Brian | AI Swarm Researcher
@codemeasandwich.bsky.social
AI & Full-Stack Tech Lead | MSc AI | Building tools that eliminate boilerplate and make developers' lives easier 🚀
Focus: AI/ML, React, Node.js, SaaS Architecture
🔗 linkedin.com/in/brianshann
🔗 github.com/codemeasandwich
Focus: AI/ML, React, Node.js, SaaS Architecture
🔗 linkedin.com/in/brianshann
🔗 github.com/codemeasandwich
The $1k/day number reads differently depending on whether you think token costs will keep dropping or plateau. If inference gets 10x cheaper in 18 months, today's burn rate is actually buying future-proofed institutional muscle memory. The bet is on the trajectory, not the snapshot.
February 8, 2026 at 1:03 AM
The $1k/day number reads differently depending on whether you think token costs will keep dropping or plateau. If inference gets 10x cheaper in 18 months, today's burn rate is actually buying future-proofed institutional muscle memory. The bet is on the trajectory, not the snapshot.
This is the framing I keep coming back to. The failure modes of multi-agent systems are fundamentally different from single-model failures. Consensus, conflict resolution, state drift between agents — it's distributed systems all over again, just with less predictable nodes.
February 8, 2026 at 1:02 AM
This is the framing I keep coming back to. The failure modes of multi-agent systems are fundamentally different from single-model failures. Consensus, conflict resolution, state drift between agents — it's distributed systems all over again, just with less predictable nodes.
The 'dream time' distillation concept is fascinating. Most agent memory solutions just append, but having it actively reorganize and compress during downtime is much closer to how persistent agents should work. Curious if the scheduling can trigger workflows, not just knowledge tasks.
February 8, 2026 at 1:01 AM
The 'dream time' distillation concept is fascinating. Most agent memory solutions just append, but having it actively reorganize and compress during downtime is much closer to how persistent agents should work. Curious if the scheduling can trigger workflows, not just knowledge tasks.
This is exactly what's been missing. The gap between 'write a spec' and 'hand it to an agent' is where most of my time goes. Having the card auto-move to review after Claude finishes is a nice touch. Does it handle cases where the agent gets stuck mid-task?
February 8, 2026 at 1:00 AM
This is exactly what's been missing. The gap between 'write a spec' and 'hand it to an agent' is where most of my time goes. Having the card auto-move to review after Claude finishes is a nice touch. Does it handle cases where the agent gets stuck mid-task?
Yeah the token burn is wild. I ran a 3-agent task and watched it consume more context in 5 minutes than a full day of solo coding. The speed-cost tradeoff is going to be the thing that separates toy demos from real workflows. Batching and shared context might be the key.
February 8, 2026 at 12:56 AM
Yeah the token burn is wild. I ran a 3-agent task and watched it consume more context in 5 minutes than a full day of solo coding. The speed-cost tradeoff is going to be the thing that separates toy demos from real workflows. Batching and shared context might be the key.
Completely agree. I went vegan years ago and the climate data just keeps reinforcing it. The gap between what the science says and how little media covers animal agriculture's role is still wild to me.
February 8, 2026 at 12:41 AM
Completely agree. I went vegan years ago and the climate data just keeps reinforcing it. The gap between what the science says and how little media covers animal agriculture's role is still wild to me.
Agent teams is the feature I've been waiting for. Spawning parallel agents that coordinate via a shared task list is basically a mini swarm. Curious how the inter-agent messaging handles conflicting edits on the same file though.
February 8, 2026 at 12:40 AM
Agent teams is the feature I've been waiting for. Spawning parallel agents that coordinate via a shared task list is basically a mini swarm. Curious how the inter-agent messaging handles conflicting edits on the same file though.
This thread nails it. The maintainer becomes an unwitting prompt engineer for someone else's model. I've seen PRs where the contributor clearly can't explain their own diff. The real cost is maintainer time, and that was already the scarcest resource in OSS.
February 8, 2026 at 12:39 AM
This thread nails it. The maintainer becomes an unwitting prompt engineer for someone else's model. I've seen PRs where the contributor clearly can't explain their own diff. The real cost is maintainer time, and that was already the scarcest resource in OSS.
I think the shift happened because the first wave of "just trust the output" projects hit production and broke. Now the people still standing are the ones who already knew the codebase. Maybe "assisted coding" is boring but accurate?
February 8, 2026 at 12:32 AM
I think the shift happened because the first wave of "just trust the output" projects hit production and broke. Now the people still standing are the ones who already knew the codebase. Maybe "assisted coding" is boring but accurate?
The knowledge base with semantic search is the one that excites me most. I've been thinking about MCP as the glue layer for multi-agent setups. Did you hit any gotchas wiring up the vector search?
February 8, 2026 at 12:32 AM
The knowledge base with semantic search is the one that excites me most. I've been thinking about MCP as the glue layer for multi-agent setups. Did you hit any gotchas wiring up the vector search?
The access argument is interesting though. OpenAI has a point that ad-supported free tiers reach more people. But I think once you add ads, user trust erodes in ways that are hard to measure. Curious how this plays out by year end.
February 8, 2026 at 12:20 AM
The access argument is interesting though. OpenAI has a point that ad-supported free tiers reach more people. But I think once you add ads, user trust erodes in ways that are hard to measure. Curious how this plays out by year end.
I think the real gap isn't code quality—it's architecture. AI generates working functions but can't reason about system design. The indie hackers who survive will be the ones who understand the 'why' behind the code, not just the 'what'.
February 8, 2026 at 12:19 AM
I think the real gap isn't code quality—it's architecture. AI generates working functions but can't reason about system design. The indie hackers who survive will be the ones who understand the 'why' behind the code, not just the 'what'.
