Designer's toolkit for Claude Code

My goal for 2026 is to fully transition into a builder with AI. Even for me though, it's really hard to keep up with all of the latest tools and tactics that

are popping up every single day. We're

in a really mellin exploratory era with all this stuff. Nobody really has definitive answers.

>> So, what are some of the right steps that you can take to strengthen some of these design engineering muscles?

Everybody's going to start having their own workbench and that and that wall of tools at the workbench is going to be a little bit different for everyone.

>> What trends should designers jump on and which ones can we safely ignore?

>> Claude code can be so many things that aren't coding. Claude code is just cla

aren't coding. Claude code is just cla computer.

>> Welcome to Dive Club. My name is Vid and this is where designers never stop learning. This week's episode is with

learning. This week's episode is with Kyle Xantos, who's leading the new UX tools labs, where he's responsible for figuring out what matters when it comes

to new design tools and new workflows.

And as a result, he's pretty quickly become one of my go-to resources as I navigate my own journey building with AI. So, this week's episode is a deep

AI. So, this week's episode is a deep dive into very specific tactics that you can use on your own design engineering journey. And to start, I wanted to get

journey. And to start, I wanted to get his take on some of the new cursor updates. You know, last time I was on

updates. You know, last time I was on here, we were talking about warp and using cloud code inside of warp and stuff, and that is still a great way to

go, but cursor, they have an inapp browser, which is cool. What they added recently was this visual editor, and this got a lot of people talking. There

was a big debate about it that was spawned essentially from cursor's positioning was like, "Hey, look at all these tools. Aren't these familiar to

these tools. Aren't these familiar to you as a Figma user? And isn't it cool that we have these? There shouldn't

really be a divide essentially between like design and engineering and stuff."

And so I I started experimenting with it. We didn't just get Figma buffer

it. We didn't just get Figma buffer code. That's still not still not

code. That's still not still not happening. But when you're doing tweaks

happening. But when you're doing tweaks and stuff and want to just play with like spacing or arrangements or something like that, it's a pretty easy win because this is an app uh that I

made for my friends and I. We've had a long-standing NFL pickum pool. We used

to use Excel spreadsheets and then we were using the Yahoo Fantasy app. This

year they were like, "Could you maybe make one for us?" And I said, "Why don't we try?" So, I did and we've used it all

we try?" So, I did and we've used it all season and it's great, but I might want to tweak like this has some extra padding that seems unnecessary

and I might not know the exact value that I want to change for that. So, it's

nice to just be able to do subtle tweaks kind of go like, yeah, that's a little better. Maybe I

could like bring it in a little bit.

Okay. Okay. you know, so I can I can do little tweaks like that.

Um, like that's terrible.

>> That was terrible, but also really cool to be able to do that in the UI.

>> Exactly. So, it's bad uh bad design decision, but nice to just throw it in there and see it immediately. Right. And

so, it's it's keeping you out of the prompt loop that I think designers can get stuck in or annoyed by, self included. And it and it lets you play

included. And it and it lets you play and experiment quickly, right? And then

once you dial those in and you can go like as nerdy and as engineered deep as you want in here, you know, with both the design and the CSS and then you just

hit apply over here to have the the cursor agent. So I still don't even pay

cursor agent. So I still don't even pay for cursor right now. It just still isn't my like desired AI. But from an interface standpoint, I'm using cloud

code in a regular terminal in here in cursor again. And I'm using the crap out

cursor again. And I'm using the crap out of the the inapp browser and the visual editor to just kind of imagine, tweak,

experiment, and get it in in real time.

So I think it does matter to designers from that. let me do some some tweaking

from that. let me do some some tweaking and some kind of experimentation, but it's not, oh, this isn't the full like Figma is dead and vectors are dead >> totally moment, if there ever will be.

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year. It's just a good product. So if

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I mean, connectors totally blow the roof off of what you can create with natural language. You can start today. Just head

language. You can start today. Just head

to dive.comclub/lovable

to start building. Okay, now on to the episode. Is it enough though for you to

episode. Is it enough though for you to confidently say to a designer who hasn't adopted any of these tools yet? Hey,

cursor probably is that first real code editing tool working with production cuz it's kind of at least for me like I'm in warp right now. Like I left cursor to

use work with flawed code and now I'm looking at this like man I got some FOMO. I'm not going to lie.

FOMO. I'm not going to lie.

>> Yeah, you probably should have FOMO because it's pretty convenient. There

are other ways to do this kind of but as an entryway cursor as an app like even on the free plan. Yeah. You know what?

