John O'Nolan
@johnonolan.bsky.social
Founder/CEO at @Ghost.org - Geographically restless.
Mostly posting about publishing, media, open source, JavaScript, Laravel, bootstrapping, SaaS, activitypub, and design.
Mostly posting about publishing, media, open source, JavaScript, Laravel, bootstrapping, SaaS, activitypub, and design.
I've seen some of what Aaron's working on here, and it's so far ahead of anything I've managed to figure out for myself.
(I told him to price this 10x higher but he refused listen to me, so it's your lucky day.)
(I told him to price this 10x higher but he refused listen to me, so it's your lucky day.)
They say AI is the end for developers.
They say the job market is gone.
They say learning to code is pointless.
I don’t buy it.
I think we're just getting started.
They say the job market is gone.
They say learning to code is pointless.
I don’t buy it.
I think we're just getting started.
January 14, 2026 at 8:44 PM
I've seen some of what Aaron's working on here, and it's so far ahead of anything I've managed to figure out for myself.
(I told him to price this 10x higher but he refused listen to me, so it's your lucky day.)
(I told him to price this 10x higher but he refused listen to me, so it's your lucky day.)
one thing I didn't expect while building alcove.news is the unbridled joy of removing newsletters from my email inbox
feels *so* much better having communication/reading in two different places
(you can follow @alcove.blog.alcove.news.ap.brid.gy if you want updates on progress)
feels *so* much better having communication/reading in two different places
(you can follow @alcove.blog.alcove.news.ap.brid.gy if you want updates on progress)
Alcove - A peaceful RSS Reader
A quiet place to see what's new
alcove.news
January 7, 2026 at 12:18 PM
one thing I didn't expect while building alcove.news is the unbridled joy of removing newsletters from my email inbox
feels *so* much better having communication/reading in two different places
(you can follow @alcove.blog.alcove.news.ap.brid.gy if you want updates on progress)
feels *so* much better having communication/reading in two different places
(you can follow @alcove.blog.alcove.news.ap.brid.gy if you want updates on progress)
Back on GPT 5.2 Max fulltime now, Claude 4.5 has been nerfed so hard it's actually unusable this week
December 18, 2025 at 12:27 PM
Back on GPT 5.2 Max fulltime now, Claude 4.5 has been nerfed so hard it's actually unusable this week
I've decided to pursue a very bad idea and see where it goes.
I'm making an RSS reader.
john.onolan.org/making-an-rs...
I'm making an RSS reader.
john.onolan.org/making-an-rs...
I'm making an RSS reader
Why am I making an RSS reader? I don't know. There are a thousand RSS readers out there already, and they all read RSS feeds, but none of them work the way I'd like them to. So I'm making my own.
It'...
john.onolan.org
December 5, 2025 at 4:12 PM
I've decided to pursue a very bad idea and see where it goes.
I'm making an RSS reader.
john.onolan.org/making-an-rs...
I'm making an RSS reader.
john.onolan.org/making-an-rs...
Reposted by John O'Nolan
November 28, 2025 at 5:39 PM
If you're curious about the build of Ghost Explore — and some of the details of my ... *checks notes* ... 1,256 commits on this project over the past few months
The @laravelphp.bsky.social team just published a nice lil piece about Ghost + Laravel Cloud:
laravel.com/blog/14m-req...
The @laravelphp.bsky.social team just published a nice lil piece about Ghost + Laravel Cloud:
laravel.com/blog/14m-req...
November 26, 2025 at 6:30 PM
If you're curious about the build of Ghost Explore — and some of the details of my ... *checks notes* ... 1,256 commits on this project over the past few months
The @laravelphp.bsky.social team just published a nice lil piece about Ghost + Laravel Cloud:
laravel.com/blog/14m-req...
The @laravelphp.bsky.social team just published a nice lil piece about Ghost + Laravel Cloud:
laravel.com/blog/14m-req...
Stoked to share some of the details behind a project I've been working on for a long time, in partnership with
@ahrefs.bsky.social — and built on top of @laravelphp.bsky.social
Spent YEARS wanting this to exist, so I finally just built it.
@ahrefs.bsky.social — and built on top of @laravelphp.bsky.social
Spent YEARS wanting this to exist, so I finally just built it.
Google search is broken.
Social algorithms suppress links.
Finding good independent writing online has never been harder.
We built something to fix that: 🌍
ghost.org/changelog/gh...
Social algorithms suppress links.
Finding good independent writing online has never been harder.
We built something to fix that: 🌍
ghost.org/changelog/gh...