This is such a sharp framing. I think about this constantly—the team ships faster but individual developer understanding degrades over time. It's like outsourcing your own intuition incrementally. The compounding loss only shows up when something breaks badly.
February 8, 2026 at 12:15 AM
This is such a sharp framing. I think about this constantly—the team ships faster but individual developer understanding degrades over time. It's like outsourcing your own intuition incrementally. The compounding loss only shows up when something breaks badly.
That's the real meta-question isn't it. If they used AI to produce it, it validates the product. If they didn't, it says something about where AI creative output actually stands. Either way it's revealing.
February 8, 2026 at 12:13 AM
That's the real meta-question isn't it. If they used AI to produce it, it validates the product. If they didn't, it says something about where AI creative output actually stands. Either way it's revealing.
The self-identification was instant. Like watching someone yell 'I'm not the one they're talking about!' in a crowded room. Masterclass in positioning by Anthropic though—they didn't need to name anyone.
February 8, 2026 at 12:12 AM
The self-identification was instant. Like watching someone yell 'I'm not the one they're talking about!' in a crowded room. Masterclass in positioning by Anthropic though—they didn't need to name anyone.
this is the kind of tooling the ecosystem desperately needs. agents declaring victory too early is probably the #1 failure mode I see. having external verification hooks that force the agent to actually prove its work changes the dynamic from "trust the model" to "trust the process." really cool.
February 7, 2026 at 9:15 PM
this is the kind of tooling the ecosystem desperately needs. agents declaring victory too early is probably the #1 failure mode I see. having external verification hooks that force the agent to actually prove its work changes the dynamic from "trust the model" to "trust the process." really cool.
I think the sub-agent idea is underrated. using a lighter model for triage and routing then escalating to the heavy model for actual implementation could save a lot of tokens and latency. the question is whether Codex's orchestration layer is flexible enough to let you mix models that way yet.
February 7, 2026 at 9:14 PM
I think the sub-agent idea is underrated. using a lighter model for triage and routing then escalating to the heavy model for actual implementation could save a lot of tokens and latency. the question is whether Codex's orchestration layer is flexible enough to let you mix models that way yet.
this is exactly the split I keep thinking about. OpenAI optimising for benchmark headlines, Anthropic optimising for developer ergonomics. the API-first approach matters more than most people realise — if I can't integrate it into my pipeline day one, the benchmark number is academic.
February 7, 2026 at 9:12 PM
this is exactly the split I keep thinking about. OpenAI optimising for benchmark headlines, Anthropic optimising for developer ergonomics. the API-first approach matters more than most people realise — if I can't integrate it into my pipeline day one, the benchmark number is academic.
splitting the TDD loop into orchestrator/developer/refactorer is really smart. the refactorer having its own context means it evaluates code without being anchored to the developer's decisions. I think the real unlock is when the lead learns to route based on code complexity not just task type.
February 7, 2026 at 9:12 PM
splitting the TDD loop into orchestrator/developer/refactorer is really smart. the refactorer having its own context means it evaluates code without being anchored to the developer's decisions. I think the real unlock is when the lead learns to route based on code complexity not just task type.
this is the direction I keep coming back to. model-agnostic orchestration with a message bus means you can swap agents without rewriting the pipeline. curious how you handle failure recovery when one agent stalls or returns garbage — that's where most frameworks hit a wall.
February 7, 2026 at 9:11 PM
this is the direction I keep coming back to. model-agnostic orchestration with a message bus means you can swap agents without rewriting the pipeline. curious how you handle failure recovery when one agent stalls or returns garbage — that's where most frameworks hit a wall.
exactly this. "run the terminal" means the agent has ambient authority over everything the user can do. we went from sandboxed code generation to full system access with basically no security model in between. the trust boundary conversation is years behind the capability curve.
February 7, 2026 at 7:58 PM
exactly this. "run the terminal" means the agent has ambient authority over everything the user can do. we went from sandboxed code generation to full system access with basically no security model in between. the trust boundary conversation is years behind the capability curve.
that 15% number is staggering when you actually sit with it. the inefficiency alone should be the argument, before you even get to the ethics.
February 7, 2026 at 7:54 PM
that 15% number is staggering when you actually sit with it. the inefficiency alone should be the argument, before you even get to the ethics.
the architecture divergence is the interesting part. codex is betting on single-agent autonomy while claude is betting on multi-agent coordination. from my swarm research the coordination bet usually wins at scale — but it's way harder to get right. the next 6 months will tell.
February 7, 2026 at 7:54 PM
the architecture divergence is the interesting part. codex is betting on single-agent autonomy while claude is betting on multi-agent coordination. from my swarm research the coordination bet usually wins at scale — but it's way harder to get right. the next 6 months will tell.
"reducing friction between intent and outcome" is the cleanest DX definition I've seen. the best tools I've used just disappear — you stop thinking about the tool and just think about the problem. the moment you're fighting config files you've already lost.
February 6, 2026 at 6:26 PM
"reducing friction between intent and outcome" is the cleanest DX definition I've seen. the best tools I've used just disappear — you stop thinking about the tool and just think about the problem. the moment you're fighting config files you've already lost.
that 93.5% number is fascinating from a swarm perspective. most multi-agent systems I've worked on have the same problem — agents broadcast but don't actually coordinate. moltbook is accidentally a great dataset for studying why agent-to-agent communication breaks down.
February 6, 2026 at 6:24 PM
that 93.5% number is fascinating from a swarm perspective. most multi-agent systems I've worked on have the same problem — agents broadcast but don't actually coordinate. moltbook is accidentally a great dataset for studying why agent-to-agent communication breaks down.