link]]{.wikilink-pill}, {#hero-image}. spec/CONTENT.md
Code highlighting: goldmark-highlighting (chroma); [markata-go.markdown.highlight] theme = "dracula", line_numbers. markdown.md
Tables: via tables extension. Typographer/smart quotes: typographer = true default in spec. configuration.md, spec/CONTENT.md
Heading anchors/permalinks: heading_anchors plugin + goldmark-anchor; TOC plugin (toc, post.Extra.toc_html). plugins.md
Markdown containers: generic ::: name fenced divs with {#id .class data-attr} — a possible escape hatch for admonition-like custom blocks (no title/collapse semantics). markdown-containers.md
Extras present: mermaid (incl. lightbox/pan-zoom, CLI/Chromium pre-render), chartjs fenced blocks, contribution-graph fenced block, csv_fence, glossary, webawesome components, Obsidian-style  ![[attachment]] embeds, oEmbed external link cards. plugins.md, v0.7.0

4. Frontmatter #

frontmatter.md, plugins.md load section, spec/DATA_MODEL.md

Built-in fields: title, slug, date (+ modified, and date aliases for cross-SSG compat), published (default false), draft (never rendered), skip, tags, description (auto-generated if absent), template (default post.html; also object form {default:, card:, feed:}), aliases, authors/author/writer, image/video/cover_image/thumbnail/og_image/hero_video, private, jinja (bool gate for jinja_md), config_overrides, css_class. Unknown fields land in Extra and are filterable (Extra.series == 'X').

published semantics match Python markata: false = rendered but excluded from feeds/sitemap/RSS (“shadow page”); true = included. draft: true = not rendered at all.
templateKey: still a real field — filters like templateKey in ['blog-post'] are used in migrate docs, and encryption.private_tags matches against templateKey as well as tags. cli.md migrate section, v0.8.0 changelog
Slugs: auto-generated from filename by default (flat mode): lowercase, spaces→hyphens, strip special chars, collapse hyphens. [markata-go.glob] slug_mode = "flat" | "path" plus per-prefix [[markata-go.glob.slug_rules]] (longest prefix wins) — the “hybrid” v0.9.0 capability. index.md/README.md map to directory root; slug: "" or / = homepage; frontmatter slug always wins; nested slug: "a/b" allowed; leading/trailing slashes stripped. configuration.md, spec/DATA_MODEL.md
Dates: accepts RFC3339, YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS, YYYY-MM-DD, US 01/15/2024, European 15-01-2024, January 15, 2024, Jan 15, 2024. plugins.md

5. Feeds + filter language #

Filters are Python-like expressions — the same syntax family as Python markata. This site’s existing filters port verbatim. frontmatter.md, spec/DATA_MODEL.md

filter = "published == True"
filter = "draft == False"
filter = "'go' in tags"
filter = "date >= '2024-01-01' and date < '2025-01-01'"
filter = "slug.startswith('tutorials/')"
filter = "template == 'tutorial.html'"
filter = "Extra.series == 'Web Scraping with Go'"
filter = "published == True and ('go' in tags or 'python' in tags)"
filter = "not draft"

Operators: == != > >= < <= in and or not; string methods startswith, lower().contains(...); built-ins today, now, True, False, None; date(2024,1,1) constructor in spec. (Python markata extras timedelta/parse not confirmed — check migrate filter.) Note the TUI/CLI search uses a slightly different dialect (tags contains "go", title startswith "How").

Feed config #

pkg.go.dev README

[markata-go.feed_defaults]
items_per_page = 10
orphan_threshold = 3
[markata-go.feed_defaults.formats]
html = true
rss = true
atom = false
json = false
[markata-go.feed_defaults.templates]
html = "feed.html"
card = "card.html"

[[markata-go.feeds]]
slug = "blog"            # slug = "" → homepage index.html
title = "Blog"
description = "All blog posts"
filter = "published == True"
sort = "date"            # or "Extra.series_order" etc.
reverse = true
items_per_page = 10
[markata-go.feeds.formats]
html = true
rss = true
atom = true
json = true

Formats per feed: html → /{slug}/index.html (paginated), rss → /{slug}/rss.xml, atom → atom.xml, json → feed.json, markdown → index.md, text → index.txt, plus a sitemap per-feed format. Pagination via items_per_page/page_size, orphan_threshold. auto_feeds generates per-tag feeds automatically. pkg.go.dev, v0.10.0 changelog

6. Templates #

Engine: pongo2 (“Jinja2-like”) — {{ }}, {% %} syntax, |safe etc. pkg.go.dev

Lookup order for post.template: project templates/ dir → theme templates → default theme fallback. Missing template → raw article_html. frontmatter.md, plugins.md

Template context: post, body (= post.ArticleHTML), config, core; in jinja_md content templates also posts, filter, map, today, now. Field access is Go-style exported names in examples (post.Title, post.Date.Format, post.Extra.toc_html) — but template-variable casing has been a moving target (documented in agent-skill commit c7923e3); pongo2 generally resolves case-insensitively. Custom filters: media_url, is_video, length/first/last/sort/reverse/selectattr/map/join/default/upper/lower/title, forloop vars. Template helpers render_feed/feed_posts exist. plugins.md, frontmatter.md media fields, spec/CONTENT.md

{% if post.Extra.toc_html %}<aside>{{ post.Extra.toc_html|safe }}</aside>{% endif %}
{% for p in filter("published == true")[:5] %}- {{ p.Title }}{% endfor %}
{% with post.image|media_url:post.video as m %}{% if m|is_video %}<video src="{{ m }}">{% endif %}{% endwith %}

jinja_md plugin = jinja-in-markdown equivalent; gated per-post by jinja: true frontmatter. plugins.md, spec/CONTENT.md

Migration note: markata-go migrate templates checks pongo2 compat, but Jinja2↔pongo2 differences (e.g. {% with %}, macro support gaps, different autoescape behavior) mean the 30 templates in templates/ need manual review. Verified live: templates/base_head.html {% include "head.html" %} fails (file absent — Python markata may have supplied it) and poisons the whole project-template chain → 697 parse errors → every page falls back to built-in theme.

7. Feature parity vs this site’s Python plugins #

Python markata feature/plugin	markata-go equivalent	Source
`plugins.password_protection` (client-side decrypt)	`encryption` plugin + CLI. `[markata-go.encryption]`, `private_tags` map tag/templateKey→key name, keys from env vars, `enforce_strength`, `min_password_length`, `default_key`; `markata-go encryption check/generate-password/encrypt-posts`; `private: true` frontmatter + robots.txt; encrypted cards on feed pages; plaintext-leak sealing. Configured in this repo’s `markata-go.toml` (`protected-post = "default"`, key via `MARKATA_GO_ENCRYPTION_KEY_DEFAULT`); both protected posts verified encrypted in `markout-go`.	v0.7.0, v0.8.0, encryption.md
`plugins.wikilinks_hover` (disabled here)	`wikilink_hover` — built-in, enabled by default since v0.7.0; renders `data-title`/`data-description`/`data-date` on `.wikilink` anchors. Verified in this site’s build output.	v0.7.0
`plugins.md_video` (`![]()`→`<video>`)	Built-in `md_video` plugin (same name) exists in markata-go; also `youtube` plugin (URL-on-own-line → lite/nocookie embed), `embeds` (oEmbed, Obsidian `
![[file]]`),` is_video`/`media_url` filters.	plugins.md
`plugins.analytics` (disabled here)	`stats` plugin (post/feed/site stats), `contribution-graph` fenced block, chartjs blocks; analytics guide at `docs/guides/analytics.md`.	plugins.md
`plugins.build_thoughts` (custom: builds thoughts feed from external API)	No equivalent. `import` command only does RSS/Atom/JSONFeed — thoughts API has no feed endpoint (verified: `/feed.json` → 404). Port as pre-build script generating `pages/thoughts/*.md` (fix `scripts/sync-thoughts.py` — wrong output dir, no frontmatter), or keep calling it before builds.	this repo `plugins/build_thoughts.py`, `scripts/sync-thoughts.py`
`markata.plugins.prevnext` (disabled here)	`prevnext` built-in (Collect stage).	plugins.md
`markata.plugins.publish_source` (enabled here — serves `.md`/`.txt` sources)	Feed `markdown`/`text` output formats cover per-feed sources; per-post `.md` source publishing unconfirmed.	pkg.go.dev feed formats
`markata.plugins.service_worker` (disabled here)	Not in built-in plugin list. Probably absent.	plugins.md
`markata.plugins.manifest` / PWA fields	PWA config keys exist (`theme_color`, `start_url`, `display`, `short_name`…); a dedicated manifest.json writer not confirmed in plugin list.	this repo’s markata-go.toml, configuration.md
RSS	`rss`/`atom`/`jsonfeed` write-stage plugins + per-feed formats + head `alternate_feeds`	plugins.md
Sitemap	`sitemap` plugin + per-feed sitemap format	plugins.md
404 page	Built-in 404 mechanism w/ slug suggestions + live-search fallback (v0.7.0); `didyoumean`-style suggestions	v0.7.0
Covers / OG images	`structured_data` (JSON-LD/OG/Twitter), `og_image` frontmatter, themed OG card templates, `og_image_service` screenshot-based OG images	plugins.md, v0.7.0
jinja_md	`jinja_md` built-in (`jinja: true` frontmatter)	plugins.md
redirects	`redirects` write plugin	plugins.md
`markata summary` TUI counts	`markata-go tui` + `list`/`search` cover similar ground	cli.md
`heading_link` permalinks	`heading_anchors` built-in	plugins.md
Search	`pagefind` built-in (skipped by `--fast`); optional bleve/searchcraft work in flight	plugins.md
Bundled agent skill for site repos	`markata-go agent install` ships a `markata-go-site` skill (SKILL.md + topics/reference/examples)	`spec/spec/AGENTS.md`, `markata-go agent --help`
Extras not in Python version	tailwind CDN automation, cdn_assets vendoring, mermaid, chartjs, glossary, series, webmentions, blogroll/reader, garden view w/ knowledge graph, mentions, link_collector/link graph, keyboard nav, view transitions, random_post, image optimization, LSP, serve control center	plugins.md, release notes

8. Extensibility #

Built-in plugin set is large (30+) and configurable via hooks/disabled_hooks (hooks = ["default", "python_docs"] style). plugins.md
True external plugins: Go-only and effectively compile-time. pkg/plugins/registry.go registers built-ins. The practical paths: fork + recompile (we already build from source via go install), or template/jinja_md + config for most needs. There’s a docs/guides/plugin-development.md and an agent-skill topic plugin-creation.md. spec/PLUGINS.md, CONTRIBUTING.md
Policy: PRs not accepted — so a needed feature means a fork or an issue request. CONTRIBUTING.md
Escape hatches: jinja_md for computed content, config_overrides per post, import command, feed markdown/text outputs, ::: name containers, env-var-driven scripts pre-build.

