My Starship Prompt Revisited: Making Blocks Vanish Cleanly
A follow-up to my Starship setup: how I got the status and AI blocks to appear only when they matter, without leaving a powerline stub behind.
Russ McKendrick
Russ.Cloud - The personal blog of Russ McKendrick
Latest posts
Token Use: Coach Mode and a Week of Releases
A week after Token Use hit 1.0.0 by cutting features, it's on 1.2.2. Coach mode, a Rust port of Microsoft's AI-Engineering-Coach rules, full-text scrollback, an MCP server, and a 3D graph.
A Catch-Up: terminal-svg and Token Use v1
Two projects worth writing about: terminal-svg, a new Rust tool for pixel-perfect terminal screenshots, and Token Use finally reaching v1
Playing with Headroom: Compressing the Context Going to My AI Coding Agents
I spent a few days running Headroom, a local proxy that promises to cut the tokens your AI coding agent sends to the provider. The savings are real, but they're not where the dashboard first makes you think they are.
codebase-memory-mcp: Giving Claude Code (and Codex) a Map
A short look at codebase-memory-mcp, an MCP server that indexes your codebase into a queryable knowledge graph so Claude Code or Codex can answer structural questions without grepping every file.
Counting the Cost of Vibe Coding
A local-first dashboard for tracking AI coding tool spend across Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Copilot, and Gemini CLI - with a TUI, a desktop app, and zero API keys required.
Is my blog Agent-Ready?
Running russ.cloud through isitagentready.com and wiring up the checks that actually make sense for a static blog - Link headers, Content Signals, agent-skills discovery, llms.txt, and a tiny Cloudflare Worker to serve markdown on demand.
Introducing AI Commit
A Rust CLI I built to stop writing terrible commit messages - aic generates AI-powered commit messages, PR drafts, diff reviews, and repo visualisations from your staged changes.
Introducing Hosts Butler
A terminal-based hosts file manager built in Rust that I wrote to stop manually editing /etc/hosts with a text editor and hoping I didn't break anything.
Creating Custom Skills for Copilot Cowork
Copilot Cowork just landed in Microsoft's Frontier preview programme, and one of its most useful features is the ability to extend it with your own custom skills stored in OneDrive. Here's how to create one.
Introducing ssl-toolkit
A comprehensive SSL/TLS diagnostic tool built in Rust that I created to replace my ever-growing document of random certificate checking notes.
OpenClaw: Giving Claude a Body (and a Telegram Bot)
A quick guide to installing OpenClaw, an open-source AI agent framework that gives LLMs persistence, tools, and messaging - turning a chatbot into an actual assistant.
Day to Day Tools, the 2025 edition
The 2025 edition of my day-to-day tools: Ghostty, Claude Code, Google's Antigravity IDE, and the AI services that have become central to how I work.
Save money by pausing Microsoft Fabric Capacities with Azure Logic Apps
Learn how to automatically pause Microsoft Fabric capacities outside of working hours using Azure Logic Apps. This step-by-step guide shows you how to deploy a cost-saving automation that can significantly reduce your Fabric spend.
Azure Soft Delete: Recovering Resources and Preventing Accidental Deletions
A practical guide to recovering accidentally deleted Azure resources that support soft delete, covering API Management, Key Vault, Storage Accounts, and more. Plus, how to use delete locks to prevent these situations in the first place.
When the Sandworm Came for My Secrets: Lessons from Shai-Hulud 2.0
How a sophisticated npm supply chain attack via a trojanized kill-port package compromised my development environment, exposing API keys to attacker-controlled repositories - and what I'm doing differently now.
Playing with Nano Banana Pro: AI-Powered Album Cover Collages
Using Nano Banana Pro for generating stunning AI-powered album cover collages with intelligent image selection and content policy handling
My Starship Prompt Setup
A Deep Dive into a Gruvbox-Themed Terminal
Rotating Azure DevOps SSH Keys: How to Update Your Git Remotes and SSH Config
Learn how to rotate expired Azure DevOps SSH keys, update your SSH configuration, and fix Git remote authentication quickly and securely.
A new coat of paint
After 5 years with Hugo, I rebuilt this blog using Astro, Tailwind CSS v4, and modern JavaScript tooling. Here's what changed and why.
Install n8n locally using Cloudflare
Learn to install n8n locally with Docker and Cloudflare Tunnel. Includes PostgreSQL setup and Zero Trust security for home lab deployment.
Doom or Vibe Coding
A look at the exciting AI announcements from Google I/O, Microsoft Build, and Anthropic's Claude 4 launch, plus a new Doom game.
Personal Project Updates and AI Editors
About that time I wrote and published an App to the Apple App Store without knowing how to code
My 2024 Top 20(ish)
A curated collection of my favorite album releases from 2024, featuring everything from progressive rock to electronic music, showcasing both veteran artists and exciting new releases.
