Teardown. tools, taken apart

Independent · Unsponsored · Receipts included

We take the tools apart so you don't have to.

Tutorials that assume you have a real repo and a deadline. Comparisons scored round by round, with the tasks published so you can rerun them yourself. Nobody pays us for a verdict.

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This week

The main event

GuideApp Builders8 min read

Seven AI app builders, sorted by what you own at the end

Five of these seven builders will hand you the code. Whether it runs anywhere else depends on the database, the logins and the secrets.

ESEL Haddad Saad

Head to head

Comparisons

All comparisons
In the works
ComparisonAI Coding14 min

Claude Code vs. Codex: which agent actually finishes the job?

We gave both CLI agents the same nine tasks in the same messy repo and scored every round. The gap is not where the marketing says it is.

ESEL Haddad Saad
In the works
ComparisonAI Coding12 min

Cursor vs. Windsurf: the editor war nobody is winning

Two AI-native editors, two philosophies about how much rope to give the model. We used both as a daily driver for a month.

ESEL Haddad Saad

Do it yourself

Tutorials

All tutorials
TutorialAI Coding10 min

Install Claude Code on Windows and fix every error

One PowerShell command installs Claude Code on Windows. Here's the exact fix for every install error: PATH, wrong shell, Git Bash, WSL and more.

ESEL Haddad Saad
In the works
TutorialAgents16 min

Build your first MCP server in 30 minutes

Model Context Protocol without the spec-reading. One server, three tools, and a working connection to a real client.

ESEL Haddad Saad

The long view

Guides & explainers

Browse everything
GuideApp Builders8 min

Seven AI app builders, sorted by what you own at the end

Five of these seven builders will hand you the code. Whether it runs anywhere else depends on the database, the logins and the secrets.

ESEL Haddad Saad
In the works
GuideTeardown9 min

How we test coding agents

Nine tasks, one deliberately broken repo, and a scoring rule that allows ties. The whole kit is public so you can rerun it and disagree with us.

ESEL Haddad Saad
In the works
GuideCommerce9 min

How agentic commerce actually works

Checkout was built for humans with thumbs. Here is what changes when the shopper is an agent with an API key and a budget.

ESEL Haddad Saad

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