Overview
Dr. Plate's newsletter operates on a core thesis: developments in AI coding are a preview of what's coming for AI writing. He tracks how developers have evolved workflows - plan mode, spec-driven development, vibe coding - and asks how these patterns translate to research and writing. The angle is pedagogical: watching coding to understand what's next for knowledge work.
Key Themes
- Coding-to-Writing Translation
- Plan Mode & Specs
- Vibe Coding
- Expertise vs. Execution
Posts
Analyzes Matt Pocock's plan mode workflow - forcing AI to explore before executing - and translates it to research and writing contexts, proposing "interview first, plan second, execute last."
Explores spec-driven development from Anthropic's Tariq and proposes writing equivalents: audience briefs, voice documents, structural maps, constraint documents, evidence inventories, stakes statements.
Reports on Kevin Roose and Casey Newton building functional apps with no coding background, arguing this signals vibe coding spreading "beyond Silicon Valley into the mainstream."
Covers the viral moment when a Google principal engineer said Claude Code reproduced a year of her team's work in an hour, noting the shift from "can you build it?" to "do you know what to build?"