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Zicklag
@zicklag.dev
540 followers 82 following 720 posts
I strive to make great things that people can use and enjoy, all to the glory of God.

Links & Bio Page: https://zicklag.dev
GitHub: https://github.com/zicklag

Making @roomy.space
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zicklag.dev
I love the point made here.

We actually _need_ to do the work, and feel the pain, of our existing situation to be motivated to understand and fix it.

I think often times we don't understand how important our suffering is to a victory that actually matters.

"Beware of unearned wisdom" - Carl Jung
Can clear insights distill without dust, tear, and sweat? One may argue that with machines handling the grunt work, the researchers would finally get more time for thinking. Our brains are --what?-- yes, lazy. Left idle, they will scroll Reddit/Twitter rather than solve concurrency bugs. I suspect we need some friction/irritation to nudge us to think in the background. And I suspect this is what happens when we are doing the boring work and working in the trenches. While writing a similar code snippet for the fifth time in our codebase, an optimization opportunity or an abstraction would occur to us. Very hard problems are impossible to tackle head on. Doing the legwork, I suspect we approach the problem sideways, and have a chance to make some leeway. Yes, doing evaluation work sucks. But it is often necessary to generate the friction and space to get you think about the performance, and more importantly the logic/point of your system. Through that suffering, you gradually get transformed and enlightened. Working in the trenches, you may even realize your entire setup is flawed, and your measurements are garbage due to using closed loop clients instead of open loop ones. What happens when we stop getting our hands dirty? We risk distilling nothing at all. Insights don't bubble up while we are sitting in comfort and scrolling cat videos. In an earlier post, Looming Liability Machines (LLMs), I argued that offloading root-cause analysis to AI misses the point. RCA isn't about assigning blame to a component. It is an opportunity to think about the system holistically, and understand it better, and improve. Outsourcing this to LLMs strike me as a very stupid thing to do. We need to keep exercising those muscles, otherwise they would atrophy alongside our understanding of the system.
October 23, 2025 at 1:53 AM
zicklag.dev
The latest experimental release of Roomy has pages!

Pages are markdown under-the-hood, and have a simple WYSIWYG.

They also track the edit history like a wiki!
Screenshot of Roomy showing a rich text page with an edit button on it.
October 22, 2025 at 3:31 PM
zicklag.dev
We've been hard at work for the last month on a new @roomy.chat architecture that we hope will get us into production:

A Brief History of Roomy's Architectures

blog.muni.town/brief-histor...

I'm very excited about the new design and the performance that we're showing on our initial tests!
September 25, 2025 at 3:49 PM
zicklag.dev
My live query for Roomy's space list.
Code sample: const spaces = new LiveQuery<{ id: string; name?: string; avatar?: string; description?: string; admins: string[]; }>( `select json_object( 'id', format_hash(id), 'name', name, 'avatar', avatar, 'description', description, 'admins', (select json_group_array(admin_id) from space_admins where space_id = id) ) as json from spaces where stream = ? and hidden = 0`, () => [ Hash.enc(backendStatus.personalStreamId), ], (row) => JSON.parse(row.json), );
September 20, 2025 at 5:58 PM
zicklag.dev
No, way...

Turso, a Rust rewrite of SQLite that is approaching public beta, is actually experimenting with incremental view maintenance and query subscriptions.

I thought it was beyond hoping to get that kind of feature in SQLite, but we might be a lot closer than I thought.

@tur.so is insane! 🤩
Screenshot: The database has the following experimental features: BEGIN CONCURRENT for improved write throughput using multi-version concurrency control (MVCC). Incremental computation using DBSP for incremental view mainatenance and query subscriptions.
September 17, 2025 at 11:47 PM
zicklag.dev
I just setup reactive SQLite queries for Svelte.

You can set reactive SQL bindings, and you can even make the SQL query itself reactive so that you can use a query builder that depends on reactive UI variables!

This is going to be fun to see how nice it ends up to use in an actual UI.
Code snippet: <script lang="ts"> let surname = $state('smith'); let users = new LiveQuery<{ name: string; surname: string }>( 'select name, surname from users where surname like ?', () => [surname || '%'] ); </script> <input bind:value={surname} /> <ul> {#each users.result?.rows || [] as user} <li>{user.name} {user.surname}</li> {/each} </ul>
September 13, 2025 at 2:08 AM
zicklag.dev
I just made a little script that makes it way nicer to communicate with worker scripts in the browser over typed, async function calls.