9. Development pace & maturity #

Repo created 2026-01-22; releases: v0.4.0 (2026-01-24), v0.5.0 (~01-25), v0.6.0 (01-31), v0.7.0 (02-19), v0.8.0 (02-21), v0.9.0, v0.10.0 (04-20), … v0.13.0 (2026-10-02) — roughly monthly minors, hundreds of commits each (v0.9→v0.10 = 772 commits). pkg.go.dev versions, releases
Self-described “Beta (0.x) — API may change between minor versions”; release notes explicitly warn to smoke-test custom templates/themes on upgrade. README, v0.9.0 notes
Waylon dogfoods heavily: waylonwalker.com homepage says “Building markata-go, the engine behind this site”; go.waylonwalker.com is live; repo WaylonWalker/waylonwalker.com has markata-go.toml + split config/*.toml; he runs a “builder admin” for live builds and edits via md.waylonwalker.com. homepage, waylonwalker.com repo, fast-mode post
Community: 2 stars, 2 forks, 51 open issues, 2 contributors — solo project, not open to PRs. repo
Ecosystem extras already in flight: LSP (markata-go lsp), TUI, agent-skill bundle, helm/k8s deploy docs, builder-admin service, local admin CMS issue (#986). cli.md, issues

10. Known gotchas (issues + observed) #

markata-go migrate can emit invalid TOML for nested Python config sections (auto_description) — validate with config validate. waylonwalker.com#20
Slug mode changes URLs: path/hybrid modes change URL structure — “review links and redirects before switching”. v0.9.0 notes
Tailwind managed preflight off by default since v0.9.0 — sites depending on it must re-enable. v0.9.0 notes
0.x breaking changes are routine — pin the version (eget/mise pin, or go install …@vX.Y.Z), smoke-test templates on upgrade. README
Encryption pitfalls were real (plaintext leaks, missing decryption assets on feed pages) — fixed in v0.8.0; keep the version ≥0.8 and read docs/guides/encryption.md before relying on it. v0.8.0
Optional theme assets (lite-yt CSS/JS, GLightbox, mermaid, webmentions, encryption) loaded site-wide rather than per-need — cosmetic/perf, open issue #980.
pongo2 ≠ Jinja2: migrate templates is a checker, not a rewriter — expect manual edits to custom templates.
Case sensitivity in templates (post.Title vs post.title) has churned — check the agent-skill template-context reference and test.
Private posts stay out of auto_feeds public tag feeds — intended behavior, don’t be surprised if private-tagged posts are missing from tag pages. PR #979
Env var for encryption keys is MARKATA_GO_ENCRYPTION_KEY_DEFAULT (not _DEFAULT_KEY as the spec table says) — verified by build error message.

MIGRATION RISK SUMMARY (for pype.dev) #

Ports cleanly (verified in local markout-go build):

All feed filter strings — same Python-like expression language; all 17 feeds generated (192 output dirs incl. archive/variants).
published/draft frontmatter semantics, tags, templateKey filtering, YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS dates.
!!!/???/???+ admonitions for whitelisted types, [[slug]] and [[ slug ]] spaced wikilinks (resolve + hover previews), GFM tables, typographer, heading anchors, syntax highlighting.
Nav, RSS/Atom/JSON per feed, sitemap, 404, prevnext, OG/structured data, pagefind search, tailwind automation.
Encryption: templateKey: protected-post posts encrypted via private_tags map + MARKATA_GO_ENCRYPTION_KEY_DEFAULT.

Needs custom work:

Custom admonition types (scripture ×70, background-thought ×14, source ×2) — hardcoded whitelist, no PRs accepted → file upstream issue and/or codemod to a supported type (e.g. quote) with matching title.
plugins/build_thoughts.py — pre-build script writing pages/thoughts/*.md.
30 Jinja templates — every markata.config.*/post.* var reference needs rewriting to the go context; the head.html include alone poisons the chain. Recommendation: adopt the default theme + palette/aesthetic CSS instead of porting.
Admonition typos in content: waring, Scripture, Exodusds (were silently unstyled under Python markata too).

No equivalent (probably):

Custom Python plugins generally — no Python plugin runtime.
service_worker plugin; per-post publish_source (feed-level markdown/text exists); PWA manifest writer unconfirmed.
Python-specific filter helpers (timedelta, parse) — verify in migrate filter.

Neovim Markdown Journaling Research

2026-10-04T06:00:00Z

Research on the current Neovim plugin landscape for writing/journaling in Markdown, oriented around this site’s workflow: a markata blog with YAML frontmatter, mkdocs-material-style !!! scripture / ??? scripture admonitions, [[ slug ]] wikilinks, and a custom pypeaday.daily module (copier templates + telescope/fzf pickers + live_grep backlinks).

1. LazyVim `lang.markdown` extra — what it actually does #

Source of truth (current main): https://github.com/LazyVim/LazyVim/blob/main/lua/lazyvim/plugins/extras/lang/markdown.lua Docs: https://github.com/LazyVim/lazyvim.github.io/blob/main/docs/extras/lang/markdown.md

As of 2026, the extra installs/configures:

marksman via nvim-lspconfig (servers = { marksman = {} }) — markdown LSP with [[wikilink]] completion, go-to-definition, references (backlinks), and dead-link diagnostics. Big deal: most of what pypeaday.daily.find_backlinks() does via telescope live_grep, marksman gives via grr/vim.lsp.buf.references.
markdownlint-cli2 via nvim-lint (and none-ls if installed), plus conform.nvim formatters prettier, markdownlint-cli2, and markdown-toc (the last only runs when the buffer contains ). Mason auto-installs markdownlint-cli2 + markdown-toc. LazyVim switched from markdownlint-cli to cli2 in 2024: https://github.com/LazyVim/LazyVim/pull/3843
markdown-preview.nvim (iamcco/markdown-preview.nvim) — browser preview on <leader>cp (markdown buffers only).
render-markdown.nvim (MeanderingProgrammer/render-markdown.nvim) — in-buffer rendering. LazyVim replaced headlines.nvim with this plugin back in 2024: https://github.com/LazyVim/LazyVim/pull/4139. LazyVim’s config disables heading icons and checkbox rendering, and maps a <leader>um toggle via Snacks.toggle.

There is no prose/spell/grammar extra in LazyVim — the full extras list contains nothing like a lang.text or extras.spelling. Prose tooling has to be added by hand.

The import already exists in ~/.config/nvim/lua/config/lazy.lua (line 53) alongside ~15 other extras — verified 2026-10-04. If plugins look missing, :Lazy sync will reconcile; :LazyExtras shows what’s active.

Built-in LazyVim defaults that matter for prose (no plugin needed):

FileType autocmd already sets wrap and spell for markdown: lazyvim/config/autocmds.lua (wrap_spell augroup, patterns include markdown). So spell+wrap are already on.
Toggles already mapped: <leader>us spell, <leader>uw wrap, <leader>um render-markdown (with the extra), <leader>uz Snacks zen mode, <leader>uD Snacks dim — see lazyvim/config/keymaps.lua.

2. render-markdown.nvim — capabilities and the admonition gap #

Repo: https://github.com/MeanderingProgrammer/render-markdown.nvim

Renders headings, code blocks, inline code, horizontal rules, list bullets, checkboxes (with user-defined states), block quotes, callouts, tables, links, LaTeX, per the README feature list.
Callouts: supports GitHub ([!NOTE], [!TIP], [!IMPORTANT], [!WARNING], [!CAUTION]) and the full Obsidian set ([!QUOTE], [!TODO], etc.). Custom callouts are fully supported — each entry is name = { raw = '[!SCRIPTURE]', rendered = ' Scripture', highlight = '...' }. Wiki reference: https://github.com/MeanderingProgrammer/render-markdown.nvim/wiki/Callouts
Custom callout titles (> [!quote] Psalm 119) are supported: https://github.com/MeanderingProgrammer/render-markdown.nvim/issues/109
Checkboxes: - [ ] / - [x] render as icons, and arbitrary custom states (- [/], - [>], etc.) are configurable (checkbox.custom).
mkdocs !!!/??? admonitions are NOT supported. The plugin is treesitter-driven over the standard markdown parser; admonition blocks are just indented text to it. Callout support was added for the > [!x] blockquote syntax only (https://github.com/MeanderingProgrammer/render-markdown.nvim/issues/20).
The main alternative, OXY2DEV/markview.nvim, also only renders > [!x] callouts for markdown — its “admonitions” support is for Asciidoc, not mkdocs: https://github.com/OXY2DEV/markview.nvim/wiki/Markdown
Even markdown-preview.nvim can’t preview mkdocs admonitions — open feature request: https://github.com/iamcco/markdown-preview.nvim/issues/618. The faithful preview for !!! scripture is the markata/mkdocs build itself, not an editor plugin.
Conceal/anti-conceal: anti_conceal hides the plugin’s virtual text on the cursor line so you can edit raw source; win_options.conceallevel is managed per rendered/raw view. Known upstream limitation: concealed text + wrap keeps stale line breaks (neovim issue #14409), documented in https://github.com/MeanderingProgrammer/render-markdown.nvim/blob/HEAD/doc/limitations.md. Practical tradeoff: rendered mode is great for reading/journaling review; expect to live with <leader>um toggling or anti-conceal while editing.

