Thijs Tijsma

How I Write With AI

Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The process

It starts with a brain dump — raw thoughts, notes, sometimes just bullet points. Whatever's in my head about the topic, unfiltered.

From there, I use AI to interview me. It asks questions to draw out more detail, find gaps in my reasoning, and challenge assumptions. Not softballs — more like talking to a sharp colleague who doesn't let you hand-wave. If I write "the tool is useful," it pushes back: useful how? Compared to what? That back-and-forth is where most of the thinking actually happens.

Once the ideas are more developed, AI helps me organize the mess into a structure. What's the opening? What order do the sections go in? What doesn't belong?

Then comes a thorough pass: rewriting, cutting, adjusting tone, adding and removing sections.

Why use AI at all

Because without it, most of this wouldn't exist. The cognitive cost of turning scattered thoughts into readable prose is high enough that I'd skip writing entirely. AI doesn't improve my thinking — it lowers the cost of externalising it. That was the only reason I needed.

Letting Claude Code Get Shit Done

Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

I started my AI-assisted development journey with Codex. I was strict about it — documenting every decision, maintaining context files, tracking learnings and pitfalls, keeping a roadmap updated. That discipline was all on me, and over time I couldn't sustain it. Claude Code's Plan mode felt like progress — it added guardrails for spec writing — but that's one step. The rest was still manual. Same erosion, same result: eventually you're prompting from memory and wondering why the output is getting worse.

The core problem isn't any single step you skip. It's that maintaining discipline at every iteration across a long project is exhausting. You have to protect the boundaries and you get diminished results the moment you don't.

GSD (Get Shit Done) is a system that enforces that discipline for you. It sits on top of Claude Code and runs a structured process for every phase of your project — research, discussion, planning, execution, verification — tracking everything along the way and using sub-agents to keep the main context clean. It also supports OpenCode, Gemini CLI, and Codex — this post covers the Claude Code experience.

How it works

You start by describing your project. GSD supports greenfield projects, brownfield feature additions, and quick tasks — pick what matches your situation and give it context about what you're building.

From there, you can optionally run a research phase where it investigates your stack, identifies pitfalls, and explores the solution domain. Then comes discussion — GSD identifies gray areas and asks targeted questions across configurable areas. Not always questions you'd miss, but it asks with equal attention every time. After the first round, it suggests more topics. You can keep going. The value isn't novelty — it's consistency. It's hard to sustain that level of thoroughness across dozens of decisions.

Once the problem space is mapped, planning kicks in. GSD researches each part of the solution, breaks work into parallelizable "waves" based on dependencies, then verifies the plan actually makes sense before executing. The verification step caught a few structural issues for me that would have been annoying to untangle later.

During execution, sub-agents handle each task in a fresh 200k-token context. You get atomic git commits per task, which gives you a clean history of each process step. If something goes wrong, you can trace it back to exactly which task introduced the issue.

Finally, verification checks deliverables against the original goals. If it finds gaps, it loops back to discussion, planning, or execution for that specific gap — not a full redo.

What I didn't expect

Surprisingly little code, surprisingly high quality. The output is well-organized and to the point — just what was needed.

Not steering the LLM at every step frees you to focus on the actual problem. It's different mental work — more like reviewing architecture than pair-programming. You spend your energy on decisions rather than steering the AI.

Consistency is the real payoff. Getting lazier over time is the most human thing in the world. GSD doesn't get lazy. It runs the same thorough process on step 50 as it did on step 1.

Working outside the process

If I had one piece of advice for newcomers: learn the escape hatches before you need them. The structured process handles the happy path well, but things will go sideways. When they do, you need to already know which path to take.

Bug you can't pin down — /gsd:debug "description" runs a systematic investigation. It creates a debug session that survives /clear, so you can resume across context resets.

Small, clear change — /gsd:quick spawns a planner and executor, skipping research and verification. Good when you already know what to do and just need it done cleanly.