Explore the independent web
Driving growth for Ghost publishers with a new discovery engine
ghost.org
November 26, 2025 at 1:08 PM
Stoked to share some of the details behind a project I've been working on for a long time, in partnership with
@ahrefs.bsky.social — and built on top of @laravelphp.bsky.social
Spent YEARS wanting this to exist, so I finally just built it.
@ahrefs.bsky.social — and built on top of @laravelphp.bsky.social
Spent YEARS wanting this to exist, so I finally just built it.
Reposted by John O'Nolan
Okay, this is fun, and brings me back to some neumorphism nostalgia: a fun color palette generator, that lets you play with different color spaces, and build different palettes type
colorpalette.pro/?color=lab%2...
colorpalette.pro/?color=lab%2...
November 25, 2025 at 8:30 AM
Okay, this is fun, and brings me back to some neumorphism nostalgia: a fun color palette generator, that lets you play with different color spaces, and build different palettes type
colorpalette.pro/?color=lab%2...
colorpalette.pro/?color=lab%2...
Today @ghost.org passed $9M ARR — the first time we've ever crossed a $1M milestone 2x in a calendar year 🎉
Publisher revenue is growing even faster!
Now more than $120M GMV earned by writers and journalists using the product to fund their work
Publisher revenue is growing even faster!
Now more than $120M GMV earned by writers and journalists using the product to fund their work
November 24, 2025 at 2:57 PM
Today @ghost.org passed $9M ARR — the first time we've ever crossed a $1M milestone 2x in a calendar year 🎉
Publisher revenue is growing even faster!
Now more than $120M GMV earned by writers and journalists using the product to fund their work
Publisher revenue is growing even faster!
Now more than $120M GMV earned by writers and journalists using the product to fund their work
Reposted by John O'Nolan
This week @johnonolan.bsky.social joined us for a Sweet Hang and he's got big news for @ianlandsman.com & @aaronfrancis.com:
This week he Laravel New'd....twice! 🚀
This week he Laravel New'd....twice! 🚀
November 20, 2025 at 5:44 PM
This week @johnonolan.bsky.social joined us for a Sweet Hang and he's got big news for @ianlandsman.com & @aaronfrancis.com:
This week he Laravel New'd....twice! 🚀
This week he Laravel New'd....twice! 🚀
development DB dropped again
me: what did you do
ai: nothing guv, swear down, I ain't touched it, if anything happened to the DB it wasn't cause of me
me: what did you do
ai: nothing guv, swear down, I ain't touched it, if anything happened to the DB it wasn't cause of me
November 19, 2025 at 9:57 AM
development DB dropped again
me: what did you do
ai: nothing guv, swear down, I ain't touched it, if anything happened to the DB it wasn't cause of me
me: what did you do
ai: nothing guv, swear down, I ain't touched it, if anything happened to the DB it wasn't cause of me
After 3 months - counting by number of servers (unique domains) - @ghost.org is now the most-deployed piece of ActivityPub software out there
31% of all sites that interop with open social web standards are running on Ghost
31% of all sites that interop with open social web standards are running on Ghost
October 30, 2025 at 12:05 PM
After 3 months - counting by number of servers (unique domains) - @ghost.org is now the most-deployed piece of ActivityPub software out there
31% of all sites that interop with open social web standards are running on Ghost
31% of all sites that interop with open social web standards are running on Ghost
Doing ~12M req/mo now on my laravel app - which powers explore.ghost.org (the public front end is very simple, the back end is much more extensive)
Still blows my mind how much you can build/manage singlehandedly with a bit of help from Claude and Laravel Cloud
Still blows my mind how much you can build/manage singlehandedly with a bit of help from Claude and Laravel Cloud
October 29, 2025 at 6:23 PM
Doing ~12M req/mo now on my laravel app - which powers explore.ghost.org (the public front end is very simple, the back end is much more extensive)
Still blows my mind how much you can build/manage singlehandedly with a bit of help from Claude and Laravel Cloud
Still blows my mind how much you can build/manage singlehandedly with a bit of help from Claude and Laravel Cloud
I'm always impressed by just how many people who've never maintained any open source software are so wonderfully generous with their advice about how to do it correctly
October 15, 2025 at 12:44 PM
I'm always impressed by just how many people who've never maintained any open source software are so wonderfully generous with their advice about how to do it correctly
Had an amazing time this week speaking at PenpotFest in Madrid - there’s a lot of inspiring work happening in open source design tools these days that gives me a lot of optimism for the future
Thanks for having me @penpot.app 🫶
Thanks for having me @penpot.app 🫶
October 10, 2025 at 12:22 PM
Had an amazing time this week speaking at PenpotFest in Madrid - there’s a lot of inspiring work happening in open source design tools these days that gives me a lot of optimism for the future
Thanks for having me @penpot.app 🫶
Thanks for having me @penpot.app 🫶
@rmccue.io You were workin' as a waitress in a cocktail bar
October 3, 2025 at 8:44 PM
@rmccue.io You were workin' as a waitress in a cocktail bar
it’s amazing (not in a good way) how many books these days are just lengthy accounts of every guest the author has had on their podcast and what each of them said
September 30, 2025 at 10:39 AM
it’s amazing (not in a good way) how many books these days are just lengthy accounts of every guest the author has had on their podcast and what each of them said
Aggregate publisher revenue on @ghost.org is currently growing at ~$1M ARR per *week*
The business of independent publishing and journalism is looking in better shape than it has in a very long time
The business of independent publishing and journalism is looking in better shape than it has in a very long time
September 10, 2025 at 12:57 PM
Aggregate publisher revenue on @ghost.org is currently growing at ~$1M ARR per *week*
The business of independent publishing and journalism is looking in better shape than it has in a very long time
The business of independent publishing and journalism is looking in better shape than it has in a very long time
A blog post is a very long and complex search query to find fascinating people and make them route interesting stuff to your inbox
www.lesswrong.com/posts/vidXh2...