3. obsidian.nvim — fit for a non-Obsidian vault #

Repo (community fork, actively maintained; epwalsh/obsidian.nvim is the legacy upstream): https://github.com/obsidian-nvim/obsidian.nvim

A “workspace” is just a directory of markdown — no .obsidian/ config required. workspaces = { { name = "pype.dev", path = "~/projects/personal/pype.dev" } } is a valid setup.
Provides :Obsidian today [OFFSET] / dailies, new_from_template, template (substitutions, date/time formats), backlinks, follow_link, search, link, links. See command list in README.
Completion of [[ wiki links and # tags via blink.cmp or nvim-cmp; newer versions do this through an in-process LSP so it works with any completion engine.
Caveats:
- Search/backlinks require ripgrep.
- Only activates inside workspace paths; the whole pype.dev repo would be one workspace, so :Obsidian search scans posts+pages together (probably fine).
- Default wikilink style is [[id|alias]]-ish (wiki_link_id_prefix); the [[ slug ]]-with-spaces convention used by markata is configured via wiki_link_func. Also disable_frontmatter/custom note_frontmatter_func matters since it would otherwise write Obsidian-style frontmatter (id, aliases, tags) that markata doesn’t want.
- Its built-in checkbox/conceal UI is deprecated in favor of render-markdown.nvim — set ui.enable = false and let render-markdown handle visuals.
Verdict: overlaps ~80% with the existing pypeaday.daily module (daily notes, templates, backlinks). The genuinely new capability is [[ completion and structured wikilink following — but marksman (already in lang.markdown) gives wikilink completion, gd link following, and grr backlinks for free, so obsidian.nvim is optional rather than foundational. If adopted, keep pypeaday.daily for copier template creation and use obsidian.nvim only for links/completion.

4. Alternatives — brief survey #

telekasten.nvim (https://github.com/nvim-telekasten/telekasten.nvim): telescope-based zettelkasten + journal; daily/weekly notes, templates, backlinks, calendar. Works, but low recent activity and it duplicates the existing copier+telescope workflow. Not recommended here.
zk-nvim (https://github.com/zk-org/zk-nvim): Neovim frontend for the zk CLI (a real LSP + note DB). Solid and maintained, but it wants the zk binary and a zk-style notebook — another parallel system, not a fit for markata frontmatter/slugs.
neorg (https://github.com/nvim-neorg/neorg): still releasing (9.x), but it’s its own .norg file format — incompatible with a markdown blog. Maintainer activity is low (focus shifted to the lux Lua package manager): https://github.com/nvim-neorg/neorg/discussions/1673. Skip.
Preview: markdown-preview.nvim (browser, in the extra, <leader>cp) is the maintained option. glow.nvim is abandoned — its own README points at render-markdown.nvim: https://github.com/ellisonleao/glow.nvim/ (fork shcode/nvim-glow exists but is a terminal renderer, no help for admonitions). For this site, markata’s own build/serve is the only faithful preview.
Focus: don’t install zen-mode/twilight. LazyVim already maps Snacks.zen() to <leader>uz and Snacks.toggle.dim() to <leader>uD (folke’s snacks.nvim replaced his standalone plugins: https://github.com/folke/snacks.nvim/blob/main/docs/zen.md).
Tables: tabular is already installed (:Tabularize /|), and prettier (via conform <leader>cf) aligns markdown tables automatically. If auto-growing tables are wanted, Kicamon/markdown-table-mode.nvim or dhruvasagar/vim-table-mode are the options — probably unnecessary.
List/checkbox ergonomics: bullets.vim (https://github.com/bullets-vim/bullets.vim) auto-continues lists on <CR>/o, renumbers with gN, indents with >>/<<, and toggles checkboxes with <leader>x — including partial-completion parent checkboxes. Perfect fit for prayer-request checklists.
Link editing nicety: antonk52/markdowny.nvim adds vim-style surround ops for [text](url) links. Optional quality-of-life.

5. Spell / wrap / prose ergonomics #

Already handled by LazyVim core: spell + wrap FileType autocmd for markdown; <leader>us / <leader>uw toggles; spelllang = "en".
Worth adding in an ftplugin/autocmd: linebreak (wrap at words, not mid-word), breakindent (wrapped lines keep list indent), wrapmargin/ colorcolumn hygiene, and conceallevel=2 + concealcursor=nc if you want rendered-markdown to look clean while keeping cursor-line raw. Note smoothscroll is globally disabled in this config (vim.opt.smoothscroll = false) — re-enable it locally for markdown if long wrapped paragraphs feel jumpy.
Prose LSPs:
- harper-ls (https://github.com/Automattic/harper, https://writewithharper.com): Rust grammar/spelling LSP aimed at developers; markdown-aware, fast, no Java. Installable via mason (harper_ls in lspconfig), every linter toggleable (linters.sentence_capitalization, long_sentences, etc.). Best current default for prose grammar. Caution: it flags in every buffer it attaches to — scope it to markdown filetype only.
- ltex-ls is dead — valentjn/ltex-ls is archived (https://github.com/valentjn/ltex-ls). Maintained fork: ltex-plus/ltex-ls-plus (https://github.com/ltex-plus/ltex-ls-plus), still LanguageTool-based (heavy JVM, but deeper grammar rules).
- vale (https://vale.sh): CLI style-guide linter; usable through nvim-lint’s vale linter. Best if you want house-style rules (write-good/proselint packs), more setup than value for journaling.
Soft punctuation niceties: pensieve/cmp-dictionary are mostly dead ends; the spell dictionary via zg + blink buffer/spell source covers the practical case.

Recommended additions for this setup #

Ordered by value ÷ effort.

1. lang.markdown extra is already enabled (zero new code) #

~/.config/nvim/lua/config/lazy.lua line 53 already imports it. Verify marksman attaches with :LspInfo in a note buffer. Then:

gd on <a href="/2025-09-13-notes/" class="wikilink" data-title="2025-09-13 Notes" data-description="yesterday: 2025-09-11-notes" data-date="2025-09-13">2025-09-13 Notes</a> jumps to the note
grr (LSP references) is a richer backlinks view than the live_grep pattern in find_daily_files/find_backlinks — keep the telescope one, it searches the spaced [[ slug ]] convention regardless of whether marksman resolves it.
Caveat: marksman treats the git root (pype.dev) as the workspace, which is what we want. Verify it resolves the spaced [[ slug ]] form; if not, completion still works for [[slug]] and markata tolerates both.

2. Markdown writing-mode ftplugin (tiny, high value) #

~/.config/nvim/after/ftplugin/markdown.lua (LazyVim loads after/ftplugin automatically — no spec needed):

vim.opt_local.linebreak = true      -- wrap at word boundaries
vim.opt_local.breakindent = true    -- keep list indentation on wrapped lines
vim.opt_local.smoothscroll = true   -- undo the global `false` for prose
vim.opt_local.conceallevel = 2      -- conceal markup for rendered view
vim.opt_local.concealcursor = "nc"  -- show raw text on the cursor line in insert
vim.opt_local.spell = true          -- redundant w/ LazyVim autocmd, explicit is fine
-- map j/k to gj/gk for wrapped-line navigation (markdown buffers only)
vim.keymap.set({ "n", "x" }, "j", "gj", { buffer = true, remap = false })
vim.keymap.set({ "n", "x" }, "k", "gk", { buffer = true, remap = false })

3. render-markdown tweaks + a `scripture` callout + checkbox states #

-- lua/plugins/markdown.lua
return {
  {
    "MeanderingProgrammer/render-markdown.nvim",
    opts = {
      -- re-enable what LazyVim's extra disables
      checkbox = {
        enabled = true,
        unchecked = { icon = "󰄱 " },
        checked = { icon = "󰱒 " },
        custom = {
          praying = { raw = "[/]", rendered = "󱑂 ", highlight = "RenderMarkdownWarn" },
        },
      },
      callout = {
        -- !!! scripture has no renderer; if you ever write
        -- > [!scripture] in blog posts this makes it pretty.
        scripture = {
          raw = "[!SCRIPTURE]",
          rendered = "󰗶 Scripture",
          highlight = "RenderMarkdownHint",
        },
      },
      anti_conceal = { enabled = true }, -- cursor line shows raw markdown
    },
  },
}

Reality check: nothing renders !!! scripture blocks in the editor — they’ll show as plain indented text (which is honest: markata is the only real renderer). If visual distinction matters, util.mini-hipatterns is already enabled — add a pattern:

-- inside the existing mini.hipatterns spec
local hipatterns = require("mini.hipatterns")
opts = {
  highlighters = {
    admonition = { pattern = "^!?%?+ +%w+.*", group = "Special" },
  },
}

4. bullets.vim for prayer-request checklists (one line, high value) #

{ "bullets-vim/bullets.vim", ft = "markdown" },

<leader>x toggles - [ ]/- [x], <CR>/o continue list items, >>/<< adjust nesting. Docs: https://github.com/bullets-vim/bullets.vim

5. Optional, heavier lifts (only if felt needed) #

harper-ls grammar checking, scoped to markdown:

{
  "neovim/nvim-lspconfig",
  opts = {
    servers = {
      harper_ls = {
        filetypes = { "markdown" },
        settings = {
          ["harper-ls"] = {
            linters = { sentence_capitalization = false, long_sentences = false },
          },
        },
      },
    },
  },
}

obsidian.nvim for [[ completion + :Obsidian backlinks — only if marksman’s LSP completion of wikilinks proves insufficient. Keep ui.enable = false and continue using pypeaday.daily + copier for note creation. Expect to write a wiki_link_func to emit [[ slug ]] and a note_frontmatter_func matching markata’s frontmatter.

