HotterNotes & other things

Search / 31 matching notes

Notes &
other things.

2026

caveman

Why use many token when few token do trick — Claude Code skill that cuts 65% of tokens by talking like caveman.

caveman

github
JuliusBrussee/caveman
HN
Caveman: Why use many token when few token do trick | Hacker News
YouTube
No way this actually works - YouTube - ThePrimeTime

Why use many token when few token do trick — Claude Code skill that cuts 65% of tokens by talking like caveman.

I tried it on <2026-04-11 Sat> on Mac Mini 2024 and on Mac Book Pro M1. 

claude plugin marketplace add JuliusBrussee/caveman && claude plugin install caveman@caveman
claude plugin uninstall caveman@caveman && claude plugin marketplace remove caveman

Uninstalled after reading HN comments. Installed again recently.

Caveman in gptel

Add caveman as a gptel directive: 

(setq gptel-directives
      (cons '(caveman . "CAVEMAN MODE: Drop articles/filler/pleasantries/hedging. Fragments OK. Short synonyms. Pattern: [thing] [action] [reason]. [next step]. Keep full technical accuracy. Code unchanged.")
            gptel-directives))

Select with C-c C-d in gptel buffer.

HN comments summary

A developer created "Caveman," a Claude Code skill that forces the AI to respond in simplified, caveman-like language to reduce token usage by approximately 75%. The author clarifies this is mostly a joke and targets visible output (removing preambles and filler text), not the hidden "thinking" tokens that improve performance. They acknowledge the ~75% claim needs proper benchmarking and note that the skill doesn't affect code quality itself.

The Hacker News community is highly skeptical, with many arguing that tokens are "units of thinking" for LLMs—reducing them could make the model dumber by limiting its reasoning capacity. Critics point out that chain-of-thought reasoning requires verbose output, and forcing concise responses may degrade performance. However, some find the concept useful for cutting through verbose AI responses, comparing it to telegram-style communication or noting that similar concise prompting can work without harming quality for simple tasks. The debate centers on whether this actually saves meaningful costs versus potentially sacrificing accuracy.

SafariTabs.app v0.2.0

On I do several improvements to SafariTabs.app.

SafariTabs.app v0.2.0

On <2026-05-07 Thu> I do several improvements to SafariTabs.app.

  1. Dragging swimlanes, so I can rearrange them to follow Spaces 3, 4, 5.
  2. Rename windows, mine are "Personal", "Work – Tech", "Work – Communications"
  3. Auto-sized swimlanes: each column takes 1/3 of the app window, capped at 1/6 of the current display — so a half-screen window always fits 3 columns and a maximised one fits 6, on any resolution.
safari-tabs.png

terraform-ts-mode

At work I work with Terraform, so need to edit quite a lot of tf files in GNU Emacs. There's no built-in terraform-ts-mode Emacs package and I don't want to install regexp-based te…

terraform-ts-mode

At work I work with Terraform, so need to edit quite a lot of tf files in GNU Emacs. There's no built-in terraform-ts-mode Emacs package and I don't want to install regexp-based terraform-mode package

Existing terraform-ts-mode is this: kgrotel/terraform-ts-mode, which claims being experimental. So it's a good opportunity to learn how to create major modes using Tree Sitter and on <2026-05-05 Tue> I built my own with Claude Code.

Installation: put terraform-ts-mode.el to load-path.

Usage: 

(use-package terraform-ts-mode :ensure nil
  :init
  (add-to-list 'major-mode-remap-alist '(terraform-mode . terraform-ts-mode)))

With this knowledge, the next step is [TK: try mickeynp/combobulate package].

SafariTabs.app

We need RSS for sharing abundant vibe-coded apps post by Matt Webb mentions Tabulator app, part of Wall of Apps by Matt Sephton. All the apps there share the same minimalist design…

SafariTabs.app

We need RSS for sharing abundant vibe-coded apps post by Matt Webb mentions Tabulator app, part of Wall of Apps by Matt Sephton. All the apps there share the same minimalist design, native Swift UI, tiny and, supposedly, fast. The downside is that they are paid.