Unplanned work that needs structure — /gsd:insert-phase creates a decimal phase (e.g., 6.1) between existing phases. Then plan and execute that phase normally. Whether it's a fix, a missing feature, or a new requirement — it keeps the overall structure intact.

Found during UAT — /gsd:verify-work walks through acceptance tests, auto-diagnoses failures, and creates fix plans directly. Useful when you're testing the finished product and something doesn't match expectations.

The cost question

GSD has model profiles — Quality (Opus for most things), Balanced, and Budget.

Quality mode is expensive. On my Enterprise Premium plan, I was hitting Claude's usage limit within 2–3 hours of the 5-hour rolling window. The exact cost depends on your plan and usage patterns, but don't expect it to be cheap.

Balanced mode is much more reasonable and produces similar quality for planning and research. Sonnet can sometimes struggle with fixing things that break during execution — a server that won't start — but that's the exception.

The tradeoff: more costly than vanilla Claude Code, but more controlled. Less rework, less re-explaining context, fewer "wait, we already discussed this" moments.

I ran a side-experiment with OpenCode and my OpenAI account. GSD's OpenCode support was community-ported first and only officially integrated two weeks before this post — and it shows. The interactive questioning that keeps the process on track doesn't work properly in OpenCode, so things went off-course quickly. The community port (gsd-opencode) exists precisely because the official integration is still catching up. Stick to Claude Code for now.

What I'd change

More thorough gap reviews. GSD runs gap analysis, but I still add a manual prompt to verify it. Whether that's a trust issue or a transparency one — it's hard to tell without knowing exactly what it checked — the uncertainty alone is enough to make me verify manually.

Research-based recommendations. Sometimes GSD asks a question to select an approach, but you don't have the context yet to answer it. It already did the research — it should surface recommendations and verify them with you, rather than presenting it as an open question.

Discussion depth. Sometimes four discussion areas feel comprehensive, sometimes you wonder if everything was captured. An option for wider or deeper coverage would help, especially for larger projects with more surface area.

The bottom line

GSD represents a different philosophy: invest upfront in context and structure, then let the AI work within those boundaries. After two greenfield projects, the pattern is clear — well-organized code, precise results, clean git history.

If you try it: start with something manageable and trust the process even when it feels slow.

npx get-shit-done-cc@latest

GitHub

Tools (Early 2026 Edition)

Wed, 18 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Both macOS and Windows have package managers that make setting up a new machine much easier. On macOS there is Homebrew, and on Windows there is the Windows Package Manager (CLI) or the Microsoft Store (GUI). Both WinGet and Homebrew support creating bundles of software to install, which is great for automating setups.

Do note that store versions of applications (on both platforms) are sometimes more constrained due to the sandboxed nature of the Store. This sometimes results in some features that integrate deeply with the system being less powerful, but it can also be beneficial in running things in a more restricted environment.

System

Dropbox -- Every backup/sync solution I have tried has some issues with either touching a large amount of files (OneDrive) or being flaky with making sure my data is available elsewhere (Amazon). Dropbox is the best so far!
- Looking to replace Dropbox with something like Seafile -- it's annoying with node_modules, especially if it already synced before. With two subscriptions (one Business for 90+ day history), the costs add up.
1Password -- Secure password management on every device. Supports 2FA, passkeys, SSH keys, and secrets. The CLI can inject secrets directly into processes, so you don't need them in environment variables or stored unsecurely on disk.
Krisp -- Best noise cancellation app I have used. Filters both outgoing and incoming audio.
- Unfortunately, in recent times they are aggressively pushing their other (AI) features. I haven't given Krisp permissions for it, and every time I click the UI open it reminds me of that. Looking for an alternative solution.
Tailscale -- Secure zero-config point-to-point networking. Connects all my devices in a mesh network with MagicDNS and ACLs to control which devices can talk to each other, provides access to self-hosted services from anywhere, and doubles as a private exit node on untrusted networks.
Browsers -- Safari on macOS and Edge on Windows. Safari for work, Edge for personal -- Edge syncs across Windows and iOS. Chrome is installed on both for automation and tooling -- browser automation libraries and tools that launch a browser (like Visual Studio's debug experience) fail to interface with Edge cleanly when an instance is already running.
NextDNS -- DNS-level ad and tracker blocking with encrypted DNS for privacy. Handles most of what browser-based ad blockers used to do for me.