Bottom line #

The copier+telescope daily-notes system is already doing the job of an entire plugin category (telekasten/zk/obsidian daily notes). The real gaps are: marksman wikilink navigation (free, already enabled via lang.markdown), rendered checkboxes/callouts (render-markdown, in the extra), checkbox toggling (bullets.vim), wrapped-line ergonomics (a 6-line ftplugin), and optional grammar checking (harper-ls). !!! admonitions are a markata-side concern — no editor plugin renders them; at most, highlight the marker line.

OBC Networking

2026-05-16T12:26:46Z

network #

Spectrum brings internet in via coax to their modem. The modem feeds the Eero (acting as gateway, handing out 192.168.4.0/24). Downstream of the Eero is the old Spectrum router still emitting an SSID on 192.168.1.0/24 — needs turning off (requires Spectrum admin access).

printer #

The printer was originally self-assigned static IP 192.168.1.165. After switching to Eero DHCP (192.168.4.0/24), it now gets 192.168.4.25. The admin desktop has a static rule configured for it, but the port config on the desktop still had the old 192.168.1.165 address — had to update it to point to 192.168.4.25. The port name is stuck as IP_192.168.1.165 (couldn’t be changed).

The DHCP-assigned 192.168.4.25 is subject to change — need to iron that out.

admin password reset #

From the main menu, tap Counter → Display Keyboard
Enter: stop, 0, 0, stop, 0, 1 via the on-display keypad
A password prompt appears — enter: 9272 9272 9272 9272 (9272 × 4)
Tap End (this is “OK”)
From the new menu: stop, 0 on the on-display keypad, then C on the keypad
This opens the admin password reset menu
Set new password to: 12345678

NOTE: I put a sticky note on the side of the printer with these instructions

how to get to network settings #

After the admin password reset, I navigated through the menus to find the network settings and changed from static IP to Auto (DHCP). Didn’t write down the exact path — next time I’m at the printer I need to document it.

todo #

turn off “Olivet Bible Church” SSID on the old Spectrum router (requires admin portal access)
wall-mount Eero 2 to extend range to kid’s wing
consider getting a 4th Eero for Fellowship Hall coverage
set the printer to a DHCP reservation on the Eero so its IP doesn’t change
fix the shared password between OBC-Admin and OBC-Guest (currently the same)
re-run the damaged ethernet cable from the networking closet to the sanctuary
- once done, plug blue #4 into the switch, feeding Eero 3 at the tech bar
- Eero 3 can then feed Switch 3 for the tech bar devices
- Eero 3 might be able to do this without a new run depending on strength of their back-haul

topology #

Blog and LLM Knowledge Base

2026-05-13T06:23:42Z

Dev #

Thinking about this tweet from Andrej Karpathy about LLM knowledge bases. I maintain a blog like this one at work, which is fairly well structured markdown files and I use markdown lsp for linking docs conceptually. It makes it easy for me to trace thoughts and search what I’ve written about. However I find that there’s a limit to what I am able to organize by myself… The hardest part of of a zettlekasten to me is breaking down a thought into the smallest most atomic unit so that I don’t end up duplicating thoughts in files and lose the real traceability. In my head I think there’s a mathematical way to solve this, some kine of embedding setup that’s beyond my actual comprehension. But I think I’m overlookking that agents are probably just good enough with raw markdown, at the scale that I keep notes, that I should start to move in the direction, at least at work, of making my working notse blog repo more agentically friendly: AGENTS.md file, using an agent with its own dumping ground for files, some pruning sessions, and maybe a simple chat interface where I open an agent with a skill for using myrepo as a knowledge base and see if that gives me any super powers for organization or problem solving.

LLM Knowledge Bases

Something I'm finding very useful recently: using LLMs to build personal knowledge bases for various topics of research interest. In this way, a large fraction of my recent token throughput is going less into manipulating code, and more into manipulating knowledge (stored as markdown and images). The latest LLMs are quite good at it. So:

Data ingest:
I index source documents (articles, papers, repos, datasets, images, etc.) into a raw/ directory, then I use an LLM to incrementally "compile" a wiki, which is just a collection of .md files in a directory structure. The wiki includes summaries of all the data in raw/, backlinks, and then it categorizes data into concepts, writes articles for them, and links them all. To convert web articles into .md files I like to use the Obsidian Web Clipper extension, and then I also use a hotkey to download all the related images to local so that my LLM can easily reference them.

IDE:
I use Obsidian as the IDE "frontend" where I can view the raw data, the the compiled wiki, and the derived visualizations. Important to note that the LLM writes and maintains all of the data of the wiki, I rarely touch it directly. I've played with a few Obsidian plugins to render and view data in other ways (e.g. Marp for slides).

Q&A:
Where things get interesting is that once your wiki is big enough (e.g. mine on some recent research is ~100 articles and ~400K words), you can ask your LLM agent all kinds of complex questions against the wiki, and it will go off, research the answers, etc. I thought I had to reach for fancy RAG, but the LLM has been pretty good about auto-maintaining index files and brief summaries of all the documents and it reads all the important related data fairly easily at this ~small scale.

Output:
Instead of getting answers in text/terminal, I like to have it render markdown files for me, or slide shows (Marp format), or matplotlib images, all of which I then view again in Obsidian. You can imagine many other visual output formats depending on the query. Often, I end up "filing" the outputs back into the wiki to enhance it for further queries. So my own explorations and queries always "add up" in the knowledge base.

Linting:
I've run some LLM "health checks" over the wiki to e.g. find inconsistent data, impute missing data (with web searchers), find interesting connections for new article candidates, etc., to incrementally clean up the wiki and enhance its overall data integrity. The LLMs are quite good at suggesting further questions to ask and look into.

Extra tools:
I find myself developing additional tools to process the data, e.g. I vibe coded a small and naive search engine over the wiki, which I both use directly (in a web ui), but more often I want to hand it off to an LLM via CLI as a tool for larger queries.

Further explorations:
As the repo grows, the natural desire is to also think about synthetic data generation + finetuning to have your LLM "know" the data in its weights instead of just context windows.

TLDR: raw data from a given number of sources is collected, then compiled by an LLM into a .md wiki, then operated on by various CLIs by the LLM to do Q&A and to incrementally enhance the wiki, and all of it viewable in Obsidian. You rarely ever write or edit the wiki manually, it's the domain of the LLM. I think there is room here for an incredible new product instead of a hacky collection of scripts.

Talking with Jason about Real Estate

2026-04-28T14:12:53Z

license took 1 month, $1k, test, done.
hard part is getting started
- no client base
- no knowledge
80% of agents fail
- renewal rates show 80% don’t renew every 3 years (national “clock”)
- no leads
Jason has a system for his agents
- 14 people work for him

Advice #

find someone who is looking to grow agents
commit or don’t do it, but don’t quit
takes a month to learn
- 3 months to ramp up
- 2 months to close first house
- first 6 months without a paycheck
takes 2 years to build it
would never go back to the car business
Century21 is in Appleton
- jamesville
- altuna

KDE Shortcuts for Desktop and Window Navigation

2026-04-25T13:44:48Z

This isn’t my entire /home/nic/.config/kglobalshortcutsrc, just the sections that I customized as I’m setting up my desktop from the great Desktop Crash 2026. Putting here to find on the web, will also be updating dotfiles

Switch to Desktop 1=Meta+1,Meta+F1\tCtrl+F1,Switch to Desktop 1
Switch to Desktop 2=Meta+2,Meta+F2\tCtrl+F2,Switch to Desktop 2
Switch to Desktop 3=Meta+3,Meta+F3\tCtrl+F3,Switch to Desktop 3
Switch to Desktop 4=Meta+4,Meta+F4\tCtrl+F4,Switch to Desktop 4
Switch to Desktop 5=Meta+5,,Switch to Desktop 5
Switch to Desktop 6=Meta+6,,Switch to Desktop 6
Switch to Desktop 7=Meta+7,,Switch to Desktop 7
Switch to Desktop 8=Meta+8,,Switch to Desktop 8
Switch to Desktop 9=Meta+9,,Switch to Desktop 9