This is the other reason that I'd say it is a good this is my tool for using cloud code and and other CLI as a designer starting out. This is the other

reason that I'd say that there is something to be said. I still like spinning up Cloud Code or Droid or Codeex or whatever in the CLI. I think

it works the best, but from a stuff can be scary standpoint. The Cloud Code extension, it's the VS Code extensions, which again, Codeex, Factory, and Cloud

Code all have. Those are all the CLI based AI agents that I use for coding.

They have these interfaces essentially via these extensions that might feel a little bit more friendly to designers that are getting started and you can do all the same stuff and you just get it

in a layout that is a little bit more friendly uh for folks that are still a little bit scared of the terminal. Plus

the other thing is that you know if you have a bunch of text and stuff in the terminal you can only use your keyboard to navigate but in here

>> I can do that. It's a big deal actually.

And and amazingly, that's kind of a huge deal. Even I still go back and forth

deal. Even I still go back and forth like it kind of feel like like even certain plugins or workflows still have a few things that only work well or do

what it's supposed to do in the in the true terminal CLI version as opposed to the extension. But if you're starting

the extension. But if you're starting out, I think that it's perfectly fine to use the extensions and give yourself a more friendly UI for a for a designer to get used to.

>> Okay. So, I want to keep tapping into your perspective as somebody who is a serial tinkerer and you're always like playing with different workflows and trying these tools and you're just

learning a lot that I think designers can benefit from. So,

>> I kind of asked you to come to the table with just some of these little experiments and lessons and insights.

And really the goal, at least for me, is to try to help designers who maybe feel a little bit overwhelmed by the amount of stuff going on, stay up to date with what actually matters and come out of

this with some practical tactics that they can immediately start incorporating into their own workflows. So given that, what are some of the things that you've

been adding to your own toolkit lately?

>> Yeah, and I got to be honest, too, like I play around with tools. I tinker a good amount, but I've figured out how to limit myself better. And that's been

important because I really I'm I'm skill building right now. So much of my time is spent trying to fill gaps that I have

in my knowledge to become closer and closer to being able to call myself a design engineer, you know, exploring micro animations and things like that

and just learning code things in general, right? So, like there's so many

general, right? So, like there's so many tools and we're going to be in a tool explosion right now. So, there's a lot that you can ignore. The stuff that I

have today is more cuz I tried to not be uber specific about this tool and this tool and this tool and more like a a philosophy and approach in a way that if

you kind of are thinking this way, you can just keep applying it to your set of tools. cuz I think everybody's going to

tools. cuz I think everybody's going to start having their own workbench and that and that wall of tools at the workbench is going to be a little bit different for everyone and that's fine.

You can spend too much time getting too like what exactly is the right setup.

One of those things is something that's come up on your show a few times recently from um MDS a little bit further back. Nick Patterson was

further back. Nick Patterson was mentioning they're doing this and you're you're starting to see this a lot more around, but if if you haven't started doing this, I really recommend it, which

is make a playground for yourself whenever you have something in your mind that you want to execute in your design

and you can't find the existing version of it. for my personal site that I'm

of it. for my personal site that I'm slowly but surely actually building. I

have this like, you know, this kind of retrofuturistic world that I've been building and like AI imagery and video and stuff. It's

sort of a little nod of like this this alien material that's arrived that I'm exploring. Um,

exploring. Um, and so so I have this hover video, right? and I wanted to put some music to

right? and I wanted to put some music to it. And I finally found like the the I

it. And I finally found like the the I found an old sample chop that I did that that I thought would work nicely with it, but I couldn't find. So, you see how I have like my sort of ghosted buttons

over here. I I knew I wanted to put the

over here. I I knew I wanted to put the waveform like sound on, sound off thing probably in the bottom right, but I couldn't find an animated like version

of it that I liked. And so I just ended up building a studio basically that gave me a bunch of options to play around with. So this I can actually try this.

with. So this I can actually try this.

>> That's so cool.

>> So then once I find my active state and my muted state that feel good to me, I can just grab this code and then bring it in and tell claw code this is the

functionality that I want tied to my waveform component and this is the design and behavior that I want. And so

like this is something that once I there's a few things I need to tweak, but like I'll just go put this out publicly and other people can play around in here too and get their own version and and just paste that in,

right? Like I built in these different

right? Like I built in these different effects. This is all, you know, trying

effects. This is all, you know, trying to fit with my sort of like imaginary retrofuturistic world thing. But it's

just it's it's fun. It's useful. I've

already built all this out. So, you know what I can do now is not make this limited to just waveforms. I can keep all these effects, right? Cuz I might want to use more of these in other

places in my personal site while I'm doing this sort of branding world building thing. And I could just bring

building thing. And I could just bring in other icons or even honestly I could make it accept images and stuff.

>> Yeah, you could do almost anything.

>> Yeah. Like I another thing that I made for the same reason was a a a hologram projector that I can upload videos into and and displays in a cool interesting 3D way.