It's a simple 62 line script that can be dropped in and used to wrap around any browser MessagePort.

gist.github.com/zicklag/2d7e...
Code sample: // Use Vite shared worker import import MySharedWorker from './mySharedWorker.ts?sharedworker'; // Import my message port interface wrapper function import { messagePortInterface } from './messagePortInterface'; // Define the interface for the main UI thread. // The workers will be able to call these functions on the UI thread. export type MainThreadInterface = { getLoggedInUser: () => Promise<string>; }; // Define the interface for the shared worker. // The UI will be able to call these functions on the worker. export type SharedWorkerInterface = { doBackgroundWork: (arg1: string, arg2: number) => Promise<string>; }; // Initialize shared worker const worker = new MySharedWorker(); // Create the interface over the message port export const workerInterface = messagePortInterface<MainThreadInterface,SharedWorkerInterface>( worker.port, { // Implement the main thread interface getLoggedInUser() { return 'username' } } ); // We can now call the worker interface const response = await workerInterface.doBackgroundWork("John", 77);
September 9, 2025 at 4:13 PM
zicklag.dev
Side note: authenticating to ATProto and then connecting to our experimental Leaf server using our new API client is very easy.
Screenshot of code block: import { LeafClient } from "@muni-town/leaf-client" import { AtpAgent } from '@atproto/api' const agent = new AtpAgent({ service: 'https://bsky.social', }) const password = Deno.env.get('APP_PASSWORD'); if (!password) throw "Need APP_PASSWORD env var"; await agent.login({ identifier: 'zicklag.dev', password, }) const leaf = new LeafClient("http://localhost:5530", async () => { const data = await agent.com.atproto.server.getServiceAuth({ aud: "did:web:localhost:5530", }); return data.data.token; }); await new Promise(resolve => leaf.on("connect", () => resolve(undefined))); console.log("Connected to leaf")
September 7, 2025 at 3:33 PM
zicklag.dev
And now I have ATProto authentication on a socket.io connection. 📡
Screenshot of a Socket.io debugging client with the response showing the authenticated DID of the user.
August 28, 2025 at 4:53 PM
zicklag.dev
Roomy is under heavy development right now and isn't ready for general use just yet, but we're making lots of progress and the UI is coming along quite nicely.
Screenshot of the threads view in the Roomy app.
August 23, 2025 at 1:26 AM
zicklag.dev
I started playing around with making an NES game.

It's so crazy to learn about the limitations you have to work with on real NES hardware.

Every time you think you know how limited you are, you discover another limit!

It's like interacting with history.
May 12, 2025 at 4:53 PM
zicklag.dev
I love the focus on just making a good game with a good story.
Green Ember: Helmer in the Dragon Tomb Has: - A Hospitable Heart - An Immersive World - A Moving Story - A Moral Universe - Genuinely Fun Adventure - Cool Fighting Gameplay Doesn't Have: - Predatory Ads - Creepy Chat Features - In-game Level-up Purchases - Endless Addiction Cycles - Glamorized Immortality
May 6, 2025 at 7:56 PM
zicklag.dev
There's a little bit of advantage to paying for it I guess.
Surge Professional For unlimited production-ready projects Only $30 / Month Unlimited projects Unlimited publishing Custom domain Custom SSL Force http to https Cross-Origin Resource Sharing Custom redirects Password Protection Upgrade to Surge Professional
April 26, 2025 at 1:26 PM
zicklag.dev
@roomy.chat now has editing! ✏️ 🎉

Thanks to @nandi.weird.one for the pull request and to @michaelschultz.com for reviewing and merging!
Chat message in Roomy by Zickag: "I just saw that edits were merged!! 😲" Has a "✏️ Edited" marker underneath of it.
April 20, 2025 at 4:43 PM
zicklag.dev
Modern game development at it's finest.
Single frame comic with stick figures in a business meeting at game studio: Presentation guy: "You see, we're thinking about it all wrong. We're not making _games_. We're making *ads* that people can play! Other business members have light bulbs with dollar signs in them above their heads. Art inspired by XKCD #2277
April 5, 2025 at 11:42 PM
zicklag.dev
@roomy.chat now has minimal wiki pages thanks to help from @ kimlimjustin.com!

Now you can have conversations in chat and trivially go and save those important thoughts for later, and for future members, in a wiki doc without losing context!
Screenshot of Mushroom Recommendations wiki page in the Roomy app. Screenshot of chat discussion: Zicklag: Hey there! I've never eaten a mushroom before. business goose🪿: nary a single mushroom? you should try some they're pretty good Zicklag: No not yet! Any recommendations? 🙂 ♆ • vantage point independence: if you search for mushroom marinade on bluesky, both top and latest tabs have good reccos :) Zicklag: Neat! I made a wiki page and added your recommendation to the list.
April 1, 2025 at 8:40 PM
zicklag.dev
You can create your own if you want to test out wikis. ( Shown in the screenshot. )

Or you can join roomy.chat/-/roomy.chat. It will show a "Join space to chat" button at the bottom to add it to your server list.
March 31, 2025 at 10:18 PM
zicklag.dev
The @roomy.chat alpha demo is back online! 🎉

You can make your own public chat spaces and login with your ATProto account!

Come join Roomy's own chat space and say hi!

roomy.chat/-/roomy.chat
Screenshot of the Roomy Chat interface.
March 31, 2025 at 2:00 AM
zicklag.dev
😲 I just learned that you can await promises inside Svelte templates.

flaviocopes.com/svelte-templ...