Running Flux on macOS
“Learn how to install and use MFLUX to run FLUX.1 models on macOS. This guide explores generating high-quality AI images, comparing [Schnell] and [Dev] models, and enhancing outputs with LoRAs for custom styles.”
Zsh Conda Environment Selector Function
Streamline your Python workflow on macOS with a custom Zsh function for quickly selecting and activating Conda environments. Simplify environment management with this interactive and efficient solution!
Vinyl Scrobbling macOS App
Like many techies on their day off, I completely abandoned my planned tasks and embarked on an entirely unplanned project: creating a macOS application. Well, to be more precise, I decided to prompt one using Claude 3.5 Sonnet ↗ . With Anthropic’s recent updates to their AI model, I figured it was the perfect opportunity to test its capabilities while solving a personal need. The Catalyst: My New…
Dynamic Network Config in Ansible: Local to Azure VNet
Learn to use Ansible's network utilities for dynamic subnet configuration and Azure VNet deployment. Boost your infrastructure-as-code flexibility with practical examples.
How to Install Ansible on a Mac: A Modern Approach
A guide to installing and managing Ansible on macOS using Conda, with tips for handling collections and dependencies.
Unlocking Image Creation with Flux and GPT-4o
Explore the world of AI image generation using Flux, fal.ai, and OpenAI. Learn how to build a Streamlit app that leverages GPT-4o for prompt tuning and Flux models for creating stunning visuals. Compare outputs with Midjourney and discover the potential of these cutting-edge tools.
Behind the Scenes; More than just a background
Dive into the world of a passionate vinyl collector, exploring an extensive record collection, my audio setup, and the intersection of music and technology.
Generating an Azure Storage Account SAS token using Azure Logic and Function apps
Learn how to generate an Azure Storage Account SAS token from a Logic App using an Azure Function. This step-by-step guide covers deploying a PowerShell-based Function App, creating the SAS token generation function, and integrating it into your Logic App workflow. Overcome common challenges and enhance your Azure development skills with this practical tutorial.
Azure Firewall KQL Query
Explore a powerful KQL query for Azure Firewall logs. Learn how to analyze network traffic, filter by source and destination IP, and gain insights into your Azure Firewall's performance and security.
Azure Virtual Desktop KQL Queries
Discover powerful KQL queries to enhance your Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD) management. Learn how to track user connections, analyze session times, monitor errors, and gain insights into your AVD environment's performance and security.
Azure DevOps Ansible Pipeline; Boosting Efficiency with Caching
Discover how to optimize your Azure DevOps Ansible pipeline with caching techniques. Learn to reduce execution time, improve efficiency, and maintain security checks in your infrastructure as code deployments.
Day to Day Tools, the 2024 edition
Day-to-day tools for a macOS user in 2024: Visual Studio Code, Sublime Text, Paste, 1Password, and more. Discover essential desktop, terminal, and online services for productivity.
Updating my blog using CrewAI
Discover how CrewAI revolutionized my blog's AI-generated music roundups, enhancing content quality and accuracy. Unlock the potential of collaborative AI for your creative projects.
Announcing the second edition of Learn Ansible
My new book, the second edition of Learn Ansible is now available for pre-order.
Installing and running InvokeAI on macOS
A step-by-step guide on installing and running InvokeAI on macOS for local AI image generation using Conda and Python.
Conda for Python environment management on macOS
Learn how to efficiently manage Python environments on your MacBook Pro using Conda. This comprehensive guide covers installation, creating and activating environments, installing packages, and best practices for streamlining your Python development workflow.
Updating my dotfiles
For the first time in nearly a decade, I updated my dotfiles blog post.
Saving money with Azure Logic Apps
Discover how Azure Logic Apps save you money by automating tasks like stopping and starting VMs and App Gateways. Follow this step-by-step guide to deploy cost-saving automation efficiently.
Running LLMs locally with Ollama
A step-by-step guide to installing Ollama on macOS and running large language models like llama2 and Mistral entirely offline. Learn how to interact with the models via chat, API, and even remotely using ngrok.
My Top 10 of 2023
Explore 2023's diverse music scene with 17 albums, from The Polyphonic Spree's 'Salvage Enterprise' to Peter Gabriel's 'I/O'.
Playing with Aider Chat
I had some time so decided to have a play with a new tool called Aider Chat, which allows you to write and edit code with OpenAI’s GPT models.
Revisting Podman
Delve into the exciting features and benefits of Podman, a powerful alternative to traditional container technologies.
Infrastructure as Code for Beginners is out now
My new book, Infrastructure as Code for Beginners, has been released and is available to buy now.
Ansible setup with Azure on a new Mac
Learn how to set up Ansible with Azure on a new Mac, addressing common issues with cryptography and module dependencies.
VSCode + Bicep on an M1 Mac
Learn how to run Bicep on an M1 Mac using VSCode, addressing the .Net 5.0 runtime issue with Rosetta 2 and Homebrew.
Managing Python on macOS Monterey
Just installed macOS Monterey and Python on my MacBook Pro! Easy peasy with pyenv. Check out my experience!