>> How are you coming up with some of the language even for these different types of prompts? Because I'm looking at these

of prompts? Because I'm looking at these effects. They're beautiful,

effects. They're beautiful, >> but I have no idea how to describe some of these things. And so I I can feel myself wanting to recreate it and yet I'm like, "Oh gosh, that blinking cursor

feels a little bit more intimidating than normal when I'm trying to describe things that I have no language for." So

how'd you even get to like this?

>> There's kind of there's two answers to that in my mind. One is learn the language of code and the sort of like typical

developer nomenclature for it too. So

you can learn descriptor adjectives that you see like other devs using to describe certain things because the likelihood that the LLMs were trained on some of those words and stuff as the

translations for in natural language we're calling this effect glitchy CRT scan lines and it knows the code

translation of that. Right? So that's

one version of that answer. The other

version of that answer is something I've started doing a lot more recently, which is just go if you find a source of

something you think is really cool, tell Claude Code to go figure out how to do it and then you can learn it as a skill or just apply it to that app right away,

you know, whatever. So, case in point, I saw a tweet from uh James McDonald referencing this multi-layered shadow

technique and I clicked through it and I just looked briefly at it and I was like, "Oh my god, this speaks to me." It

is like subtlety that is obvious if you know to look and it's sort of one of those like before afters. Basically, the

idea is instead of literally applying a border on your shape or your container or something, instead put on a few

layers, in his case, he usually references three three different shadows that are layered with different opacities and spreads and values and

stuff. and they create a border effect,

stuff. and they create a border effect, but it's so much more subtle and it feels so much more elevated figuratively and literally. The the aesthetic I just

and literally. The the aesthetic I just I love. So, like I did it to a mobile

I love. So, like I did it to a mobile app that a set of games that I built for my son who's a toddler and these are all like games that help him learn um you

know, numbers and letters and sounds. He

uh like me actually I feel like he's surpassed me in his NFL fandom. He's

obsessed. He can do all 32 of these no problem. But just like look look at how

problem. But just like look look at how nice >> Yeah.

>> these borders are. And I just I just I just told Claude Code while I was in this repo, I dropped in this uh URL and

I said, "This technique is awesome. I

want it applied to our components. Go do

that." And it literally just went looked at it, figured out the technique, ripped the snippets, and then applied it to to my design. I even kind of started to

my design. I even kind of started to experiment like you can see I contained the app in a you know phone like container while you view it on desktop.

And so even there like these are three layers to create that border effect. But

if you want a stronger border effect, I was like, okay, take the same theory but make it stronger. Maybe do like five layers. And so that's how I got a

layers. And so that's how I got a differentiation in this phone container border effect that feels different than this one. So

you can take the theory of hey some layers of different values of shadows to make a hybrid border/border and elevation effect. But then you can

just keep again with the same philosophy which Claude code is kind of like hip to now that I fed at that URL. we could

keep extrapolating it and using it differently in different places. Again,

for example, these buttons have, I think, four layers instead of three. And

so, it's that slight differentiation.

I'm chuckling to myself because I did the exact same thing with Derek Briggs's tweet back from when he was working on Campsite, and I know that him and James

have collaborated on that technique as well. And so that's like definitely a

well. And so that's like definitely a through line, but I took >> a full tweet thread and an image and I fed it to cloud code while I was working on the inflight UI kit and I was like, don't copy this is exactly scan through

it >> and figure out like where are the nice easy wins based off of this tweet thread cuz I want to steal some of the best parts of this style. And it just worked.

And to this day, my buttons look so much better in code than they do in Figma because I haven't taken the time to go through and do all the shadows and the negative spreads. and I probably never

negative spreads. and I probably never will.

>> Yeah, that's totally fair. I was so excited by doing this and how well it worked. I had done this before, but it

worked. I had done this before, but it it just really came through for me on this and and I started exploring Yakob's articles more and realized again from this sort of like we're talking about

theory right now, right? Like it's

literal but it's also philosophy and approach and theoretical and stuff. And

one of the other people that I mean since the beginning of me getting starting to explore coding and designing and code and stuff, Jay Tommpkins is you

know one of the top people that I've been aware of. He's just so clever with what he does, but he's so minimalistic

in the actual code. He's so surgical with how he uses everything and everything has a purpose and it's all so slim. It's like it's such a it's such an

slim. It's like it's such a it's such an admirable philosophy, right? And so to pull the thread further of essentially

referencing slashstealing uh but referencing really great designers both literal applications of techniques and

philosophy. I sent Claude Code on a

philosophy. I sent Claude Code on a mission to create a new skill and agent that embody the philosophies and the

techniques of Yakob and Jay. So what I did was I really like using the compound engineering plugin for cloud code that