My minimum requirements lately are super+{1,2...} to bring me to a numbered desktop (for which I have mental conventions to organize apps), and super+shift+{1,2,...} to send a window to that desktop.
Window to Desktop 1=Meta+!,,Window to Desktop 1
Window to Desktop 2=Meta+@,,Window to Desktop 2
Window to Desktop 3=Meta+#,,Window to Desktop 3
Window to Desktop 4=Meta+$,,Window to Desktop 4
Window to Desktop 5=Meta+%,,Window to Desktop 5
Window to Desktop 6=Meta+^,,Window to Desktop 6
Window to Desktop 7=Meta+&,,Window to Desktop 7
Window to Desktop 8=Meta+*,,Window to Desktop 8
Window to Desktop 9=Meta+(,,Window to Desktop 9

Aurora and KDE Window Managment with KZones

2026-04-25T06:51:20Z

I have used a variety of window managers on a variety of distros and OS’s over the last several years and because my hardware usage feels regularly in flux I don’t have an air-tight common setup for any given environment. On my desktop the way I give myself some nice easy window management is with KZones and this config:

[
 {
        "name": "Side by Side",
        "padding": 2,
        "zones": [
            {
                "x": 0,
                "y": 0,
                "height": 100,
                "width": 80
            },
            {
                "x": 80,
                "y": 0,
                "height": 100,
                "width": 20
            }
        ]
    },
    {
        "name": "Split Top",
        "padding": 2,
        "zones": [
            {
                "x": 0,
                "y": 0,
                "height": 50,
                "width": 50
            },
            {
                "x": 50,
                "y": 0,
                "height": 50,
                "width": 50
            },
            {
                "x": 0,
                "y": 50,
                "height": 50,
                "width": 100
            }
        ]
    },
    {
        "name": "Full Screen",
        "padding": 2,
        "zones": [
            {
                "x": 0,
                "y": 0,
                "height": 100,
                "width": 100
            }
        ]
    },
{
                "name": "Stacked",
        "padding": 2,
        "zones": [
            {
                "x": 0,
                "y": 0,
                "height": 70,
                "width": 100
            },
            {
                "x": 0,
                "y": 70,
                "height": 30,
                "width": 100
            }
        ]
    }
]

Desktop Crash 2026

2026-04-22T05:57:40Z

PC Crash #

Desktop crashed days ago, apparently my primary drive has been going bad for a while and eventually it just died.

live-booted to ubuntu server
found restic backup script to NAS
edited to be smaller, but did the backup to the NAS
rsync’d docker volumes to BX500 SSD which is a zfs pool
captured what I did on ghost at /home/nic/aurora-recovery-report.md and /home/nic/aurora-crash-disk-health-report.md

PLAN #

install _ubunto Aurora on 500 GB Samsung
create zfs dataset for projects /tank/volumes/projects
- which disk?
mount zfs dataset /tank/volumes/projects to /home/nic/projects
zfs for home? probably not, keep home on ext4
mount old home and sync directly
- restoring old backups to 2TB disk, will selectively copy things over
jetkvm key rotation
- I recovered the old id_rsa one but I’m going to simplify my ssh key usage, so sticking with my default key, updated this in the jetkvm /settings/advanced webui
restore restic backup to a temp location /var/docker-storage-zfs/home-restore/
- figure out what to keep
  - .skm (or consolidate keys)
  - ???
install windsurf in an ubuntu distrobox
- distroboc create UbuntuDev --image=ubuntu:22.04
- https://windsurf.com/download/editor?os=linux
- manual install method from distrobox
- restore .windsurf? it’s super old…

Outcome #

This is going terribly… blog post coming on what I should’ve done. What’s actually happening is that I basically just lost everything on that desktop except my homelab repo thank God…

Plans to build #

vibe code an observability thing that
- runs a restore in a container
- run some kind of setup in that container at least for my shell and neovim and things
networking for babyblue-aurora -> aurora transition
lament draft posts that are lost
ssh keys… lost .skm directory, look if it’s copied anywhere otherwise rotate keys and simplify
workspace backup everynight… abuse git for this
- or rsync to external drive, you have zfs on aurora now
opencode to address neovim logs
switch to zellij?
- what would have to translate from tmux? probably quite a few keybindings

I’ve been drowning in anxiety and depression over tech and AI, work and requirements, and my desktop SSD catastrophically failing while I didn’t have an up to date backup… projects, ssh keys, ideas… gone. And that’s ok, life goes on, so here’s my start of a hectic list of what I’m doing to setup my desktop again. This will turn into a small post, a sister-post to the one I need to write about how I should’ve recovered from my live boot environment

Florida Packing

2026-03-20T07:26:28Z

Packing notes #

girls don’t need their sleeping bags
I don’t need my BJJ stuff

My inventory #

4 pairs sleeping underwear + shorts = 4 t-shirts
2 hoodies (1 light 1 heavy)
orange 1/4 zip
2 pair socks (more if forecast is sub 70)
1 pair swimming trunks is probably enough
2 shorts

Oration on Agents and being crushed by responsibility

2026-03-16T20:18:23Z

The intention of this note is to become a blog post:

