You can just build things.

Claude just told me it's bedtime.

The best designers are exceptional systems thinkers, which makes them dangerous product builders in 2026.

2025 was like the first season of a sci-fi show: Just there to orient us in this weird new world. 2026 is season 2, when the story really gets going.

This was my first use of Design OS on a real, shipped app. Took about 7 work days start-finish. Smoothest design- to-build process I've done yet. Full walkthrough of the process is available inside Builder Methods Pro.

Reading every response is impossible. Missing important ones is expensive. So I built InboxSummaries: It reads my incoming surveys, etc. and surfaces insights, trends and opportunities I'd otherwise miss. Using it daily now. Should I open it up? inboxsummaries.com

Really want to see a smoother hand-off between Claude Code and Claude projects. I constantly move between the two (Claude for ideating and planning and Claude Code for building).

I find Opus 4.5 is excellent both in Claude Code and in Cursor's Agent mode. I use both regularly. Claude Code for big, autonomous tasks. Cursor agent when I'm working with agent more collaboratively through a problem or design tweaks.

Me: "I'm shopping for AI." Google: "We got you. Try Gemini. Or AI Studio. Or Labs. Or Nano Banana. Wait, Nano Banana Pro. Also Imagen. No, ImageFX. Actually Whisk. Or Flow. Or Veo. MusicFX. TextFX. Chirp. Or... (wait there's more...)"

Quite a year for my little YouTube channel :)

AI inability to actually *see* video and *hear* audio is a big blocker to it truly replacing pro human video/audio editors. AI can *generate* new audio/video, but can't see/hear/edit existing audio/video content. That's at the top of my wishlist for 2026 breakthroughs.

Tested this tool yesterday — absolute must have. Very helpfull. Will refactor two of my products with it during the holidays.

My wishlist for Claude Code: 1. Queue next prompt(s) 2. Draft mode for prompt writing

What's your prediction for AI in 2026?

We don't know what it means. The kids don't know what it means. Yet the "6 7" thing continues...

Shipping an MVP app in 2025/2026: Idea: ~2 showers. Design: ~2 hours. Build 90%: ~2 hours. Final 10%: ~2 days.

Features I want to see in Claude (web app) in '26: 1. Editable artifacts 2. Threaded replies (side tracks)

Been thinking about building a mac menu bar app to track my token billing. On second thought, I'm afraid to look.

Quite a year of building. 303 days. Lots of Claude models. Dabbled with GPT-5 and Composer. ~50/50 Claude Code & Cursor. And apparently I like to ship on Fridays ;)

Favorites so far: Cursor, ChatGPT. Disappointed they don't have them: GitHub, Claude.

The Wrapped thing is obviously hypey and engage-bait, but I find many of them pretty interesting and very well done.

If your Claude Code doesn't look like this, you're not vibing hard enough.

Liking my Keychron keyboard. But I want switches and low-profile keycaps that are optimal for typing speed. Suggestions?

My live workshop today is on an AI-first design process for crafting new products & UIs. All new material + open Q&A session. Grab a seat here (you'll get the recording too). buildermethods.com/workshops/ai...

Yep, One Battle After Another was pretty great. Excellent soundtrack too.

Perfect description for the Plauribus soundtrack.

Going live in 5. Come hang!

2026 goal: Learn to ship Mac OS & iOS apps. So many of my tool ideas would work better as system apps than web apps.

Introducing Design OS—the missing design process between your idea and your codebase. Step 1: Define your product's vision Step 2: Design your screens Step 3: Export production-ready components Not mockups. Real components. Ready to implement. Free and open source: buildermethods.com/design-os

Time for our bi-annual episode from @jordangal.bsky.social and I on the Bootstrapped Web feed! Talking 2025 recaps & 2026 outlook! bootstrappedweb.com/283

Ready your Bootstrapped Web feeds...

Micro-managing an AI agent can work. Telling AI your end goal and letting it propose good options is much better. Directing AI on how to fix something can work. Sharing your impressions (good/bad) and trusting it to dial in its next version is much better.

And my 2026 outlook. Let's go. briancasel.com/2026-outlook

My 2025 Recap. Quite a ride. briancasel.com/2025-recap

5 hour flight to Costa Rica. Let's see how I far I can get with a new app...

Knicks at the garden

The new iOS has no way to close all browser tabs? That used to be one tap. So many UX fails.

Design OS now has a page + email signup. If this looks interesting, I'd love to hear your feedback! buildermethods.com/design-os

Going live on The Panel in a few! @justinjackson.ca and I chatting about: - Phasing out consulting - Design OS - Once/SaaS model - Why are trials up? - AI yadda yadda Watch & chat live: www.youtube.com/live/FfYrGrU...

The downfall of the Album is the worst thing about today's new music. Enough with the singles and 3-song EPs. Give me an hour+ of your best cuts from a multi-month creative bender in the studio.

I'm out of coffee and my shipment doesn't arrive for at least 24 hours. Send help.

Migrated servers last night. “I should test the checkout flow on production.” “…Nevermind. 2 new customers just confirmed we’re good.” 😊

All new live workshop for Dec: AI-First Design Process The new way to plan, design and produce perfect frontends for your product. Tickets available now. Bring your team. Pro members get in free. buildermethods.com/workshops/ai...

Funnel working. Repeatable tasks happening. Processes figured out. Time to automate some stuff 🤓

(1/3) How Design OS will work: You + AI in a guided design process: 1. Product concept 2. Roadmap (key areas) 3. Data model 4. Design system 5. Screen designs 6. Export to your codebase...

Design OS is how products should be designed. 1. Bring your vision. Follow a guided planning, architecture & design process... 2. Get perfectly tuned frontend designs & specs. 3. Packaged up & ready for handoff to any coding agent, any tech stack. Coming soon.

This year I launched Builder Methods Pro—a membership for builders transitioning to AI-first development. Hundreds of members now and growing. Great community, resources (with more on the way). The Black Friday sale is a great time to join before price raises in '26. buildermethods.com/pro

Started hacking on something new. Can't wait to share.

How do I make my Apple Watch never talk to me again ever? Especially during workouts.

There are still (and always will be) world-class, experienced, highly technical, creative thinkers behind the world's best automobiles. But those people are not assembling the cars by hand. Robots do that.