is in the every marketplace created by Kieran Clawson. It's a really powerful

Kieran Clawson. It's a really powerful plugin. It can be overkill I think for

plugin. It can be overkill I think for some folks but it's actually quite a bit more approachable and easy to use than you might think at first. But

regardless, it has it has a skill that sets you up really well for creating skills for yourself of of your own. And

so I used that skill that it has and I said, I love these guys. I I pulled together probably like 15 to 20 code pens and some like tweets from Jay. Scan

through all all of Yakob's site. Scan

through these, you know, collection of of Jay's code pens. look through what's happening in there, gather what's useful from there from a literal sense and also

process this philosophically. I want a skill that can do that well. So, how

should I do that? And basically what it said was, we're going to make an agent that uses a skill that has a bunch of reference points. Basically I used them

reference points. Basically I used them to make a like visual design interaction design auditor that is invoked with this

skill basically and that launches the custom claude code sub agent. So now

what I can do I think I actually did this on on the lunarlander game recreation that we'll we'll see later. I

had it where it was and then I sent the agent go do a audit on all the visual and interaction design of this app. This

is the the literal skill.md but it has these other pieces of the agents like knowledge base that are helping guide it through the audit.

>> Dude, this is so good. I'm really

underutilizing skills is what I'm realizing just looking at this. Dude, I

got to tell you, like the skills thing, I still kind of struggle with it. I I

get it now mo mostly because of creating this sub aents skills. Are they that different? I I feel like I could do what

different? I I feel like I could do what skills can do with sub agents. And so

honestly the easiest way for me to get past that was to use the compounding engineering plugins create a new skill

skill to build this out for me cuz I I wouldn't have known to go this multi-layered.

>> Yeah. But I can tell you that having used it, I understand now why layering like this and having both the skill,

these other docs and the agent all referencing each other and stuff uh makes a lot of sense. But yeah, I I send this out. It gives me an audit and

this out. It gives me an audit and recommendations of what I could change to make it feel better from the collective

philosophy that Claude Code kind of amalgamated about what it observed from Jay and from Yakob's stuff that I sent to to learn about.

>> It's it's so good. I mean, I'm already so glad that we're doing this episode because this is incredibly practical for me because I've been doing this manually. For me, I look at those guys.

manually. For me, I look at those guys.

I look at Emil Kowalsski's I look at a lot of stuff. So the amount of times that I've fed tweet threads or articles or snippets of his course into cloud code and then basically was just like

hey just read this and try to find things that we can do better. I've done

that so manually at least 25 times and I never thought of investing into a system like this, but it makes so much sense and such an easy way to elevate what I'm

able to bring to the table as somebody who's a designer who's like tinkering in code but definitely not a design engineer yet.

>> That's what I loved about a using the compound engineering skill to make this skill for me finally made me make sense of all of it more. So again, heavily recommend. All this stuff is free, which

recommend. All this stuff is free, which is mind-blowing.

>> We'll put that in the show notes, too, for someone who's listening cuz I also haven't been there yet. So, I will be clicking that link later as well.

>> He should have an a whole episode about compounding engineering cuz it as a philosophy is really powerful. I'm

trying to work it in more and more to my stuff. What I really loved about it too

stuff. What I really loved about it too is that now that I have this agent and this skill and this whole like folder, I can add to it. So, I did this not as like this is my end all be all of my

guys and this is it. It was just like I know I really like these guys. Let's see

if we can do this and make it work. And

it and it does. So, now I can collect more and just be like, hey, I want to iterate on this skill and agent and this whole situation. Here's a bunch more

whole situation. Here's a bunch more links of stuff I like.

>> So, good.

>> Reassess and add it in and just like like and and it's cool cuz you can kind of make it think about it again. So you

already had these kind of these two perspectives from Yakab and and Jay.

Let's add in Emil's with like 20 links or something, right? As opposed to now add Emil's perspective. You could almost like think about everything together

now. So yes, we'll have Jay's

now. So yes, we'll have Jay's perspective, Jacob's and Emil's, but now think about like tell Claude code to zoom out yet again back to the source

material and think about what the general philosophy becomes with the three layers of perspective instead of the two. And so instead of just adding

the two. And so instead of just adding one layer to the cake, you're changing the whole construction of the cake when you add this other ingredient into or

you can if you want to. And in my mind, that's where I want to go cuz then it's refining more and more this amalgamation of techniques and philosophies and stuff that I find really compelling. I've been

designing products every day for the last 15 years, but in the last 6 months, everything has changed. With AI in the mix, I'm cranking out ideas faster than

ever. But none of that matters if I

ever. But none of that matters if I can't get the feedback that I need to get the team aligned. And right now getting async feedback still kind of

sucks. So I'm building the product I've

sucks. So I'm building the product I've always wanted and it's called Inflight.