www.lesswrong.com/posts/vidXh2...
A blog post is a very long and complex search query to find fascinating people and make them route interesting stuff to your inbox — LessWrong
I was born in July 1989, which means I am of the last generation who will remember the time before the internet. The cables and data centers and hype…
www.lesswrong.com
September 10, 2025 at 9:20 AM
A blog post is a very long and complex search query to find fascinating people and make them route interesting stuff to your inbox
www.lesswrong.com/posts/vidXh2...
www.lesswrong.com/posts/vidXh2...
Ah I see! It’s not a 12MP crop of a 48MP sensor, it’s a pro fusion telephoto liquid XDR Dynamic Island camera system ultra
September 9, 2025 at 5:53 PM
Ah I see! It’s not a 12MP crop of a 48MP sensor, it’s a pro fusion telephoto liquid XDR Dynamic Island camera system ultra
One of the easiest ways to spot an AI generated reply, other than em dashes, is the endless use of the phrase: "This isn't [trivial, insignificant thing], it's [important, considered thing]."
Stands out like a sore thumb.
Stands out like a sore thumb.
September 8, 2025 at 1:54 PM
One of the easiest ways to spot an AI generated reply, other than em dashes, is the endless use of the phrase: "This isn't [trivial, insignificant thing], it's [important, considered thing]."
Stands out like a sore thumb.
Stands out like a sore thumb.
I took a couple weeks off, can someone catch me up on the 4years of AI news that happened while I was away? So far I've gathered that we all hate Claude now
September 8, 2025 at 9:45 AM
I took a couple weeks off, can someone catch me up on the 4years of AI news that happened while I was away? So far I've gathered that we all hate Claude now
Another story hidden between the lines of this one:
Publishers on Ghost are earning (multiples) more revenue compared to some other platforms that are endlessly shilling their "game changer growth hacking features"
Quality content > Growth hacking
Publishers on Ghost are earning (multiples) more revenue compared to some other platforms that are endlessly shilling their "game changer growth hacking features"
Quality content > Growth hacking
We've now generated over $136M from free, open source software with @ghost.org 📈
$36M in revenue from managed hosting
$100M in platform revenue for indie publishers
The ecosystem is growing really quickly at this point, and really excited about where things are heading next:
$36M in revenue from managed hosting
$100M in platform revenue for indie publishers
The ecosystem is growing really quickly at this point, and really excited about where things are heading next:
August 19, 2025 at 4:11 PM
Another story hidden between the lines of this one:
Publishers on Ghost are earning (multiples) more revenue compared to some other platforms that are endlessly shilling their "game changer growth hacking features"
Quality content > Growth hacking
Publishers on Ghost are earning (multiples) more revenue compared to some other platforms that are endlessly shilling their "game changer growth hacking features"
Quality content > Growth hacking
We've now generated over $136M from free, open source software with @ghost.org 📈
$36M in revenue from managed hosting
$100M in platform revenue for indie publishers
The ecosystem is growing really quickly at this point, and really excited about where things are heading next:
$36M in revenue from managed hosting
$100M in platform revenue for indie publishers
The ecosystem is growing really quickly at this point, and really excited about where things are heading next:
August 18, 2025 at 5:04 PM
We've now generated over $136M from free, open source software with @ghost.org 📈
$36M in revenue from managed hosting
$100M in platform revenue for indie publishers
The ecosystem is growing really quickly at this point, and really excited about where things are heading next:
$36M in revenue from managed hosting
$100M in platform revenue for indie publishers
The ecosystem is growing really quickly at this point, and really excited about where things are heading next: