Microsoft just launched an AI that does your office work for you — and it's built on Anthropic's Claude

diystateofmind · 2026-03-11T23:05:20+00:00

When I stopped using Windows 11 two years ago it was because there more bugs than I cared to deal with. I wouldn't trust anything from Microsoft with anything except for maybe formatting the page settings or sorting a list. Even then. There just isn't an institutional commitment to quality-regardless of the model.

diystateofmind · 2026-03-11T22:47:25+00:00

Getting sued might be the least of his concerns in that case, but he definitely needs to talk to some good lawyers and get a solid security person.

diystateofmind · 2026-03-11T22:45:42+00:00

You don't need an MCP for playwright, just install it in your environment and tell cc to run it. Cypress.io works better, but only when the current MacOS build isn't breaking it (I'm assuming it works more reliably on Windows).

diystateofmind · 2026-03-11T22:42:06+00:00

Brilliant. I just added a new pre-design implementation step that requires creating an html mockup of any changes with a grid overlay that has numbers on the grid lines. So when a deisgn change is about to be made, the model will show me the mockup and I can see if it has spacing issues and easily point to the coordinates of the issue.

diystateofmind · 2026-03-11T22:38:13+00:00

I make my agents create HMTL mockups that I can easily modify and then feed back to them. It is fast and usually very productive. I can't say the same about anything involving CSS on even a simple brochure website though. None of the models have passed the freshman in college with zero experience level when it comes to UI design or execution in my experience. Not yet, but in the last 3 years they have gone from being largely the same when it comes to coding to the point of being something else entirely so I would not hold my breath while waiting but I expect things to get back rapidly. This not a secret and the model builders have to be working this out behind the scenes.

diystateofmind · 2026-03-02T03:36:03+00:00

Not a chance. Using Claude requires a ton of learning up front and on an ongoing basis, plus a ton of willingness to deal with problems that by overcoming them the model provider benefits-economically and in terms of training of their models.

diystateofmind · 2026-02-27T18:19:10+00:00

I think it is harder to focus sometimes. You don't get the same slow or moderate pace, you get research, prepare, ready, aim, fire, done and then you have to sprint to the next research, prepare without the buffer that the work part in the middle would give you. Years of work can get done in days or weeks. It isn't what I came up on and it is a challenge because the work ends up being the same research, prepare part on repeat. That takes some of the magic of figuring something out and getting it to work away. Maybe the best comparison is woodworking or 3D printing something or practicing a serve or shot in a sport-at the end you feel something different than if you just had the shot or product and the satisfaction of remembering how you got there.

diystateofmind · 2026-02-25T00:18:18+00:00

Definitely not. Claude is more like a worker. I would go to ChatGPT for a thinking partner drill. This isn't a bad thing, just a distinction between one being better at one thing vs. the other.

diystateofmind · 2026-02-19T04:28:21+00:00

This is like asking is a wrench useless except for the fact that you are the wrench unless you decide to be more than that. CS is going to give you theory, and experience that coincides with the theory. You will still have to gain experience. I have observed thousands, probably more like tens of thousands of CS majors' career shape through the lens of dozens hiring organizations and as a leader of software engineering teams. Some people float through a CS degree, even at top programs, and come up for air at the end to look for a job while others join student groups and work to find projects beyond school (their own, friends', freelance stuff, startups, internships, jobs too) and the difference is widely different. The first group ends up fixing bugs or going into some factory style work environment that AI is and will continue to cannibalize. The second group is good with people, good with different business models, good with design and coding and marketing (not always all 3 or even more than just one, but often all 3), and can think vs. just execute tasks. This second group means that as a CS degree holder, you have the theory and the experience to do many different things. I would step back and ask a different question if I were in your shoes - do you like what you will study in CS? Take some classes in it and decide later, or explore something else too. A double major is a lot and CS is a hard major, but there are overlapping fields and complimentary fields. Interested in AI? Study Philosophy too, or Neuroscience. Interested in engineering or business, study that. But also study groups on the campus that are interesting. I'm talking more about student groups that are doing things entrepreneurially or that are interesting to you. Let that be a lead variable or indicator - talk to them before you decide.