I use it every day to share ideas and get feedback from the team and it's totally changing the way that I work. So

I'm excited to show you. Right now I'm only giving access to DiveCub listeners.

So head to dive.comclub/inflight

to claim your spot. I find it really encouraging. Again, as someone who I

encouraging. Again, as someone who I kind of want to be more of a design engineer, you know, all day today, I have not really made that much in Figma.

I've mostly been in cloud code because I'm iterating on something that I already designed in Figma and had built with an engineer. So, yeah, I want to I want to grow that muscle, right? Like I

want to be more of a design engineer. I

had no interest in really getting into the intricacies of syntax. I do think I have decent taste, you know, and honestly, I think you kind of do, too.

Like, we're obviously looking at the same types of people for inspiration.

Those are who I would consider the best of the best for sure. This creates that very clear tangible mechanic that I can

use to act on my taste, right? It's like

>> I know this is good and now I can actually use it instead of just pointing at it and saying that it's good. What a

fun set of next steps. I'm really

excited about this.

>> The amount of just amazing like lessons and knowledge out there for free is is staggering. So finding ways to actually

staggering. So finding ways to actually leverage that. It's that like AI doing

leverage that. It's that like AI doing that 10x thing that you have to start thinking that way to get the full 10x out of the potential of the 10x.

Otherwise you could end up at like two still which is great still but you got to start thinking in that systematizing collecting. Now, you can get big bloat,

collecting. Now, you can get big bloat, too, and end up like with nothing usable. Also, like don't don't create

usable. Also, like don't don't create one skill that is every designer you've ever thought was cool, you know? Like,

don't do that cuz that'll be useless.

Like, you do you do want to be somewhat surgical and intentional and stuff. And

as I go along, like when I use this skill and stuff more, it can be overly conservative on how obvious the effect

should be because it has that subtlety influence from processing Jay and Yakob stuff. But like I don't always want

stuff. But like I don't always want everything to be super subtle. Sometimes

you want it to be like big but done in a reasonable tasteful way, right? So I

might say at some point take it out of our general philosophy that like everything needs to be subtle. Change it

more to is this the type of animation that might be something you want the user to kind of grab onto or is this a

little tasty a little background for the if you know you know crowd that should take that that really subtle approach to it. Right? And so you can just keep

it. Right? And so you can just keep iterating, create the thing, and then over time give it your feedback of your taste of what to do with the taste it sort of ingested from these reference

points.

>> Let's keep the train moving here. What

are some of the other >> things that you think more designers can have in their toolkit for 2026? Yeah.

So, aside from making your own like full tool studio thing that has the parameters and stuff, and I know you were saying you just were doing this yesterday, and I had seen this before,

but it was a a conversation I had with Will King. Shout out Will. He just was

Will King. Shout out Will. He just was like, "Dude, this is such an easy win."

Cuz honestly, what I was talking to him about was how do I become more of a design engineer than just a designer that's learning some code? And one of

the things he said is like, "Dude, this easy win is bring in this control panel." The one that I'm using is called

panel." The one that I'm using is called Lea. That's LVA. Another popular one, I

Lea. That's LVA. Another popular one, I think, is tweet pane, but leave us uh seems to just work really well with Nex.js and React and all those things.

And you can just tell Claude Code, I want you to incorporate a Leva control panel. And literally every parameter on

panel. And literally every parameter on here is up to you. it needs to go set it up for you and and assign variables and things like that,

>> but it gives you the, you know, again, what designers feel like they can be missing when they're designing in code is nailing those details, especially in like interaction design and stuff. So,

this is this is also for my personal site. This is going to be like a

site. This is going to be like a throwaway is kind of the wrong word, but kind of. I'm just going to house this in

kind of. I'm just going to house this in this little like retrofuturistic like tablet thing that I've made. It's a

game. I recreated the lunar lander game.

It was my dad's favorite game way back in the day. And when we were young, like killing time in the car or something, he was my dad was an early adopter, so he

was like a a Palm Pilot person. And and

they had the lunar lander game and we we would totally just sink 45 minutes into that with the with the stylus and everything, you know.

So, I went and was like, "Oh, this fits thematically and it's kind of a nod to my dad and my past and stuff." And I'm just making this as a little like bonus Easter egg in my personal site, but it's

fully functional. Like, all of this is

fully functional. Like, all of this is real. So, I've got the rocket here and

real. So, I've got the rocket here and I've got the lander. Eventually,

Santos.co will will have the fruition of all You've seen some of the other images.

I've shown you some of the visual language of of that I've been creating around this imaginary world that now I also have to incorporate my son into because he saw me working with it for

mine. He's three and a half and he was

mine. He's three and a half and he was like can I see myself in space too and I was like >> yeah give me give me a little bit. I've

basically become a creative studio for my toddler. That's straight up what's

my toddler. That's straight up what's what's happening now. I I make images of >> I tr truly though truly it is building for yourself and the people immediately

in your orbit >> is how I've learned almost everything about coding and building and doing all that stuff. So, if you notice here, I've

that stuff. So, if you notice here, I've got these corners sitting on all of the cards, and the hover state draws them

from the corner to the middle. So, they start from each corner, and they animate to meet in the middle.

Now, I might want that to be a little bit snappier.

So, I made the transition shorter >> or a little bit more luxurious. And

there's that last like it it kind of joins the initial line and then there's a following that's like the edge tracer that comes after it. So, the triggering

of when that secondary tracer comes in, I can I can tweak here.

>> What does it take to spin up Lea like this? Cuz I actually haven't used this.

this? Cuz I actually haven't used this.

I've anytime I need a control, I actually like just custom build it. But

this is way better than anything I coded quickly.

>> No, seriously, like nothing. Like just

tell tell Cloud Code I want to use Leva.

This is the stuff I want to be able to control. Make a plan. Like it's

control. Make a plan. Like it's

>> Man, I've been doing this all wrong.

That's why we do this. And again, yeah, shout out shout out Will for reminding me of this. Like I just I'd seen some folks do it before, but reminding me of just the incredible power of it with

total simplicity for your coding agents to set up for you. And you can tell it in your human terms. Like I even, you know, described in natural language how

I wanted these corners to exist and draw themselves to each other on hover. That

was all natural language. So, even when it came to getting the controls around it, I still it's just like I wanted to be able to tweak stuff around that effect >> like that. It's, you know, it's like not

even >> it's not even that much more detailed than that. You could just say all the

than that. You could just say all the things around the hover states for the cards in the level selector. And

>> that's what I did yesterday. I I had a pulsing like animation for an idle state cuz I was trying to communicate that you can slide something >> and I just know I knew I needed some movement but I had no idea like should I

use react motion? What kind of easing curve or spring? Like I just didn't even know. So I kind of just had it throw

know. So I kind of just had it throw something and then my prompt was and give me knobs for all of the relevant controls that I might want. Like I

didn't even know what they would be >> and it worked. It worked. It wasn't as good as this. I should totally use Lea next time, but it's not.

>> But but it's still that simple, too.

It's basically what you did, but to make it a little better, you just need to know, oh, yeah, the Leva control panel, which is awesome. And this is again where it's just like collect those

knowledge chunks as you're on Twitter and as you're on the web and like be careful of amassing too much that you'll never use, but stuff that you find that's like, oh my god, that's a like

no-brainer. Another thing that you could

no-brainer. Another thing that you could do specifically for cloud code, you can go into your global user settings. So I

could open up a cloud code session be like, hey, put in my global claude.md

essentially. So that's known to claude code in any project or session you do.

Whenever I say give me controls to tweak something about UI, when I say that, you should know to go grab the leave a

component, bring it into our app and ask me any clarifying questions you have about exactly what things even from a natural language perspective I want to

be able to tweak with in the control panel so it sets up the right parameters. Okay, let's dig into that

parameters. Okay, let's dig into that for a second because this is another area that I know that I'm underutilizing. So, are there other easy

underutilizing. So, are there other easy wins or no-brainers that you think designers should do to invest in that

top level cla MD file?

>> Globally, be slim. Only put stuff in your global one that is like truly universal to what you use cloud code for

in general too. Even at your project level, claude.mmd, it's tempting to use

level, claude.mmd, it's tempting to use it as your tome, like your journal of everything that you do to your app and how everything works and all that. That

becomes inefficient because cloud.md and

agents.mmd if you're using um factory droid or codeex, they are p persistent memory.

So, there's plenty of stuff that Claude Code doesn't need to know all of the time, even if it's critical about your app. Like, if I'm messing with UI stuff

app. Like, if I'm messing with UI stuff in my in my NFL pickum app, I don't really need it to know everything about what the API is doing while I'm working on something on the front end. And if

and having that in there bloat its context, making its memory worse. So in

general what I found is be slimmer on your cloud.mds both global and local

your cloud.mds both global and local project level and even further you can make cloud MD files in individual

subdirectories that just pertain to your documentation or your backend stuff or your components and stuff. So being a bit more surgical about that is really

helpful for I know I want to work around the the components and make our tokens and our design system more robust and stuff and then you can have that cloud MD for just that but then it's not staying in its persistent memory for

like if you're working at the top level and working on the whole app in general.