Raw Recording #

Okay, this is the oration for a blog post, maybe an open letter of sorts, as I am just wrestling with my new job and the responsibilities that either are put on me or that I’ve put on myself as the world is changing. And software development and software engineering and code writing is just changing, thanks to AI, thanks to agents and their introduction into the corporate environment. The internet is full of opinions and ideas that push and pull and prod people in different directions. And every one of those ideas has contexts, which is necessary to keep in mind when filtering the ideas. At a smaller startup where you can have a $200 a month Claude Code subscription for all of your engineers, that’s gonna yield certain results that’s going to encourage and invite certain people into that space to use those tools, the clawed tools, or Gemini or Codex. I work at a big company, Caterpillar. We have a GitHub co-pilot, but through co-pilot we have access to the kind of frontier large language models. From there, we have access to the co-pilot harness, whether it’s co-pilot CLI or the co-pilot integration with Visual Studio code, or the other IDEs like JetBrains, et cetera. Out there in the world, he has certain opinions from some people. You have people who are very pro agents like Steve Yeage, who has been a big influence to me over the last several months, as I’ve definitely jumped into the deep end of agentic coding. I haven’t even really opened my IDD in months, except for small things that I want to do by hand. enterprise grade work for the last three months or so and maybe a little longer has been fully written and produced by agents and i’ve been using AI to write code to some capacity or another since chad gpt came out really since like claude sonnet 3.5 but this thinking that i am doing is It’s really supposed to be about me, so this blog post I want to write is me processing thoughts on the expectation change that’s placed on developers in certain environments for certain types of work. I guess even that, like that sounds kind of vague. So I can only speak to myself. So I need to put a big annotation and plaster this blog post with this big caveat message that this is me, this is my experience, this is my position, and this is not a truth that is wide reaching. It’s not any kind of prediction on the, you know, the larger change happening in the world. This is just where I am at. So maybe for the post to make sense, I need to give a brief amount of history about me and my work. I’m not a trained software engineer, but I’ve been, I guess I’ve been a pretty impressive asset in my employment. I’ve been at Caterpillar for nine years, and in that nine years or over in the last several years, I’ve moonlit, moonlighted a little bit. And at every place I’ve done any other amount of work, I’ve just consistently impressed people. Now, this really just leads me to have more imposter syndrome because I know or I have learned what impresses people, And it isn’t necessarily excellence, although I try to do things well and I want to solve problems and maintain the systems that I build to solve those problems. But I don’t write the best code. I’m not the smartest developer. I don’t know the most. I get to know the things I work with and I learn a lot and I work fast because I have Not a super unique, but a rare ability to focus in, when the stars align, to focus and produce more than the next person. Not every next person, but a lot of the next people, a lot of the people I work with, I outperform. And that’s been true, or it has seemed true, from every review, pretty much every review I’ve ever received, that’s been true. And as I’ve had that just personal truth be reflected in my work, it’s been enhanced with AI because I’ve been an early adopter and even as a, even as somewhat of a skeptic, like I’ve tried to maintain a posture of skepticism. But since Opus 4.5, Even though I might talk like a skeptic, I am leaning into agents hard. And I am practicing my own harness engineering with my nexus project. And I’m using it to do engineering work at Caterpillar that’s going into production for us, which is like data platform type of work. It’s not custom, it’s not external customer facing. It’s internal tooling, which is what I mostly built. And the thing I’m really trying to wrap my head around, or I guess I’m trying to explain, is without AI, I was out producing a lot of people. And with AI, you can produce just a shit ton of code. And I’m trying to do that part well, but in my own gifts and curses of hyper focus and Wanting to meet expectations and solve problems, I’m jumping into the new frontier very quickly. But something I’ve noticed is that as I’ve produced a lot, people are just impressed. And they’re not necessarily impressed with the excellence. They’re impressed with how I talk about things. They’re impressed with how much I do, and they’re impressed with the output they see. But the result of a bunch of code isn’t all of the code itself. And I haven’t read all the code I’ve produced with agents. I’ve certainly tried to test most of it or had most of it tested. But as I’ve sought to do this and as I’ve been working in this capacity of using agents very heavily, I just feel kind of torn. in trusting the agents and in working with the agents in the ways that I think are appropriate, but also collaborating with other humans who are also using AI. But are they using AI in a trustworthy way? I don’t know, and I’m not sure how to validate it. But my managers seem to think I know how to validate it, and they seem impressed with the work I do, and they seem impressed with my understanding of AI and agentic coding. And so I feel all of this pressure to continue to be a top performer like I have been since before AI. I feel a lot of pressure to, I don’t want to coach people in how I do things, but I’m being asked to coach people and how I do things because other people I work with notice me. And I guess I’m almost, I’m just kind of tired of being noticed. Because being noticed is not resulting in me becoming rich. And money is not the most important thing. But man, I’d love to just make enough money to fuck off for the rest of my life and never look at a computer ever again. I would love… to not have to continue to maintain systems that I build or that other people build or to collaborate with people I don’t know, who might not even be long term. That’s the one thing about Caterpillar is I’m working with a lot of contractors. And nothing wrong with contracting, I’ve done that. Nothing wrong with being a contractor, but They could disappear at any moment, and all the code that they write, and even today, all the code that they prompt and have an agent right becomes my problem, my maintenance issue, my responsibility. And it just is, It’s just making me nervous to maintain and to understand and to continue to work under conditions that I can’t even tell if I’m making them for myself or if they’re real expectations. Like if I fell off the face of the earth or if I dropped agentic coding entirely and I just went back to coding by hand completely, would my output continue to impress people today? I don’t know the answer to that. But I certainly wouldn’t be solving problems as fast, but would I be creating less problems? Like I’ve solved a lot of problems in three months in my new role here with Forge. But I don’t know how many problems I’ve created. Only time will tell. And the thing is, the guys I work with who are contractors, they might not be around long enough for time to tell, but because I’m not rich yet, I probably will be long enough, or be around long enough. to experience those bugs and those problems that I don’t know about yet. And I am just feeling so much pressure to be the best and to be the one to solve problems. And I don’t know if I’m putting it on me or if cat’s putting it on me or if my project manager is putting it on me. I’m just really struggling with the amount of responsibility I feel. And I’m feeling frustrated about it because that amount of responsibility feels like it has scaled a lot with agents, with AI, but not my paycheck. And in fact, my paycheck has gone down quite a bit. And I’m not more relaxed. I’m making about half of what I’ve made over the last couple of years. And I’m not more relaxed. I don’t feel freer. I don’t feel like I have 50% of the responsibility that I did. Cal Autonomy awoke something in me for purpose, but that feels like it’s already starting to die. I’m already tired. I’m, I don’t know about burnt out, but I’m tired. I was reviewing some code that one of these contractors I’m working with. It’s actually only an intern. He’s not even a contractor. He’s an intern. And I’m reviewing a pull request of his. And damn, it’s a lot of code. And it looks somewhat useful. But I don’t know exactly how to test it. That’s not true actually, I do know how to test it, but I don’t own enough of our infrastructure at Caterpillar to test it easily. So do I trust him? Do I trust his prompt? Do I trust his harness? Do I trust the tests that I have already put in the code base to capture and block any breakages he might have introduced with this code for the code I’ve already been producing? It’s different when I’m intimately familiar with the code base. And I’ve been, I don’t know, definitely two other places at least where I had very intimate familiarity with the system and with the code and with the platform. But the one I’m on right now is new, and I built it. I built it with agents. I built it to replace a thing that was never even working. But I built it. It’s mine. It’s not somebody else’s. It’s not that we’ll document it. There’s a lot of documentation, but it’s all been agent produced, and even though I’ve reviewed it, it’s hard for me to organize it in the right way in a way that makes sense. I’m just feeling so frustrated that it seems like, as the tools are getting better, as developers are able to move faster, it feels like I am expected to move faster. but I’m not expected to make any more money. I’m not expected to be compensated anymore for the increase in velocity and responsibility. It’s almost like if I could produce, this metric is not gonna be real, but let’s just, for the sake of argument, make it up. If I can write 30,000 lines of code in a year and make $100,000, I feel fine about that, whatever that number means. But now I can actually produce 300,000 lines of code in a year. I’m definitely producing 10 times more code than normal. I don’t know if I’m doing 10 times more engineering, but I am making exactly the same amount of money. And so why did I do it? Why am I leaning into it so hard? Why am I trying to still be the front runner to be on the bleeding edge when caterpillar is not going to pay anymore? And I could go somewhere else. I could go to Avant. I could make more. It’s a system I’m familiar with. It’s even people I know. And there’s AI there too. But it’s a system I know. It’s a system I know how to support and maintain. And there’s not an expectation that I’m going to produce 10,000 lines of code this week. But right now at Caterpillar, it feels like I am expected to write 10,000 lines of code this week. And deploy it and maintain it and solve new problems. All in an incredibly political and hectic, chaotic environment where there isn’t an appropriate amount of leadership over me. I am the expert in AI in my group. And that feels retarded. I am the professional agentic engineer and that is just scary because I’m not good enough to be that. I’m not Steve Yeagie, I’m not Simon Willison, I haven’t been a developer for 20 years. I’m just a guy who learned some Python to solve some problems and happen to work faster than a lot of people and that reputation has really It’s treated me well for sure. And my disposition to problem solving has, up until recently, I felt like I had been, like I’ve been compensated well by my company, but then I’ve also been able to do more work outside of one job for me to feel the value of my own skills. But now with AI changing everything, Can I show you what’s on the back of my story? It feels like I’ve given up the personal gains. One second, Alia. So I’ve given up personally realizing the benefit of my own skill. And now I am like in a position where Caterpillar, and only Caterpillar, is reaping the benefit of my new scheme in agentic engineering. And I think that’s just ticking me off because I stayed with Catt to do something good for the world. And I think we can do something good for the world. But I’m tired.

Notes and Summarization #

Possible Titles #

Agents, Responsibility, and the Cost of Going Faster
The Irony of 10x
More Output, Less Upside
When AI Made Me Faster and Poorer
Being Crushed by Responsibility

Working Angle #

This should probably be a personal essay, not a manifesto about AI. The core tension:

agents made me dramatically more productive
that productivity increased the responsibility I carry
the financial upside I used to realize personally has gone down, not up

Section Stub: Opening Scene #

Prompt:

Start with a concrete moment. Maybe reviewing a massive PR from the intern / contractor side of the system.
What did I feel in that moment: confusion, dread, pressure, responsibility, skepticism?
What was the specific thought: “I might own all of this later, even if I did not really produce or validate all of it myself.”
Can I open with one sharp sentence that names the tension right away?

Possible opener idea:

“Agentic coding has made me faster than ever, but it has also made me feel responsible for more than I can honestly hold in my head.”

Section Stub: This Is About Me, Not Everyone #

Prompt:

Add a strong caveat early: this is not prediction, prescription, or universal truth.
Name my context: big company, internal platform work, political environment, mixed team ownership, frontier models via Copilot.
What about my temperament matters here? Hyperfocus, initiative, problem solving, pressure sensitivity, desire to meet expectations.
What would I want a reader to not mishear?

Section Stub: Who I Was Before Agents #

Prompt:

Briefly describe my work history and self-understanding.
I am not formally trained, so what made me valuable anyway?
What does it mean that people were impressed before AI too?
Pull in relevant threads from pages/blog/forge-ahead.md: prior projects, practical problem solving, being useful, learning systems by doing.
What gifts do I think God gave me that made me effective before this shift?

Questions to answer:

What kind of worker was I before agents entered my workflow?
What did I already know how to do well?
What part of my value came from focus rather than brilliance?

Section Stub: Why I Leaned Into Agentic Coding #

Prompt:

Explain that I did not stumble into this accidentally; I chose to go hard.
Why did it feel natural to me to adopt agents aggressively?
What about the mission at Caterpillar Autonomy made the leap feel worth it?
Pull in pages/blog/cat-autonomy-2-0.md: I stayed because the work felt meaningful, not merely because it was interesting.
Mention harness engineering / Nexus / experimentation if it helps show this was a deliberate investment.

Questions to answer:

Why did I trust this direction enough to reorganize my work around it?
Was I chasing novelty, usefulness, recognition, mission, or all of the above?

Section Stub: What Actually Changed #

Prompt:

Describe the practical change in my day-to-day work.
I am no longer mainly writing code line by line; I am directing, reviewing, testing, and integrating generated work.
What changed about the quantity of output?
What changed about how coworkers and managers perceived me?
What changed about the kind of questions people started asking me?

Questions to answer:

When did I realize this was not just autocomplete, but a new mode of working?
What does “enterprise-grade work fully written and produced by agents” actually mean in practice?

Section Stub: The Hidden Cost of Speed #

Prompt:

Write about the gap between output and understanding.
I can ship more, but I do not always know the code as intimately as hand-written systems I built before.
Testing is not the same as ownership.
Documentation existing is not the same as confidence.
What kinds of future problems does speed create?

Questions to answer:

What do I know I have not fully read?
What kinds of bugs or maintenance traps am I afraid I am creating?
What does it feel like to build something that works but still feels partially foreign?

Section Stub: Responsibility Without Clear Boundaries #

Prompt:

This may be the emotional center before the money section.
Describe the contractor / intern dynamic and why it intensifies the burden.
Their output can become my long-term maintenance problem.
The organization sees me as someone who understands AI and agents, so responsibility pools onto me.
Ask whether the pressure is explicit or self-imposed, but note that the body feels it either way.

Questions to answer:

Who is actually accountable when AI-assisted code breaks six months from now?
What does it mean to be treated like the local expert when I do not feel like one?
Why is being noticed beginning to feel costly instead of rewarding?

Section Stub: The Financial Irony #

Prompt:

State this clearly and concretely.
For years, I realized more value from my output because I worked two jobs concurrently.
Due to the new role, new responsibility, and the demands of agentic coding in this environment, I had to go down to one job.
So the irony is: the tools make me dramatically more productive, but I personally realize less economic upside from my own gifts and skills than I did before.
Keep this grounded and honest, not whiny.

Questions to answer:

What exactly have I lost financially?
Why does this feel bigger than “I want more money”?
Where do the gains of AI go when an individual contributor gets faster?
If I can now produce 10x more code, why does my life not feel lighter, freer, or better compensated?

