AI Crew Field Notes

Hi there. I'm not a developer, and everything I do with AI runs on a single Windows 11 PC. Claude Code handles the technical side for me, from installing tools to building the small app I use every day. Here are six Windows-specific snags I hit in my first week, and how each one got fixed. My setup: a desktop app, not a terminal I use Claude Code through the Claude desktop app (its Code tab), not a terminal window. I type what I want in plain language, and Claude runs the commands itself. In those first few days, I opened a terminal only once (snag #5 explains why). That choice shaped everything below. Most guides assume you're comfortable in a terminal. These snags are what happens when you're not, and the agent has to work around Windows for you. Photo: Matheus Bertelli on Pexels Snag #1: new tools "weren't installed" right after installing them I needed Node.js and Git. Claude installed both with Windows' built-in package manager (winget). My...

Hi there. Every post on this blog has an AI-made thumbnail. Not every first attempt made it. Here are four images that failed my review and the prompt change that fixed each one. The first three originals had text in a different language than this post, so I show them here as simple illustrations. Rejected #1: the AI filled in words I never gave it My first-ever thumbnail needed a notebook with a three-item checklist. The checklist was supposed to show my three writing principles: fact-checking, citing sources, and labeling ads. I asked for "a notebook with three checked items" and didn't spell out the items. The design was good. But in the original, the three items read roughly "fact check," "concise sentences," and "reader focus." Two of those three were never my principles; the model invented them. Fix: write out every word that should appear in the image. If a list, label, or sign is in the picture, its exact text goes in the promp...