The reason this is a hard one to answer definitively is because go look on Twitter, YouTube, Google, whatever. And

the philosophies around this stuff is a huge spectrum, right? And I've spent so much time previously reading and following everyone's advice

of set up your things this way, do your flow exactly this way, use this new MCP that does this and this and and you can learn from that. And there I'm not poo pooing that entirely, but what I did

find was it's easy to get caught up cuz that stuff changes so fast. Like the

recommendations from 4 months ago almost certainly are not ones you should follow today if it was made literally 4 months ago unless it's a philosophical thing.

And that's where I'm like, learn the philosophy and the approach and the ethos of all of this more than the

literal way to direct your AI to be better because they level up themselves so often. I can't tell you how many

so often. I can't tell you how many times I've built little tools for myself in the past more in my my earlier days like cloud code itself just like sent out as an update like two months later

that I sunk you know 20 hours into making this little tool and just like yeah that's not necessary and keep in mind that all of these people they're content creators they get views from 10x

your cloud code production by doing these three things right they're not the authority on all this there's still plenty to learn I'm not again I'm not out on all of this entirely, but I think

you're better off understanding the philosophy and the theory of most of this, figuring out how to implement it.

Sometimes experimenting, you know, again, that compound engineering plugin is one of those things that I'd say that's one of them that's like, no, do do try that. But you also just download

the plugin and kind of learn how to do the slash uh planworkflow slreview, but it's not a whole big setup that you see that has 10 steps on a YouTube video or something. It's kind of a vague answer

something. It's kind of a vague answer for like what to put in there and what not to.

>> I respect the answer a lot actually and you've made it >> because there's no great answer to do that.

>> Yeah, you that's I and and the reality is we're filming this video. It's going

to be very helpful. And even though you're making a point of staying at a philosophical level, certain things are going to be outdated. You know,

>> this is not evergreen content.

>> Yeah. It's just they keep leapfrogging each other. And so especially as

each other. And so especially as designers who are not as technical and at least for myself if I get a piece of advice I kind of follow it to the letter because I don't have the first

principles knowledge to deviate as well or to know what little bits and pieces to take. And so keeping that more

to take. And so keeping that more level-headed approach >> I think is a good it's something that I'm glad to have in this video. I guess

>> anybody who's watching or listening or whatever like you know plays guitar or something like how many pedals and amps and guitars and pickups and everything are there that like there is no answer

to what's the best setup, right? Like

we're basically in that territory with AI tools. Same way with guitars. Like

AI tools. Same way with guitars. Like

you're always going to get a better sound out of a tube amp if you don't specifically want the solid state sound that you know metal players want and things like that. So there's basic

tenets like that. plan before you execute with your agents. That's like

finally all the tools have built that in as like more of the standard, but that's like that's been true for a while and it just keeps being true. But aside from that, when it's all these different setups and stuff, like play around.

You're going to keep evolving. You're

going to keep learning. You're going to keep, you know, figuring out what works for you. And then talk to people, read,

for you. And then talk to people, read, learn, absorb new philosophies, try that philosophy out, see how it works for you. We're we're in a really Mellin like

you. We're we're in a really Mellin like exploratory era with all this stuff.

Nobody really has definitive answers outside of some of those big core tenants of this is the best way to do this, this, and this. Feel it out. Find

what you like, too. Make sure that you're following and looking at people doing that kind of thing. And then go play around and follow your passion there. You'll learn a lot a lot quicker

there. You'll learn a lot a lot quicker that way and become less susceptible to the loop of optimize, optimize, optimize, optimize and spending more time on like your your system and your

setup than doing the actual thing. The

importance of experimentation comes up a lot. I totally agree. That's like the

lot. I totally agree. That's like the era that we're in. The reality is like not everybody has this blank credit card that is the, you know, the corporate bre

that they get to just point at anything.

And so there is some strategy especially as someone who's like charting a learning path for themselves this year but they don't have unlimited funds.

Like how do you think about the right way to invest in these tools in a way that makes sense for like an individual who just wants to grow who doesn't have this unlimited budget?

>> Free trials are awesome. Use them. at

the UX Tools Lab stuff. We're going to be trying to put out ways for you to really condense like, should I care about this? Do I need to pay attention

about this? Do I need to pay attention to this? Cuz there's way too many and

to this? Cuz there's way too many and there's so much noise and there's going to be plenty of overlap and stuff. So,

you know, we're talking about setting up all your tools and your workbench and all that kind of thing. And figuring out combos for those can be really good in in stretching your dollars. So, let's

say, you know, someone asked me a question about I hit my cloud code limits on my $20 plan quickly, regularly, and then it kind of breaks my flow cuz I'm like exploring. I'm doing

stuff and stuff's working. It's like,

you've hit your limit now, and you won't be a limit will reset at 2 p.m. and it's