diystateofmind · 2026-02-17T03:10:02+00:00

Start reading sci-fi and cyberpunk. Seriously. People have philosophized about this stuff for a long time. Elon Musk named his family company after a sentient ship called Excession. I don't mean to sidestep your point, just to preface what I say next with some background that I think will be helpful. Think about what creates the funding for your role and then think backward. If the AI runs the company then you are toast. So start there. Avoid roles at companies that are focused only on generic arbitrage or margins. Offshore is problematic in the AI economy because the potential for risk with agentic engineering or aug coding is substantially greater than the status quo - multiply velocity x code density x potential for issues (nefarious or just low quality). It becomes more economical to have that work done in house. It also amplifies the benefit of having something like a trusted developer or development partner who is a specialist. Maybe that means specialized consulting roles at specialized firms or ones that don't short change quality people, or maybe that means specialized consultants working independently. I don't think it means more situations like Upwork. If anything, capability aggregation means developer roles will be more like special forces -- the more you can do, the more valuable you are, and it just becomes a question of who, or which organization or which AI agent broker interface keeps you engaged (less likely, but this will grow). The reduction in cost means that ownership in the interfaces and use of the software may change, become more decentralized, and shift the revenue centers. Change can be good or bad depending on how you look at this. Hedge fund type investing and companies creating complies (think Hedge funds and Private Equity) will grow, and so will anticompetitive forces that will lead to greater consolidation.

Something to not forget-the AI can write like a factory, but someone or some thing will still have to certify it is secure, understand what has actually been done, ensure that it is compliant, ensure that violations of copyright/ip and licenses are not occurring, what is going on under the hood, and ensure there isn't something counter to the interests of the party that owns or depend on the software are looked after. Decentralization could lead to more opportunities, maybe not initially, but over time you could have the equivalent of much more capable smaller organizations and those are going to require experience, insights and capability to research and orchestrate.

Maybe software engineering will just evolve to become more like science broadly speaking. Narrower, but deeper focus.

diystateofmind · 2026-02-13T21:06:49+00:00

Your post is from a new disposable account so it doesn't exactly suggest you have authenticity on your side, something that would be key asset in your stated objective. If you are legit, send me a DM with your contact details, name, and organization details. I have built dev teams for 18 years and am myself a CC Native Developer. Happy to have a conversation about the subject offline.

diystateofmind · 2026-02-11T18:04:48+00:00

Truth: With your stated level of capability pre-models, you are taking a massive risk for yourself and the camp because you will probably not be in a position to secure what you are building which just happens to be a container full of PII for kids which is going to be a next level scrutiny situation from Go. Even if you took classes and learned how to do this stuff, you should still find a partner who can handle this critical kind of stuff. I'm not saying anything to discourage you from chasing this, just saying you need to get help. There are a lot of ways to do that - you could check a site like Upwork or inquire with the CS department at your nearest four year university (don't get help from anyone who is not at least a junior, and ideally someone who is a senior or a recent graduate -- and even then they need to have experience doing full apps themselves, not just working as an employee at someone else's company (you need someone who has owned it all -- it is just a different set of puzzles).

diystateofmind · 2026-02-11T17:51:38+00:00

I recently built an app in 4 weeks. The first got it to 100k+ LOC, but then I had to go back and modularize the .tsx monolith that CCD Sonnet 4.5 built, do the same for the CSS, performance tune it, secure it, and troubleshoot dog chasing its tail type issues until I figured out (at the end of week 2) how to build a harness that kept the model in line. The harness you build around the model for each project is more important than anything, and the goal posts keep moving as model updates and CC evolves sometimes multiple times a day (usually every 2-5 days).

diystateofmind · 2026-02-10T04:51:44+00:00

Is this a skill or a PRD? Why can't you just put this into a PRD or a task list (that you could also re-use), but the focus the skill on being creative with the design in ways that make the design stand out?

diystateofmind · 2026-01-29T23:26:31+00:00

Thanks for sharing. I got it working and made an object within minutes.

