Context Engineering: The Map I Couldn't Find
I read 8 articles on context engineering and found no single map of the techniques. So I drew one.
David Lambauer
Thinking in Systems: AI, Simplicity, and Independent Craft
Latest posts
Stop Being the Feedback Loop
Engineers are burning attention on feedback the machine could generate itself. Here's how to fix that.
I got tired of empty Magento dev stores
Monday morning. Fresh bin/magento setup:install , admin user created, and a catalog that looks like a warehouse after a fire sale. Zero products, zero customers, zero orders. You open the frontend to demo something and all you've got is a sad "default" category with nothing
How I Won a Shopify Pitch Without Competing on Features
A 900-person German publisher. Marketing wanted Shopify. The integrator had already connected Business Central in 15 minutes. Here’s what I did instead of reaching for a feature comparison spreadsheet. The Scene A German publisher, roughly 900 employees. Multiple magazines, a merchandise business, an existing Magento shop that had
Meet Magento Amsterdam 2025 Recap: From AI Insights to Hyvä’s Big Surprise
Last week Meet Magento Netherlands 2025 took Amsterdam by storm, and as a longtime person in the community I’m still buzzing. The event was lit with community energy, exciting tech talk, and even some literal sweetness. I had the privilege of attending (and speaking!), and I want to
Building AI Agents That Actually Work: 6 Production Patterns from Vercel's Deep Research
Most AI agents are mid. There, I said it. Everyone’s building chat wrappers with function calling, calling it "agentic AI," and wondering why their OpenAI bill looks like a phone number. Meanwhile, Vercel’s Nico Albanese just dropped a masterclass showing how they built a
Demystifying AI Agents: A Developer's Guide to Building Your First Agent
The Confusion Around AI Agents If you Google "what is an AI agent," you'll get at least five different answers. Some sources will tell you they're autonomous systems. Others will say they're just chatbots with extra steps. The confusion is real, and
Building the First Magento 2 Integration for OpenAI's Agentic Commerce Protocol
The Future of Commerce is Conversational (But We're Not There Yet) Imagine browsing for a new laptop by chatting with ChatGPT. You describe what you need, the AI suggests products from your favorite retailer, and you complete the purchase, all without leaving the conversation. No redirects, no "
Build AI Systems That Think and Act — Without Hallucinations
RAG gives your models knowledge. Agents give them power. Together, they unlock the next generation of intelligent applications. 🧠 Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) RAG injects external knowledge into model prompts just-in-time, reducing hallucinations and improving accuracy for knowledge-intensive tasks. What Is RAG and Why Use It? Static prompts and training data
Amsterdam Highlights for First-Time Tourists
Amsterdam is a city that never runs out of surprises. As someone who visits frequently, I've put together a casual guide of personal highlights, the must-sees, dos (and a few don'ts), to inspire your first Amsterdam adventure. From world-class museums to quirky local experiences, here'
How I Read One Book a Week (Even with a Busy Schedule)
Ever feel too busy to read, or find yourself dozing off after a few pages? I used to struggle with this too. As an agency owner and developer, I always felt I should read more business and self-improvement books, but tight schedules and tired eyes held me back. Over time,
How I Built a Full eCommerce Frontend in 60 Minutes with Daffodil (and AI)
Not Production-Ready, But Shockingly Complete: My First Hour with Daffodil. The 60-Minute Storefront Challenge “Set up a Magento 2 demo store with Daffodil and Angular 19.” What started as a small experiment turned into a glimpse of what building eCommerce frontends could feel like in the future. In
What I Learned from The Personal MBA
This weekend, I read The Personal MBA by Josh Kaufman. The book covers exactly what the title suggests. It doesn't replace a real MBA from a reputable business school, but Kaufman argues that statistics show completing an MBA doesn't necessarily lead to a better life. Still,
Agent Client Protocol: Because Apparently We’re Still Writing Custom Integrations in 2025 🙃
So… you like writing one-off plugins for every AI tool + editor combo? No? Cool, neither do I. Guess what? Agent Client Protocol (ACP) exists so we can stop reinventing the wheel every time a new AI agent drops. Shocking, I know. The Problem Nobody Asked For (But We All
AI Coding Assistants and the New Task-Switching Cost
Developers in small teams juggle many threads. AI tools add more. When an agent runs, we often start another task. The result is more switching, not less focus. What the research actually shows Gloria Mark's CHI-2008 experiment tested interruptions under controlled conditions. Interrupted participants finished faster and with