I wanted to try Tabulator, as I use seal_safari_tabs.lua with Hammerspoon. So I built SafariTabs.app (using Claude Code, a project), source code is here – velppa/SafariTabs. Version v0.1.0.

260508--safari-tabs-v0-1-0__app_macos.png

Features:

  • Fuzzy-searching for tabs
  • Keyboard navigation
  • Switching to the selected tab
  • Close tab
  • Headless mode, "safaritabs:" URL scheme

Let's see if I'm going to use it, if yes – will think about publishing a release. If you want to build it – clone the repo and ask Claude Code to build it.

Trying org-tufte for public notes

On I tried to add footnotes to notes in Textpod. It works, {C-c C-x f} adds a footnote link. Then publishing works normally, just make sure footnotes heading is level down of the p…

Trying org-tufte for public notes

On <2026-04-28 Tue> I tried to add footnotes to notes in Textpod. It works, {C-c C-x f} adds a footnote link. Then publishing works normally, just make sure footnotes heading is level down of the published note (usually h2).

But, footnotes looks ugly, and rendered at the bottom. I want sidenotes, as in Tufte CSS. I remember org-tufte exporter, so decided to try. Apparently, there's newer version exists - Zilong-Li/org-tufte. Let's try it. 

(use-package org-tufte :ensure nil)

Export to plain HTML looks fine, side-notes as footnotes work fine1. But when exporting into Textpod – body only, + custom HTML and JS injected – it breaks.

Okay, time to some vibe-coding. New package textpod-org-tufte.el.

  1. this is side note, but in Org file it's actually a footnote! ↩

HTML export to Textpod

On I'm once again fascinated how bad Markdown is and how broken the export is. So for Textpod I decided to skip Markdown, and export notes directly from Org to HTML.

HTML export to Textpod

On <2026-04-27 Mon> I'm once again fascinated how bad Markdown is and how broken the export is. So for Textpod I decided to skip Markdown, and export notes directly from Org to HTML.

Problem

Markdown can't handle lists properly.

This Org Mode block: 

- github :: [[https://github.com/inanimate-tech/mist][inanimate-tech/mist]]
- posts ::
  - [[https://interconnected.org/home/2026/02/12/mist][mist: Share and edit Markdown together, quickly (Interconnected)]]
  - [[https://interconnected.org/home/2026/04/10/open-mist][mist is now open source and looking for interop (Interconnected)]]

: curl https://mist.inanimate.tech/new -T file.md

is exported as this Markdown block: 

-   **github:** [inanimate-tech/mist](https://github.com/inanimate-tech/mist)
-   **posts:** -   [mist: Share and edit Markdown together, quickly (Interconnected)](https://interconnected.org/home/2026/02/12/mist)
    -   [mist is now open source and looking for interop (Interconnected)](https://interconnected.org/home/2026/04/10/open-mist)

    curl https://mist.inanimate.tech/new -T file.md

which is then converted to this HTML block:

The list was rendered completely wrong.

When exporting from Org directly to HTML, it's correct - dl/dt/dd tags are used, comment rendered as verbatim text:

github
inanimate-tech/mist
posts
curl https://mist.inanimate.tech/new -T file.md
Solution

Luckily, the change in texptpod.el is this: 

-   (org-export-string-as org-text 'md t)
+   (org-export-string-as org-text 'html t)

I also changed backend to preprocess internal links, they look like this: 

../markdown.md // for Markdown export
../markdown.html#5B98C220-A8F4-4202-9708-82B0D000A4E9 // for HTML export

Preprocessing changes both to ?q=markdown., so search starts to /markdown. which matches both md and html extensions.

remoto.el: Browse GitHub repos without cloning

An Emacs package to browse Github without cloning the repository. Uses magit/ghub package for interacting with Github.

remoto.el: Browse GitHub repos without cloning

An Emacs package to browse Github without cloning the repository. Uses magit/ghub package for interacting with Github.