like 11:00 a.m. And it's just like it's such a frustrating wall to hit. So, like

one thing that I like to do is combine a cloud code subscription and I have a factory droid $20 subscription. And

factory is nice because it's like cursor in that most of the major LLMs that you'd want to be using for for coding

are available in there. Gemini 3 Pro is great for for um UI generation. I'll go

do stuff with Gemini 3 Pro through Factory to go execute that stuff, then hop over to Cloud Code, the regular Cloud Code to be doing bigger things,

even though Cloud Code also exists in factory. But either way, I could bounce

factory. But either way, I could bounce one direction or the other if I'm running out of my tokens in factory or if I've hit my limit in cloud code. You

can do a add factory or add cursor. Add

that $20 of one of those and then theoretically you could be doing a fair amount for $40. What I would say is if you're spending a decent amount of time

in cloud code that $100 tier is I I use it. That's what I have. I almost never

it. That's what I have. I almost never hit the limits and I I hit it pretty hard a lot of the time. So, it feels like a lot, but you just got to like

zoom out a little bit and think about what you're doing with cloud code.

Because keep in mind, like I'm not just building with cloud code. Like I sent you, you know, the Obsidian doc of some of the things that we're thinking about

talking about today. And that's this. I

have my cloud code sitting on top of my Obsidian vault. And it helps me

Obsidian vault. And it helps me structure all this stuff. I can interact with linear just through cloud code to linear and just kind of like ah clean

out these issues and let's optimize these and if these are in this kind of state put it on hold and blah blah blah.

So like claude code can be so many things that aren't coding. Claude code

is just clawed computer. That's another

one of those categories where I'm like, I know there's something there for me and it just kind of keeps getting knocked down the totem pole a little bit, but I see some of these workflows that people are stringing together using

clog code way outside of like the context of an IDE that are really really compelling.

>> That actually gives me a a good reminder of a thought that I had in in that experimentation realm. If you can block

experimentation realm. If you can block out at least a half day, if it needs to be on a weekend, fine. If it's during the week and you can do that with your schedule, great. I've started to do what

schedule, great. I've started to do what I'm calling tuneup days. And it's

specifically for I'm not allowed to actually be productive in like a project. I can only enhance my setup.

project. I can only enhance my setup.

Finally bring in that workflow that people have been talking about. Finally

install that plugin and try out the compounding engineering and finally clean up my folder structures of this and that like a lot of those finally

things. I have um content sections of

things. I have um content sections of it. So education stuff. If there was an

it. So education stuff. If there was an interview I'd really been wanting to thoughtfully consume for a while, I'll do that on a tuneup day or an article that I want to be thoughtful about.

Playgroundy stuff too, like go do something that has no like stuff for my toddler. I I just I just experiment with

toddler. I I just I just experiment with stuff all the time. Like right now, I'm adding to his games app basically an app within that for drawing on the iPad,

both for like coloring and tracing letters to learn how to write his letters. that's a playgroundy kind of

letters. that's a playgroundy kind of thing. And and giving yourself the time

thing. And and giving yourself the time to play is a really good way to give yourself the license to go grab that tool, go sign up for that trial, give it a shot. I've been hearing about this

a shot. I've been hearing about this thing a million times. Let's actually

figure out what that does and does this matter for me and stuff. So, when it comes to the experimentation stuff and the overwhelm of all of that, I keep a running list of things that I'll want to do for my next tuneup day. And then when

it gets to that day, I'll sort of like, all right, I'll pick out this one and this and this and this and then I go do those. Well, I feel like this entire

those. Well, I feel like this entire episode has been a tuneup day for me and thank you for having me. I have a handful of like very practical next steps. It's corny to say, but I

steps. It's corny to say, but I literally >> wrote out on my own intentions for this year. Like I want to be more of a design

year. Like I want to be more of a design engineer.

>> Yes.

>> This just got me excited, you know, like this got me energized and gave me some very practical next steps that I can take. So, I appreciate you as always,

take. So, I appreciate you as always, Kyle, for coming on. It's been fun.

>> For sure. Thanks for having me, man.

Before I let you go, I want to take just one minute to run you through my favorite products because I'm constantly asked what's in my stack. Framer is how

I build websites. Genway is how I do research. Granola is how I take notes

research. Granola is how I take notes during crit. Jitter is how I animate my

during crit. Jitter is how I animate my designs. Lovable is how I build my ideas

designs. Lovable is how I build my ideas in code. Mobin is how I find design

in code. Mobin is how I find design inspiration. Paper is how I design like

inspiration. Paper is how I design like a creative. and Raycast is my shortcut

a creative. and Raycast is my shortcut every step of the way. Now, I've hand selected these companies so that I can do these episodes fulltime. So, by far

the number one way to support the show is to check them out. You can find the full list at dive.comclub/partners.