Heiswayi Nrird - software architect and engineer building systems with, and around, AI.
I wanted a map before reading the code When I open an unfamiliar project, I do not want to start with every file equally important. I want the first map. Where are the entry points? Where are the models? Which files are only configuration? Which modules depend on which other modules? Is this a small tool with a clean shape, or a folder full of hidden complexity? You can discover all of that…
I wanted a note-taking app that did one thing well: let me write immediately, without forcing me to create an account, pick a pricing plan, or wait for a server to respond. Everything else - cloud sync, sharing, billing - would be optional layered on top. This post covers the architectural decisions behind stdnotes: why I chose each piece of the stack, how the offline-first design works at the…
Things become old too quickly now I keep thinking about how fast things become obsolete. Not old in the beautiful way. Not old like a handwritten letter, an old camera, or a family photo that still carries some warmth when you look at it years later. Old like an abandoned repository. Old like a framework nobody wants to touch anymore. Old like a project that once made you proud, but now greets you…
Lately, I have been thinking about how AI is changing more than just the speed of work. It is not only helping people write faster, code faster, research faster, or make decisions faster. It is changing the pace of expectation itself. At first, the shift feels mostly technical. A task that used to take hours can now take minutes. A rough draft appears almost instantly. A plan can be outlined in…
I decided to slow down Not because life became easier. Not because work disappeared. Not because I suddenly became less ambitious. I decided to slow down because I was tired of living as if everything needed urgency. For a long time, I treated life like a queue that had to be cleared. Tasks, replies, deadlines, plans, errands, goals. There was always something waiting, and I kept moving as if…
Local first AI went from niche to inevitable For a long time, local first AI sounded like a hobbyist ambition. A nice idea for people who care about privacy, offline access, or control. Then models got good enough to run on a normal laptop. That moment matters. It changes who gets access, what people can build, and what the default relationship with AI becomes. Local first used to mean compromise…
I used to measure my days in commits Not the heroic kind. The boring kind. A refactor. A quick script. A small fix nobody asked for. Even when I was not shipping, I was still coding. I was still touching the machine. Then agentic AI happened. And I didn't code anymore. I type intent, it returns outcomes My workflow is embarrassingly simple now. I write instructions. I describe constraints. I ask…
Loneliness is not new, but it feels different today. We can message anyone at any time, scroll forever, and stay "connected" without ever being truly seen. Some days we are surrounded by people and still feel alone. Other days we are alone and do not know how to explain it, even to ourselves. So we do something very modern: we talk to machines. Not because we are stupid, or desperate, or easily…
Let us be honest. Most "digital work" is not hard because we do not know what to do. It is hard because it demands our physical presence. We have to be at the desk, on the right machine, with the right tabs open, with the right repo pulled, with the right commands typed, at the right time. That is fine until real life happens: errands, meetings, commuting, cooking, or simply wanting to stop living…
Dear friend, I hope this letter finds you well. As I've been reflecting on my journey as a software engineer, I wanted to share a few thoughts about what I believe makes someone truly effective in this field. These are ideas I've picked up over the years; simple, practical things that have helped me grow. I'm sharing them in the hope that they might be helpful to you too. On mindset of being…