Currently trying out

Seafile -- Self-hosted file sync as a Dropbox replacement. No more syncing node_modules headaches.
ente -- End-to-end encrypted photo backup as a Google Photos replacement. Currently evaluating the self-hosted option to learn its constraints.

macOS

Raycast -- A collection of powerful productivity tools all within an extendable launcher. Fast, ergonomic, and reliable.
Amphetamine -- Keeps the Mac awake during presentations and long-running tasks.
Fantastical -- Beautiful calendar with great UX. Combines multiple calendars into one view, and you can hide specific events -- handy when repeated blocks for focus time clutter your week and make it look busier than it is.
UTM -- Virtualization for running Windows VMs on Apple Silicon.
Ghostty -- Fast, native terminal emulator. Combined with Oh My Posh for a beautiful prompt and Zoxide for effortless directory navigation.

Windows

Windhawk -- Windows 11's Start menu and taskbar UI is a setback in productivity for me. With Windhawk, you can select which changes you'd like to make.
Microsoft PowerToys -- Utilities for power users, finally back after being away for a few years! Contains a useful color picker, keyboard shortcut manager, file lock analyzer, and many other utilities.
f.lux -- Must-have for when you stay up late -- past Sesame Street. Brightness during the day and warmer colors at night. It takes a little time to get used to, but then you realize it's a lot easier on the eyes.
- I am a fan of using built-in functionality (Night Light in Windows), but that frequently stops working or hangs in a specific mode.
Bitvise SSH Client -- All-in-one SSH suite with terminal, SFTP, and tunneling in a single application.
7-Zip -- Handles virtually any archive format you throw at it.
- Looking for an alternative that better integrates with Windows 11.
Windows Terminal + PowerShell 7 + Oh My Posh + Zoxide -- A modern, customizable terminal experience on Windows. Oh My Posh and Zoxide are also part of my macOS setup.
- Currently investigating alternative terminals.

Productivity

Tana -- Tana is even more powerful than Notion. Be warned, if you don't use a template you can / have to spend a lot of time building your own workflow.
- Looking into alternatives, possibly local ones. There is so much potential for the next leap in automation that Tana isn't hitting for my use cases.
Acrobat Reader -- Still the best PDF reader. For editing, combining, and splitting PDFs I use PDFGear.
Typora -- A minimalistic Markdown editor (and viewer) with focus mode.
Microsoft Office -- Mostly Excel for personal use and Outlook for both personal and work e-mail.
- The new Exchange licensing combined with "New Outlook" has me considering alternative e-mail providers.
Microsoft To Do -- Simple shared lists for groceries and household tasks.
Inoreader -- Best RSS reader I have tried. The free tier covers everything I need to stay on top of tech blogs and news.
draw.io -- Diagramming tool for when Mermaid doesn't cut it. I mostly use MermaidJS in Markdown these days, but some diagrams need a visual editor.

Currently trying out

Wispr Flow -- Voice dictation that works system-wide. Really impressive, but missing the ability to have a keyword that presses Enter.

Windows

Notepad++ -- Powerful improvement over Notepad with plugin support.

Development

Claude Code -- My primary development tool. I use it as a first step for building things and it has fundamentally changed my workflow. I use the Opus model exclusively -- if you have a subscription, why optimize? OpenAI Codex serves as a fallback for code reviews.
Docker -- Powers both my local development environments and self-hosted infrastructure.
LINQPad -- The ultimate .NET scratchpad for quick experiments, prototyping, scripting, and inspecting formatted output.
OpenTofu -- Open-source infrastructure as code for managing both cloud infrastructure and home lab resources. Chose it over Terraform for its open-source license and because it already ships several features that Terraform does not.
Ansible -- Declarative setup of my VPSes. I was using cloud-init before but kept making changes after the initial provisioning.

