20 posts found
Tokens, not words: how a model reads your text
Models do not see characters or words. They see tokens — and once you know how text becomes tokens, several odd behaviou...
Embeddings explained without the linear algebra
An embedding turns text into coordinates, and nearby coordinates mean related meaning. That single idea is what makes se...
Training, fine-tuning and prompting are three different tools
Teams reach for fine-tuning when they need context, and for prompting when they need behaviour. Knowing which problem ea...
The context window is a budget, not a memory
Bigger context windows did not give models memory. They gave you a larger envelope to fill on every single request — and...
Structured output beats parsing prose
If your code needs a value from a model, ask for JSON and validate it. Regexing an answer out of a paragraph is a bug wa...
Choosing between a large model and a small one
Most production traffic does not need the largest model available. Routing by task rather than defaulting to the top of...
An agent is a loop, not a personality
Strip away the branding and an agent is a small loop: call the model, run the tool it asked for, feed the result back, r...
Tool calling is an API contract the model can read
A tool definition is documentation with a schema attached. Write it for a capable colleague who has never seen your syst...
When a workflow beats an agent
If you already know the steps, do not ask a model to rediscover them on every request. A fixed pipeline with model calls...
What an AI agent can actually do with a design system
Given a real design system, a model stops inventing interfaces and starts assembling them. The difference is not the mod...
Design tokens are the interface AI needs
A token that only names a hex value has saved you nothing. A token that names a job tells a model which decision it is m...
Generating layouts that respect a grid
Generated layouts usually look almost right, and "almost" is where the eye catches. Most of the fix is stating the rules...