Installation:

(use-package remoto
  :vc (:url "https://github.com/agzam/remoto.el"))

  • Downloaded to ~/.velppa/VELPA/remoto.el

  • Initially it hung at attempting to decode authinfo.json.gpg file, added token manually:

    {"machine": "api.github.com", "login": "velppa^ghub", "password": "ghp_..."}

  • Registers remote filesystem

Examples:

(remoto-browse "torvalds/linux") ;; hangs for a minute on a slow connection
(remoto-browse "https://github.com/agzam/remoto.el")
(find-file "/github:nex-crm/wuphf@main:/CHANGELOG.md")

Screenshot: img

Hosting static HTMLs

While I'm on vacation and Mac Mini 2024 (my home server) is turned off, I wanted to host HackerNews legible frontend (html file) on the Internet with minimum setup as possible.

Hosting static HTMLs

While I'm on vacation and Mac Mini 2024 (my home server) is turned off, I wanted to host HackerNews legible frontend (html file) on the Internet with minimum setup as possible.

Obvious choices like Cloudflare Workers, Github Pages and all their variants were ruled out as they require accounts, backed by big corps while I wanted something indy.

Playing with Surge, made me realise it's a nice way to host static html artifacts created with AI, so here it is: https://hotter.surge.sh.

Operations 
(let ((default-directory "~/Developer/src/github.com/velppa/hotter.surge.sh"))
  (async-shell-command
    ;; "surge --help"
    ;; "surge files hotter.surge.sh"
    ;; "surge . hotter.surge.sh" ;; deploy
    "make deploy"
    "*hotter.surge.sh*"))

(setq surge-server (ws-file-server :dir "~/Developer/src/github.com/velppa/hotter.surge.sh" :port 9004))
(ws-stop surge-server)

textpod.el v0.3.0

Another round of improvements of textpod.el, a companion Emacs package to Textpod.

textpod.el v0.3.0

Another round of improvements of textpod.el, a companion Emacs package to Textpod.

Custom ID format - attribute name and prefix

Added two defcustom options in textpod.el:

  • textpod-id-property (default "TEXTPOD_ID") - name of the Org property used to store the note id.
  • textpod-id-prefix (default "") - prefix prepended to ids when stored, stripped before sending requests to the server.

Introduced textpod--strip-prefix helper and updated all id call sites (textpod-open-current-note, textpod-org-heading-to-note, textpod-org-region-to-note) to respect these configs.

textpod-set-id sets ID without creating a node

I need a function to create texpod id property without sending note to the server. This is needed to submit old notes so they have proper timestamp.

Added textpod-set-id: an interactive command that sets textpod-id-property on the current heading (with textpod-id-prefix) derived from a time as YYYYMMDDhhmmss, without making any HTTP request.

  • No prefix arg → uses (current-time).
  • With prefix arg → prompts via org-read-date, so the note can be back-dated before later uploading with textpod-org-heading-to-note.
Quickly getting to Textpod notes

Using Ack is possible, placing point on a file-name and pressing {H-RET} will call visit-source and go directly to the line.

ack ":ID:\s*textpod_" *.org | grep -v 2026-04-22 | head -n 20

2026-04-12.org:226::ID: textpod_20260412124048
2026-04-13.org:10::ID: textpod_20260414214110
2026-04-13.org:237::ID: textpod_20260414212612
2026-04-13.org:247::ID: textpod_20260414224720
2026-04-13.org:263::ID: textpod_20260414210103
2026-04-13.org:314::ID: textpod_20260414224944
2026-04-16.org:12::ID: textpod_20260416100352
2026-04-16.org:97::ID: textpod_20260417092822
2026-04-21.org:205::ID: textpod_20260421120000

Since I made my Textpod notes to be Org-roam notes, I can query them directly from SQLite DB.

