field notes from the edge of the machine

A quiet place to think about loud systems.

28 years of architecture, AI, and security — distilled into essays by Devon Hillard, creator of 10 Minute Mail.

Featured transmission

Nested copper and steel gear assemblies inside a brass clockwork housing, lit with warm amber light.

Software Development Devon Jun 15, 2026 · 6 min

Self-Hosting a Linear-Driven Claude Code Agent with Cyrus

Setting up a self-hosted, Linear-driven AI coding agent on my own server, and the two things that took actual work: keeping the bill sane and not handing it too much access.

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Productivity 01

My Personal Single Pane of Glass Dashboard

I wanted one screen that surfaces everything I care about during the workday: without juggling tabs, picking up my phone, or sending my data to anyone else's cloud. So I built one. Here's what's in it, the caveats, and who it's actually for.

May 2026 · 3 min

Software Development 02

AI Coding Zen and the Art of Context Management

Forget the perfect prompt - mastering context management is the real secret to productive AI-assisted development.

Aug 2025 · 7 min

Software Development 03

Managing Home and Work GitHub Accounts from the Same Machine

Keep your personal and work GitHub identities separate with SSH config tricks that route keys automatically.

Mar 2025 · 2 min

10MinuteMail 04

Updates to 10MinuteMail: Mobile-Friendly and Faster

10MinuteMail is faster and mobile-friendly now - a complete overhaul to match modern web standards.

Nov 2024 · 3 min

Software Development 05

Stop Bots for Free with Cloudflare Turnstile in your Spring Boot App

My first Maven Central library: Free Cloudflare Turnstile integration for Spring Boot with zero CAPTCHA friction.

Oct 2024 · 3 min

Software Development 06

Easy AI Powered Translation For Your Java App!

AI-powered translation keeps your Java message bundles in sync across languages without manual translation work.

Aug 2024 · 3 min

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