The word agent gets used very loosely — sometimes it means a chatbot with a tool attached, sometimes a long-running autonomous system. This talk uses a narrower engineering definition and then spends its time on the part nobody puts on a leaderboard: the harness, the software wrapped around the model call.

The claim in one line: two agents running the same model weights can differ by seven to ten benchmark points, and the difference is entirely the harness. If that holds, choosing an agent is not a model-selection problem — it’s a systems-engineering one.

Bada (바다, “sea”) is a minimalist, Vim-first task manager designed to help you focus without distraction.

It opens quickly, stores everything on your own disk, and stays out of the way when you are done. There are no unnecessary prompts competing for your attention—just the information you need to decide what to do next.

The goal is practical productivity through deliberate minimalism. Bada offers more structure than a text file, including agendas, calendars, boards, and timelines, without turning task management into a distraction of its own.

Updated in August 2026 after reading Johann Hari’s Stolen Focus.

Linux, A Path to Digital Simplicity

In an age dominated by digital clutter and overwhelming software choices, the minimalist philosophy stands out as a beacon for those seeking simplicity and efficiency. This approach not only applies to physical possessions but extends into the digital realm, where Linux has become a preferred tool for minimalists.

Unbind turns hard-to-read PDF books into clean, comfortable EPUB 3 ebooks—with one command.

PDFs are wonderful—right up until you open one on an e-reader. A PDF is a stack of fixed pages designed for paper. On a six-inch screen, that often means tiny text, awkward zooming, and no control over the font. Headers and page numbers can also end up mixed into the text.

What you really want is an EPUB: text that fits your screen, fonts you can resize, and chapters you can jump to. Simply moving the content from one format to another is not enough, though. Running headers, page numbers, broken words, missing chapter links, and scanned pages can all end up in the result.

Gorae: A terminal-first librarian built for speed, minimalism, and flow—now with a conversational AI assistant baked right in.

📣 What’s New: Gorae’s AI co-reader has grown up — persistent chat sessions, a model that can write notes into your library (tool calling), your own slash-command skills, and optional web search. Plus Markdown notes with [[wikilinks]], navigable search that opens a PDF at the exact page, and built-in themes (:theme). Bring your own model with OpenAI or run local via Ollama. Existing users: pull the latest release.

Creating High-Quality App Demo GIFs on Linux: The Professional Workflow

Motivation

I recently built a TUI-based librarian app, namely Gorae, for managing research papers, designed specifically for Vim and terminal lovers. I needed a polished demo for the README, but simple tools like Peek fell short—they lack the editing capabilities and text overlays needed for a professional presentation.

To do the project justice, I established a robust workflow on Arch Linux using OBS Studio for capture, Kdenlive for editing, and Gifski for high-fidelity compression.