  • (sqlite-mode-open-file "~/.config/emacs/org-roam.db")

    select id, file, title from nodes n where n.id like '"textpod_%"';

textpod_20260329123259 ~/Notes/2026-03.org Standalone HTML Galleries
textpod_20260315124829 ~/Notes/2026-03.org Build HackerNews Legible Frontend
textpod_20260415130636 ~/Notes/2026-04.org Improve public notes
textpod_20260415205822 ~/Notes/2026-04.org “Why Kim Wexler Was The Real Villain of Better Call Saul” by BreakingHub (19 min)
textpod_20260415210948 ~/Notes/2026-04.org “Linus Lays down the Law” – The PrimeTime (ThePrimeagen), 13 min
textpod_20260412124048 ~/Notes/daily/2026-04-12.org Improve HackerNews Legible Frontend
textpod_20260414214110 ~/Notes/daily/2026-04-13.org Interview about k8s setup in Amazon
textpod_20260414212612 ~/Notes/daily/2026-04-13.org kumo – local AWS emulator in Go
textpod_20260414224720 ~/Notes/daily/2026-04-13.org Snowflake MCP server
textpod_20260414210103 ~/Notes/daily/2026-04-13.org Claude Code quota exhausted / degraded quality
textpod_20260414224944 ~/Notes/daily/2026-04-13.org Trying Textpod once again
textpod_20250612070826 ~/Notes/html.org I'm betting on HTML
textpod_20260421120000 ~/Notes/daily/2026-04-21.org Rewrite Textpod to Go
textpod_20260416100352 ~/Notes/daily/2026-04-16.org Advice to org-roam-dailies-goto-today
textpod_20260417092822 ~/Notes/daily/2026-04-16.org Links <2026-04-16 Thu>
textpod_20260422124810 ~/Notes/daily/2026-04-22.org textpod.el v0.3.0

[TK: :colnames yes got broken for some reason].

My textpod.el config

The config automatically makes notes published to Textpod as Org-roam nodes.

(use-package textpod
  :config
  (setq textpod-id-property "ID"
        textpod-id-prefix "textpod_"
        textpod-token (cadr (auth-source-user-and-password "finita.myaddr.dev" "textpod"))
        ;;textpod-url "/notes"
        textpod-url "http://localhost:3000/notes"
        )
  :bind (("C-c b x" . textpod-set-id)
         ("C-c b b" . textpod-org-heading-to-note)
         ("C-c b o" . textpod-open-current-note)))

Updates:

  • <2026-04-23 Thu>: add keybindings

Rewrite Textpod to Go

On <2026-04-21 Tue> I rewritten Textpod from Rust to Go.

Rewrite Textpod to Go

On <2026-04-21 Tue> I rewritten Textpod from Rust to Go.

While I'm on vacation with the new MacBook Pro M4 Pro and I have installed only bare minimum on it, I don't have Rust toolchain but do have Go. So, asked Claude to do rewrite. The only external dependency is goldmark package to render Markdown as HTMLs.

Updated Elisp helpers:

(use-package textpod
  :config
  (setq textpod-token (cadr (auth-source-user-and-password "finita.myaddr.dev" "textpod"))
        ;;textpod-url "/notes"
        textpod-url "http://localhost:3000/notes"
        ))

(let ((default-directory "~/Developer/src/github.com/velppa/textpod"))
  (async-shell-command "go build -o ~/.local/bin/textpod ." "*textpod-build*"))

(let ((default-directory "~/Developer/src/github.com/velppa/finita-la-comedia/textpod")
      (buffer-name "*textpod-server*"))
  (when (get-buffer buffer-name)
    (kill-buffer buffer-name))
  (async-shell-command (format "textpod --token %s --base-path notes" textpod-token) buffer-name))

(browse-url (format "%s?token=%s" textpod-url textpod-token))