Possible thesis sentence:

“Agentic coding increased the value I create at work, while decreasing the share of that value I personally get to realize.”

Section Stub: Mission, Meaning, and Fatigue #

Prompt:

Reaffirm the good: this is meaningful work, and that matters to me.
Tie back to autonomy, safety, and the reasons I stayed at Caterpillar.
Then tell the truth: meaning does not cancel fatigue.
What has already started to feel tired, dulled, or overdrawn in me?

Questions to answer:

What purpose did this role awaken in me?
Why does that sense of purpose already feel threatened?
How do I talk honestly about fatigue without pretending I am fully burned out if I am not sure?

Section Stub: Questions I Cannot Yet Answer #

Prompt:

Let the essay breathe here instead of forcing a neat conclusion.
Gather the real unresolved questions.
If I stopped using agents, would I still impress people?
Would I solve fewer problems or create fewer future ones?
Am I carrying real expectations or anticipated ones?
Is this making me a better engineer, or just a faster source of output and responsibility?

Section Stub: Conclusion #

Prompt:

End modestly, not with a manifesto.
I am not anti-AI.
I am not saying agents are bad.
I am trying to tell the truth about what this transition has cost me personally.
Land on the mismatch between speed, responsibility, and reward.

Possible closing direction:

The tools are real.
The gains are real.
The responsibility is real.
The redistribution of value is also real.
I am still trying to understand what faithfulness looks like inside that tension.

Material To Weave In #

My lack of formal software engineering background
My history of being useful by solving practical problems quickly
My tendency toward hyperfocus and over-responsibility
The shift from hand-written confidence to agent-mediated uncertainty
The contractor / intern maintenance concern
The drop from two incomes to one
The irony that Cat benefits more from my increased output than I do
The Christian framing around calling, providence, stewardship, and fatigue

Things To Avoid #

sounding like I am making universal claims about all AI use
sounding bitter without being specific
centering line-count metrics too much without translating them into responsibility
pretending I have fully landed on a conclusion
making this a complaint post about coworkers instead of a reflection on burden and change

I Was Saved From A Cult

2026-03-02T05:30:25Z

Introduction #

I’m getting coffee with a guy from church today, we’re planning to swap some stories about how the Lord has worked in our lives in a few specific ways. He has some history in the New Age movement, and I’m very interested in that story. My offering to him will be my own story, fairly short it might be, of how God protected me from long-term involvement in a hypercharasmatic cult.

Theological Context #

This dove-tails well with Andrew’s sermon yesterday, noting that in many Charasmatic circles the gift of the Holy Spirit becomes more important than the person of Jesus who gives the Spirit, and who gives Salvation. This is the crux of my own experience as well.

The Group #

The group was called “Wind and Fire Ministries” and they had their own purpose-built building out in the middle of nowhere, but close enough for me to drive to. I grew up in Iowa, a 10 minute drive on the interstate landed you pretty quick in the scene of any low-budget horror movie. The building was definitely nice, there was even some land, but there was nothing around it.

How I Got Involved #

I barely remember how I got involved - a kid I was in high school with went there regularly and then one adult who helped out in my church’s youth group did as well. I can still vividly remember him telling me about an experience he had at this place - a “slayed in the spirit” kind of experience.

My Experience #

I was hungry, desperate even, for spiritual experiences and this “ministry” was extremely welcoming and accessible. My parents didn’t know anything about what went on there, and to be fair they didn’t do a ton of ultra-weird stuff when I was there… flag-waving and tongues were enough to probably ruffle some fundie feathers. I never fell to the ground shaking or spoke in tongues (not for lack of awkwardly trying upon the instruction of a member there though). I remember going one night and staying for hours while the head honcho was doing annointings with oil and I wanted to be annointed because I wanted to speak in tongues because I wanted an “experience”. By God’s grace I was never given a super emotional experience there - the emphasis was always on gifts and supernatural things, not on the person and work of the Lord Jesus

Cat Stock at 760

2026-02-20T05:09:08Z

Cat stock is ridiculous… I remember 6 years ago or so someone at a volleyball meetup freaking out about 197, he couldn’t wait to sell at 200…

I’m back from the dead

2026-01-23T05:38:29Z

The flu hit me like a freight train right at the start of the year, along with the most stress I’ve ever felt at work dropping on me at the same time, I’ve been out of commission for what feels like forever. But this week I’ve been bouncing back and I feel like a million bucks now… and a lot has happened

This post isn’t a review, it’s a note for me to come back and build on with some more posts probably. My life has been a bit chaotic but in God’s good grace on my life, that chaos hasn’t ruined anything (I am still wrestling with one aspect of it) but something’s changed this year… I’m not only back from the flu over the last several weeks, I feel like I’ve been resurrected as a developer. I’d written a few times last summer, feeling like I was in a rut, and I felt good coming out of that low season, but as I’ve reflected it’s really the last couple of years have been a slow descent into, not into depression, but something akin to it…

Not only is that season either over or on pause, cause I’ve been buzzin on building things for a week now like I can hardly remember, but I’ve had some significant work changes. Longer reflection post to come - but after much toil I am actually back in Caterpillar Autonomy, a group I left from burn-out 5 years ago. In fact, I’m on the same project, but with new eyes, new passion, new knowledge and experience, and the fun part for me now is new tools. AI hasn’t been my friend the whole time, I’ve vibe-coded some disasters, pseudo-vibe-coded some cool stuff, but ultimately it’s not been a net positive for me until this week. Getting a workflow ironed out in order to keep up with the group’s pace, or the pace I want us to be at, has been exciting and I swear I’ve done a month’s work of work since Monday… no hype, no selling, just letting you know that AI can’t do it all, but with good design it sure can generate some code that doesn’t suck.

So… I’m back, almost from the dead, and it’s January 23 but let’s kick 2026 right in the cajones!

Advent 2025 Calendar

2025-12-01T05:57:40Z

Sunday #

Nov. 30

Isaiah
8:17

As you look at your life or the world around you, where does
it seem like God is hiding his face? How do you hold onto
hope in those situations?

Advent - Isaiah 8:17

Monday #

Dec. 1

Psalm
39:7

What are you looking or hoping for in this Advent season?
Consider bringing those things to God.

Advent - Psalm 39:7

Tuesday #

Dec. 2

Psalm
130:7

How have you experienced God’s consistent,
dependable love in the past? How does that ground
your hope for the future?

Advent - Psalm 130:7

Wednesday #

Dec. 3

Isaiah
40:31

Consider the parts of life that feel most exhausting right
now. What could it look like to put your hope in God for
strength and direction?

Thursday #

Dec. 4

1 Peter
1:3

How does Jesus’ resurrection from death shape your hope
for both the future and life today?

Friday #

Dec. 5

Romans
8:20-21

What will life be like in God's fully liberated and healed
world? What will be the best part of that world?

Saturday #

Dec. 6

Romans
8:24-25

What does it look like for you to actively but patiently
wait for God right now?

Watch the Hope Video

DAY VERSE REFLECTION QUESTION

Sunday #

Dec. 7

Isaiah
26:3

What situations of conflict are you currently facing?
Where are you struggling to find internal peace?
Consider inviting God into those situations.

Monday #

Dec. 8

Isaiah
9:6-7

As you reflect on your relationships with others and the
state of the world, how does God’s promise to bring
unending peace among all humankind make you feel?

Tuesday #

Dec. 9

Zechariah 9:9-10

How is God’s promised king different from the rulers of
this world, who often bring “peace” through domination
and violence?

Wednesday #

Dec. 10

John
16:33

What do you think Jesus means when he says that he has
"overcome the world?" How might that understanding bring
peace during times of trouble?

Thursday #

Dec. 11

Colossians 1:19-20

When Paul says “all things” here, he means everything God
created, including you. How does it feel to know that God is
reconciling everything to himself?

Friday #

Dec. 12


Ephesians 2:14-15

Where in your world are peacemakers needed right now?
What might it look like to bring Jesus’ kind of peace to
these places?

Saturday #

Dec. 13

Ephesians
4:3

What might it look like for us to “keep the unity of the Spirit”
as agents of God’s peace today?

Watch the Peace Video

DAY VERSE REFLECTION QUESTION

Sunday #

Dec. 14

Psalm 105:43

The ancient Israelites experienced inexpressible joy when
God brought them out of slavery in Egypt. When in your life
have you experienced moments of inexpressible joy?

Monday #

Dec. 15

Isaiah 51:3

What would it be like for all of the broken-down, desolate
places in your community to be made new, like a
flourishing garden?

Tuesday #

Dec. 16

Luke 2:10-11

How do you think you would feel if your people had been
suffering under foreign rule for centuries and you saw an
angel appear, announcing that your long-awaited king
had finally come?

Wednesday #

Dec. 17

John 15:10-11

What’s the difference between commanding people with a
motivation to control them and commanding people with a
motivation to bless them and fill their lives with joy? How do
Jesus’ commands bring joy?

Thursday #

Dec. 18

Matthew 5:11-12

What’s your first impulse when you’re insulted or
persecuted? Why do you think Jesus tells us to rejoice
when people mistreat us for following his ways?

Friday #

Dec. 19

2 Corinthians
6:10

When we face difficult circumstances, how can we hold
both joy and grief together?

Saturday #

Dec. 20

Romans 15:13

As God fills us with hope, that hope spills out onto others.
What words or actions could you offer in order to give
hope to others?