This is so helpful and makes a lot of code way cleaner.

Thank you for the post @flaviocopes.com!

Also, thank you for being awesome @svelte.dev.
{#await fetchImage} <p>...waiting</p> {:then image} <img src={image.url} alt="Dog image" /> {:catch error} <p>An error occurred!</p> {/await}
March 21, 2025 at 11:44 PM
zicklag.dev
#vite hot reload tip: Here's how you run a custom callback to hot reload otherwise problematic modules.

This can be handy when you export global singletons that will end up duplicated every time the default Vite hot reload runs.

In this example, we just reload the whole window to avoid issues! 🔃
// If we are running with hot reload enabled if (import.meta.hot) { // Accept hot reloads with a custom callback import.meta.hot.accept(() => { // Reload the entire window instead of just this module window.location.reload(); }); } // Export global types without re-instantiation problems export const user = await oneTimeInit();
March 19, 2025 at 1:33 AM
zicklag.dev
In preparation for merging the new Roomy SDK into the @roomy.chat app, I'm making a mini chat demo to work out the kinks.

So far it's going really well!

SDK: github.com/muni-town/ro...
Mini: github.com/muni-town/mini
March 18, 2025 at 5:36 PM
zicklag.dev
Deep #svelte reactivity integration for #leaf fits into only 37 lines of code!

We are in business!
export class SveltePeer extends Peer { override async open( id?: IntoEntityId, opts?: Partial<PeerOpenOptions> ): Promise<Entity> { const entity = await super.open(id, opts); return reactiveEntity(entity); } } export function reactiveEntity(entity: Entity): Entity { const subscribe = createSubscriber((update) => { entity.doc.subscribe(() => { update(); }); }); return makeProxy(entity, subscribe); } function makeProxy<T>(t: T, subscribe: () => void): T { if (typeof t !== "object") return t; return new Proxy(t as object, { get(target, prop) { subscribe(); if (prop in target) { const value = (target as any)[prop]; return typeof value === "function" (...args: any[]) => { const result = value.bind(target)(...args); return makeProxy(result, subscribe); } : makeProxy(value, subscribe); } }, }) as T; }
March 15, 2025 at 6:41 PM
zicklag.dev
Got a simple example of syncing a counter through the sync server using Leaf and making it reactive in Svelte!

Now I've got to improve the svelte bindings and do a little more testing and examples before integrating it with @roomy.chat!
March 15, 2025 at 4:13 PM
zicklag.dev
Something I thought was funny that Bluesky allows.
2000 characters! That's a lot to work with. Lets see... Lorem ipsum odor amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Himenaeos nibh cras lacinia natoque maecenas magna torquent. Potenti tellus sollicitudin ullamcorper vitae torquent nam elementum primis imperdiet. Massa dictum sed ad id dapibus conubia varius. Ac libero sollicitudin, mus phasellus urna molestie tempor magna. Pulvinar velit molestie nibh in id faucibus at ut. Primis integer phasellus efficitur magna dolor risus semper. Montes pretium lorem nec vitae tortor nam. Augue elit sed pulvinar mi imperdiet mollis aenean. Ante cubilia montes ullamcorper eleifend nec. Nulla quam accumsan commodo magnis efficitur orci. Nostra massa phasellus enim nullam augue elementum. Odio dui volutpat pulvinar suspendisse nunc egestas semper. Pharetra imperdiet arcu potenti venenatis lacus penatibus hendrerit penatibus. Elit pulvinar suspendisse viverra scelerisque class commodo elementum? Adipiscing sociosqu risus sagittis platea aliquam fames. Urna litora nullam vitae accumsan sit accumsan lacinia suspendisse. Inceptos proin viverra quam mus dictum. Sollicitudin elementum ultrices arcu; potenti sed maximus maximus. Vel magnis aptent ultricies aliquam sodales. Arcu venenatis porta imperdiet mauris facilisis neque mus penatibus mattis. At luctus porta vulputate ornare vivamus augue. Donec praesent pellentesque aliquet, convallis dis efficitur? Habitant egestas congue cras sit torquent. Id praesent fermentum placerat nunc, natoque aenean ipsum. Porttitor aliquam neque non posuere nec imperdiet pharetra. Ante etiam nisl penatibus malesuada, tincidunt nulla penatibus. Laoreet ligula elit turpis curae sapien mattis. Suscipit vitae nunc montes dis, ultricies commodo metus habitant imperdiet. Habitasse orci vitae non ligula nunc. Commodo quisque eros varius bibendum class. Hendrerit placerat suspendisse vehicula nascetur tortor habitasse hendrerit nunc fusce. Vivamus metus ac pellentesque; pharetra himenaeos viverra. Dui diam sociosqu.
March 14, 2025 at 6:22 PM
zicklag.dev
This is the best comment.

I'm glad people seem to like Charlie. 😄
evbogue said: I'm now the ATmosphere's biggest fan of Charlie the Owl. He's a weird one.
March 14, 2025 at 2:33 PM