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How to build your own AI developer tools with Claude Code | CJ Hess (Tenex)

Overview

Shownote

Highlights

Transcript

Chapters

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How to build your own AI developer tools with Claude Code | CJ Hess (Tenex)

How I AI

Feb 09
How I AI

How I AI

Feb 09
OverviewShownoteHighlightsTranscriptChaptersPins

Shownote

CJ Hess is a software engineer at Tenex who has built some of the most useful tools and workflows for being a “real AI engineer.” In this episode, CJ demonstrates his custom-built tool, Flowy, that transforms Claude’s ASCII diagrams into interactive visual...

Highlights

In this episode, software engineer CJ Hess shares his hands-on approach to building and refining AI-powered development tools that bridge the gap between planning and implementation.
00:00
CJ Hess uses JSON files with Claude Code to generate UI mockups
02:51
Claude Code has intent understanding and is steerable
04:47
Claude Code simplifies environment setup for non-engineers, like helping a designer get set up on Cursor
06:52
They've developed a tool to give JSON files to Claude Code and built skills for it
11:24
Flowy renders nodes and edges from JSON files, enabling Claude to understand designs in a more native way
14:55
Individual engineers can build v1 products themselves until hitting constraints
18:54
Claude launches multiple Explorer sub-agents in parallel to generate and load Flowy skills for preview
22:37
One doesn't need to know how to write skills as it can do so effectively
23:27
Flowy generated two diagrams—animation timing and user flow—as living documentation
31:11
On-demand software allows adding and deleting apps for quick visualization
31:39
Claude created a UI spinner mock-up which is better than expected
33:33
Claude built the feature, checked for TypeScript issues, and the result is close to the mock-up
35:40
CJ created Flowy, a tool for workflow diagrams and UI mock-ups using JSON schema, accessed via Claude Code skills
36:51
Codex is used to review Claude-generated code for smells and scalability improvements
41:54
Codex provides a pre-flight check for model-to-model evaluation
47:58
CJ now explains what went wrong and what he wants instead of yelling at AI

Chapters

Introduction to CJ Hess
00:00
Why CJ prefers Claude Code for development
02:48
The evolution of developer environments with AI
04:46
Planning workflows and the limitations of ASCII diagrams
06:50
Introduction to Flowy, CJ’s custom visualization tool
08:23
How Flowy compares to mermaid diagrams
11:54
Demo: Using Flowy
15:25
Examining Flowy’s skill structure
19:30
Reviewing the generated flowcharts and diagrams
23:27
The cognitive benefits of visual planning vs. text-based planning
28:34
Generating UI mockups with Flowy
31:38
Building the feature directly from flowcharts and mockups
33:30
Quick recap
35:40
Using model-to-model review with Codex (Carl)
36:51
The benefits of using AI for code review
41:52
Lightning round and final thoughts
45:13

Transcript

CJ Hess: Working with Claude is just such a delight. It just feels so steerable, and I think the one thing it really has is intent, understanding. When I wanted to dig deep, it just does it, and it's really enabled me to build a little ecosystem of my own ...