I’m Jonathan, the CTO of Loyal, with over two decades of experience in software development for startups. This space is where I share my experiences, insights, and opinions—both popular and unconventional.
My ramblings will be on mobile and web applications, startup launches, favorite books, user acquisition, user experience, (maybe parenting) and most importantly, driving revenue.
Color in your UI is never decorative — it's instructional. Every green chip, red badge, and purple button teaches users a micro-lesson about what things mean, what's urgent, and where to click. Here's how to build a color system that actually works.
I built a Claude Code skill that runs Jesse James Garrett's UX framework as a structured pipeline — so AI stops skipping the planning steps that actually matter.
The personal AI agent space exploded in early 2026. OpenClaw got 310K GitHub stars. NanoClaw answered with 15 files and real security. But both require a terminal, Docker, and API keys — leaving 97% of people locked out. Here's why that matters and what comes next.
We rebuilt a legacy Java app in Rails and evaluated five hosting options. Landed on Linode at $358/month — an 81% reduction from our old $1,925/month stack.
37signals deleted every system test from HEY in late 2024 and not a single bug slipped through. This decision has reshaped Rails testing orthodoxy. Rails 8.1 no longer generates system tests by default. Here's what replaced them and how to transition from RSpec to Minitest.
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