Watch the Joy Video

DAY VERSE REFLECTION QUESTION

Sunday #

Dec. 21

Mark 12:29-30

What do you think it looks like to love God with everything
you’ve got, including your strength, affection, intellect, and
entire being?

Monday #

Dec. 22

Mark
12:29-31

How does loving your neighbor as yourself relate
to loving God?

Tuesday #

Dec. 23

Luke 6:35

When you read about God being kind to ungrateful and
wicked people, how do you feel?

Wednesday #

Dec. 24

1 John 4:8-9

What do you think it means when the Bible says
God not only acts in love but is love?

Thursday #

Dec. 25

1 John 4:17

How would you describe the difference between Jesus’
way of love and the common understanding of love as
something you can fall in or out of?

Watch the Love Video

Homelabbing Realization - Configs and Git

2025-11-13T05:48:15Z

Realization #

I’m back to brainstorming migrations away from Docker Compose to something that solves multi-node networking and secrets but I don’t want to go to k8s… so my options are probably Docker Swarm or Nomad. As I wrestle mentally here I was thinking about one of my issues with multi-node setup is that I still keep everything out of one git repo, so if something gets managed remotely then I get out of sync. Best example is dashy, Due to some constraint of wanting to be as close to zero-day deployment-ready as possible, I think I overcomplicate some of the simple stuff - like it’s ok to just have to put a file on a server for a container to start the first time… That doesn’t mean ansible is a requirement, in fact lately I’ve just leaned into just recipes. But even then, I cornered myself into tracking my dashy config in git, so I’m hesitant to ever update it in the browser cause I’ll have to redownload the config, reconcile the formatting differences in my repo (there’s a reason for this that a linter doesn’t ssolve…), etc…. but in all of my brainstorming I just decided that my dashy config doesn’t have to live in git… it can just be on the zfs storage, which is backed up, and configured via the app itself… the config can simply be apart of the data and container lifecycle, it doesn’t have to be apart of the infra lifecycle.

Facism and Heresy - Words Matter

2025-11-01T06:27:33Z

This is a short reflection/semi-open letter to a friend I’ve been having a conversation with for a couple weeks

Name-calling in a rhetorical exchange is such a school-yard bully, low IQ, desperate, degenerate move when it’s used in lieu of data… I have 2 scenarios in my head that bring light to one another.

Warning

Today the words “Nazi” and “Facist” are so over-used it’s moved beyond sickening to boring.

However, the usage of these words has led to violence, and a lot of it in my opinion. The dangerous rhetoric is a key player in the multiple Trump-assassination attempts, various acts of violence against other conservatives, specifically, (because who else does the Left call a Facist except anyone remotely moderate anymore), and most notably the murder of Charlie Kirk. I find the rhetoric super dangerous because I’m not a politician, but boy can I tell you for sure that Charlie was a moderate, and if they came for him then consider my reflection: Reflection - They Can Come For Anyone.

One of the problems I see here is that many people can’t define “Nazi” or “Facist”. To the Left, these words just describe someone they disagree with, and it’s turning out - ultimately someone they think would be better off dead.

It reminds me of a kid at a summer camp I worked at about 10 years ago. The camp was all about Christian apologetics - great times, good discussions, lots of great content, etc. One year there was a 17 or 18 year old boy here, super fundamentalist in his beliefs… no harm no foul here. But he demonstrated a habit of calling anything that differ’ed from his interpretation of a passage of scripture as heresy. Now… here’s the thing, it’s not heresy to not be a young-earth-creationist. But something that is true is that people have been put to death over heresy in the history of the Church…. and yet this kid felt comfortable labeling anyone a heretic who was more fluent in Hebrew than him…

So what do I see? - There’s similarities between that immature kid and practically anyone using the words “Nazi” or “Facist” to describe American politics right now - are the same type of person to me. That person feels a deep care for the thing they think they’re protecting, but in reality they’re participating in a violent pattern of history that they do not understand

So to us today, in or out of the Church, involved or not involved with politics… We need to recognize that words matter. And to carelessly use words that eventually excuse violence is at best, ignorant. There’s nothing wrong with ignorance, but a good measure of a man is what he does when his ignorance has been pointed out… Will you be apart of the solution? Or continue to fan the flames?

Testing Safari Formatting

2025-10-12T13:51:15Z

bolded with asterisks

dunder

single asterisk

Book Review - Dula, Fig, and the Wisdom of Old Sycamore

2025-09-20T07:04:19Z

Dula, Fig, and the Wisdom of Old Sycamore is a beautifully illustrated and powerful story that gives kids an accessible framework to better understand their world - hard things are easier with kindness. Old Sycamore helps young Dula understand herself a little better through commentary on her mother’s favorite story (for which Dula was named). He tends to Dula’s frustration in a loving way and dismisses her back to her real life with gentleness. Kindness is a core-value of our household, and I loved sharing this story with my kids. I look forward to reading it many times over the next several years!

Dula, Fig, and the Wisdom of Old Sycamore by Elizabeth Lett
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Dula, Fig, and the Wisdom of Old Sycamore is a beautifully illustrated and
powerful story that gives kids an accessible framework to better understand their
world - hard things are easier with kindness. Old Sycamore helps young Dula
understand herself a little better through commentary on her mother’s favorite
story (for which Dula was named). He tends to Dula’s frustration in a loving
way and dismisses her back to her real life with gentleness. Kindness is a
core-value of our household, and I loved sharing this story with
my kids. I look forward to reading it many times over the next several years!

View all my reviews

That Guy Can Do Anything

2025-09-10T09:11:20Z

“That guy can do anything!” sounds nice, right? What if it didn’t matter… what if you draw corporate cat-calls for your sexy skills, excel every year, receieve accolades but you were told to change everything for no reason or else be fired…

Questions for Dad about the Navy

2025-09-01T07:56:24Z

Submarine Life #

What did a typical day look like when the submarine was underway?
How did the 18-hour day with 6-hour shifts affect everyone’s sense of time?
How did you and the crew keep busy or entertained during long patrols?
Can you describe the living quarters? What was the hardest part about the limited space?
What meals do you remember best?

The Job #

What systems were you directly responsible for as a machinist?
How did your team monitor and maintain the reactor? Any emergency drills that stick out?
What’s the most challenging mechanical problem you dealt with on the sub?
What kind of training did you receive before serving underwater? How did reality differ?
What did it take to “earn your dolphins”?

Technology #

What pieces of technology or engineering challenges stand out from working with the reactor?
How were water, air, and electricity produced and maintained?
Did you work with any systems that have since been declassified?
What mechanical or safety upgrades have been made since your time that you wish you’d had?

The Experience #

What kind of camaraderie did you develop with the crew?
Did your team face any emergencies or close calls with the reactor?
How did you cope with being underwater for long periods?
Were there any traditions or unwritten rules among the machinists?
What was the relationship like between machinists, electricians, and other crew?
If you could go back, what advice would you give to someone starting as a machinist on a nuclear sub today?

Posts tagged: note

markata-go Migration Research

1. Installation + CLI #

Install options #

CLI commands #

2. Config format #

File discovery #

Core schema ([markata-go]) #

Migration tooling — markata-go migrate #

3. Markdown features #

4. Frontmatter #

5. Feeds + filter language #

Feed config #

6. Templates #

7. Feature parity vs this site’s Python plugins #

8. Extensibility #

9. Development pace & maturity #

10. Known gotchas (issues + observed) #

MIGRATION RISK SUMMARY (for pype.dev) #

Neovim Markdown Journaling Research

1. LazyVim lang.markdown extra — what it actually does #

2. render-markdown.nvim — capabilities and the admonition gap #

3. obsidian.nvim — fit for a non-Obsidian vault #

4. Alternatives — brief survey #

5. Spell / wrap / prose ergonomics #

Recommended additions for this setup #

1. lang.markdown extra is already enabled (zero new code) #

2. Markdown writing-mode ftplugin (tiny, high value) #

3. render-markdown tweaks + a scripture callout + checkbox states #

4. bullets.vim for prayer-request checklists (one line, high value) #

5. Optional, heavier lifts (only if felt needed) #

Bottom line #

OBC Networking

network #

printer #

admin password reset #

how to get to network settings #

todo #

topology #

Blog and LLM Knowledge Base

Dev #

Talking with Jason about Real Estate

Advice #

KDE Shortcuts for Desktop and Window Navigation

Aurora and KDE Window Managment with KZones

Desktop Crash 2026

PC Crash #

PLAN #

Outcome #

Plans to build #

Florida Packing

Packing notes #

My inventory #

Oration on Agents and being crushed by responsibility

Raw Recording #

Notes and Summarization #

Possible Titles #

Working Angle #

Section Stub: Opening Scene #

Section Stub: This Is About Me, Not Everyone #

Section Stub: Who I Was Before Agents #

Section Stub: Why I Leaned Into Agentic Coding #

Section Stub: What Actually Changed #

Section Stub: The Hidden Cost of Speed #

Section Stub: Responsibility Without Clear Boundaries #

Section Stub: The Financial Irony #

Section Stub: Mission, Meaning, and Fatigue #

Section Stub: Questions I Cannot Yet Answer #

Section Stub: Conclusion #

Material To Weave In #

Things To Avoid #

I Was Saved From A Cult

Introduction #

Theological Context #

The Group #

How I Got Involved #

My Experience #

Cat Stock at 760

I’m back from the dead

Advent 2025 Calendar

Core schema (`[markata-go]`) #

Migration tooling — `markata-go migrate` #

1. LazyVim `lang.markdown` extra — what it actually does #

3. render-markdown tweaks + a `scripture` callout + checkbox states #