Windows

Visual Studio + NCrunch -- My primary .NET IDE on Windows. NCrunch provides continuous test running which is essential for TDD. For simpler tasks, Claude Code has taken over.
Rider -- Cross-platform .NET IDE. Primarily used on macOS where Visual Studio is not available. On Windows I keep it around but default to Visual Studio -- I'm not a fan of JetBrains' layered settings, and VS supports cutting-edge .NET features first.
RegexBuddy -- Visual regex debugging and testing. AI handles most regex tasks nowadays, but RegexBuddy remains invaluable for understanding and debugging complex patterns.

Communication

IRCCloud -- Always-connected IRC client with a clean, modern interface. Keeps me connected to open-source communities on Libera.Chat without missing a message.

Utilities

Beyond Compare -- Easily diff all kinds of files and directories.
balenaEtcher -- Flash OS and firmware images to SD cards or USB drives.
Raspberry Pi Imager -- The official Raspberry Pi imaging tool. Pre-configures WiFi, SSH, and other settings during flashing, which makes it more convenient than Etcher for Pi-specific work.

Windows

Bulk Rename Utility -- I don't use it often, but sometimes you need to rename a lot of files at once. This really helps doing it in a systematic manner.
DiskGenius -- Great app for data recovery.
Duplicate Cleaner Pro -- Clean duplicate files and photos with great customization options.
WizTree -- Fastest disk space analyzer.
AutoHotkey -- Also a tool that I don't use often. It allows you to write scripts and bind them to shortcuts.
CPU-Z -- Identify hardware components.

Home Automation

Home Assistant -- Open-source smart home hub running on a Raspberry Pi 5 with an SSD. Central control for smart home devices, automations, and energy monitoring.

3D Printing

OpenSCAD -- I am not great with 3D model design, but with OpenSCAD I can write code to create models instead.
UltiMaker Cura -- Slicer for preparing 3D models for printing. Used with my Creality Ender 3 V2 running Klipper firmware.

Workaround for Microsoft Office activation issues on accounts with the same e-mail address

Tue, 26 Mar 2024 00:00:00 GMT

If you've ever linked the same email address to both a personal Microsoft account and a work account, you may run into a frustrating activation issue. When you enter your personal email during Office activation, it automatically redirects to the work account login — without giving you the option to choose which account to use.

The workaround

Instead of entering your email directly, click "Create a new account" and then type your existing personal email address. The system will recognize that the account already exists and prompt you to log in normally. This bypasses the automatic redirect to the work account and lets you activate Office with your personal license.

Special case: Microsoft Outlook

Outlook handles activation differently. It only allows creating new @outlook.com or @hotmail.com addresses in the "Create a new account" flow, so the workaround above won't work directly.

The fix:

Close Outlook
Open any other Office application (e.g., Word or Excel)
Activate it using the workaround described above
Reopen Outlook

Once another Office app is activated, Outlook should also show as activated when you reopen it.

Disable OneDrive in Microsoft Office

Mon, 25 Mar 2024 00:00:00 GMT

If you want to remove OneDrive from appearing in Microsoft Office's save dialogs and file locations, you can do so with a single registry entry.

Registry modification

Create or edit the following registry key:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Common\Internet]
"OnlineStorage"=dword:00000003

This applies to Office 2016 and later (all use version 16.0 in the registry path).

The OnlineStorage value is a bitmask that controls which cloud locations are hidden:

Value	Effect
`1`	Hide OneDrive Personal only
`2`	Hide OneDrive for Business and SharePoint
`3`	Hide all OneDrive and SharePoint locations

You can either:

Open Registry Editor and navigate to the key manually
Download and double-click the .reg file below to apply it

</svg> Microsoft Office - Disable OneDrive.reg Hides all OneDrive and SharePoint locations · 140 Bytes </a>

Note: On managed work computers, your organization's Group Policy may override this setting.

After applying the change and restarting Office, OneDrive will no longer appear as a save location.