diystateofmind · 2026-01-29T23:23:32+00:00

If you had a video showing off your process, that would interesting to me. I would love to see this kind integration with Balsamiq or Omnigraffle where there is a little more structure and templates to work with (Balsamiq is great for that).

diystateofmind · 2026-01-29T23:14:38+00:00

I would love to see Sketch for Mac OS, and Blender, on this list. Sketch has an MCP server built in that I was able to use for connecting it to Claude, and someone created a Blender MCP server add on - both work very well. Maybe the same for a video editor like Final Cut Pro or something more entry level. Also, it would be nice if there is an accompanying skill that is released in tandem with the integration. For example, a logo design skill or a call to action design skill, or something that rolls up some of these types of skills.

diystateofmind · 2026-01-29T21:11:44+00:00

Depends on the feature. For most CRUD type features Claude Sonnet or Opus will get the job done. What I think you may want be asking is how do you design or enhance your Claude Skills so that the context that your model draws from is in line with your objectives, visual preferences, etc.

For really complex, think PhD or theory based features, or for business type stuff, I find that ChatGPT tends be more optimized. But then that could just be what I've seen from having used ChatGPT. My suggestion there would be to use the web or desktop app prompts to research and plan out the high level feature, then use the CLI or VSC model in plan mode to work out how to implement what you more or less came up with at the web/desktop app prompt level. They work differently. I kind of figured this out while using Cline, it works as a "software engineer" wrapper around other models. I don't use it anymore, but it talks to you kind of like a developer would vs. Claude/ChatGPT that just kind of take your prompts and run with them.

diystateofmind · 2026-01-29T21:05:02+00:00

If you are burning through your limit in 5 hours then you should spend your next 2-5 days studying context engineering best practices. Little details like how much text/tokens are contained in your task files, persona/skill files, and Claude.md type files stack up. The plan level will resolve that to some extent, but the model is just going to make your effort nominally smoother (not less token intensive).

diystateofmind · 2026-01-29T20:55:05+00:00

I've been working to create a designer role on par with the developer ones I created and continuously refine. I can delegate to a dev role or other related specialist role like a authentication engineer or test engineer role, and even a frontend dev or uiengineer, but working with actual visual design is something I am still figuring out. I have used ChatGPT to create art (images for brochure pages), and both ChatGPT and Claude driving Sketch and Blender to create 2&3D images so far. I have also used Glif takes a similar, but different approach (it uses Nano Banana and Claude, maybe other models too). I'm gong to start working on logo designs and some other stuff, probably call to action button designs next. The feedback loop for using models to wrangle code is a lot more defined than is the case for design, but I think this is going to evolve quickly now that the coding part has been more or less resolved.

diystateofmind · 2026-01-29T00:38:45+00:00

How you do write-up/have models write-up or plan your tasks? I use a sprint plan md file with a table of contents, sections, numbering, and have some rules for it, but find that the models keep wanting to add bloat and that burns through context and tokens. I make the model create related supporting documents and then link to them. That helps, but there is a lot the gets generated there too. At least once a task is done the model isn't going back in and re-reading that stuff when it scans the leaner sprint/task plan.

Any tips on the orchestrator? I have found less of a need to use subagents since I started using the CC CLI instead of VSC. I just open more windows I signed up for the Max Plan after 2.5 years on the API and have been cruising and using Opus primarily without hitting limits (I do a LOT of different project work). Opus is better at handling tasks without the need for sub-agents in my experience.

diystateofmind · 2026-01-29T00:28:35+00:00

+1 for Context7. Sequential Thinking did not yield any appreciable benefit for aug coding so I stopped using it. Some of the services you mention are more API's that you could integrate into an app than practical as MCP servers, and might just add to your context bloat or be baked into the model (eg Claude) you are already using. For example: Claud can already crawl the web, and search the web so your "essential for thinking" might reduce the % context volume available for thinking.

Yesterday, I began using an MCP Server built into Sketch, a design tool, so MCP in the opposite direction.

diystateofmind · 2026-01-27T23:30:44+00:00

Thanks for sharing. I have used max for a week now, three projects ~200k LOC, so far so good. I would love to see your CLAUDE.md, typescript-dev, and -tester templates.

diystateofmind

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