Creating a Passwordless Login System
Ben Houston • 3 Minutes Read • March 26, 2026
Passwords are a shared-secret liability. Here is how to build a modern passwordless auth flow using Email OTP and Passkeys (WebAuthn), without storing passwords.
Posts tagged: coding
tanstack-router-ga4: Clean Google Analytics for TanStack Router/Start
Ben Houston • 4 Minutes Read • March 17, 2026
A tiny, type-safe Google Analytics integration for TanStack Router and TanStack Start with automatic page views, typed GA4 helpers, and clean SSR-friendly setup.
Zstdify: A Pure TypeScrpt Zstd Re-Implementation, Written in 4 Hours
Ben Houston • 5 Minutes Read • February 20, 2026
Today, I built a pure-TypeScript Zstandard implementation (library + CLI + dictionary training + interop tests) in just 4 hours using OpenAI Codex 5.3.
Tags: algorithms, coding, ai
Overview of Behavior Graphs
Ben Houston • 15 Minutes Read • February 19, 2026
How frustration with Trigger-Action Lists in production 3D tools led me to build behave-graph, champion it at SIGGRAPH, and help drive the KHR_interactivity glTF standard.
Why I Stopped Creating package.json Scripts
Ben Houston • 5 Minutes Read • January 20, 2026
Over the past year, I've dramatically reduced the number of scripts in my package.json files. What started as a gradual shift has become a deliberate practice: minimize abstractions, maximize clarity. This post explores why direct CLI usage beats script wrappers for transparency, flexibility, and AI-friendliness.
Tags: coding
A Complete Guide to Vitest Global Setup and Teardown
Ben Houston • 5 Minutes Read • November 19, 2025
When writing tests with Vitest, you often need to perform setup tasks before all tests run and cleanup tasks after all tests complete. This is where Vitest's globalSetup feature comes in handy.
From VFX Tools to Enterprise SaaS: Three Lessons in Finding Product-Market Fit
Ben Houston • 10 Minutes Read • July 26, 2025
This is the story of how I went from building Hollywood VFX tools to raising $65M for enterprise SaaS, and the three crucial lessons I learned along the way.
Tags: entrepreneurship, coding, talks
Three Hard-Won Lessons for Entrepreneurs: From VFX Tools to Enterprise SaaS
Ben Houston • 8 Minutes Read • May 22, 2025
After twenty years building computer graphics software used in Hollywood blockbusters and enterprise product visualization, here are the crucial lessons that can help entrepreneurs build more successful companies.
Tags: entrepreneurship, coding, talks
The Missing Metric in Software Testing: Spec Coverage
Ben Houston • 4 Minutes Read • April 27, 2025
Code coverage tells you what code has been touched. Spec coverage tells you what intent has been verified. In the era of intent-based programming, it's time to stop measuring tests by lines of code and start measuring them by meaning.
Understanding TanStack Router's beforeLoad and Loader Behavior
Ben Houston • 4 Minutes Read • April 7, 2025
A detailed exploration of how TanStack Router handles data loading through beforeLoad and loader functions, with insights on execution order, data merging, and performance implications.
Crafting README Files for Efficient AI-Assisted Coding
Ben Houston • 5 Minutes Read • March 28, 2025
Optimize your README.md files to empower both human developers and AI coding assistants alike.
Tags: ai, coding, agentic-coding
The Rise of "Test Theater": When AI Coders Write Tests That Mean Nothing
Ben Houston • 4 Minutes Read • March 25, 2025
AI coding assistants are excellent at generating tests with high coverage. But there is often a critical problem: they are testing that code behaves as written, not as intended. This "Test Theater" creates a dangerous illusion of quality while providing almost no real protection against bugs.
Building 3D Web Apps That Work Everywhere: A Data-Driven Approach
Ben Houston • 5 Minutes Read • March 24, 2025
Learn how to develop 3D web applications that work reliably across all devices using real-world browser capability data from Web3DSurvey.com with a practical two-tier development strategy.
What is the Most Minimal Agentic Coder You Can Write?
Ben Houston • 3 Minutes Read • March 21, 2025
Exploring the simplest possible implementation of an agentic coder using just 200 lines of TypeScript, demonstrating foundational concepts clearly and concisely.
Tags: ai, coding, agentic-coding
Building an Agentic Coder from Scratch
Ben Houston • 6 Minutes Read • March 20, 2025
How to build an autonomous agentic coder that leverages advanced LLMs to transform software development. A talk given at the Ottawa Forward JS meet-up.
Tags: ai, coding, agentic-coding, talks
The Ephemeral Nature of Software in the Age of AI
Ben Houston • 6 Minutes Read • March 17, 2025
As AI dramatically reduces software development costs, we need to rethink our approach to code. Software is becoming ephemeral - easily replaced rather than maintained. This paradigm shift means optimizing for current needs instead of hypothetical futures.
Tags: ai, coding, agentic-coding
Agentic Coders with GitHub Comments and Actions: Automating Real Development
Ben Houston • 3 Minutes Read • March 13, 2025
AI agents are moving beyond IDEs into full automation of coding workflows. Discover how integrating agentic coding into GitHub Actions can streamline software development -- turning issues into PRs and automating documentation, tests, and even code reviews, all through simple GitHub comments.
Tags: ai, coding, agentic-coding
GitHub Mode: A Game Changer for Agentic Coding
Ben Houston • 4 Minutes Read • March 7, 2025
Adding GitHub Mode to MyCoder has radically improved my productivity, making my agentic coder feel like a true team member. By leveraging GitHub for task tracking, pull requests, and CI/CD feedback, I’ve seen a 3x to 5x boost in development efficiency.
Tags: ai, coding, agentic-coding
Lean into your Agentic Coder's Mistakes
Ben Houston • 2 Minutes Read • March 6, 2025
Adapting your codebase to match AI coder assumptions doesn't just help AI -- it uncovers hidden complexity, ultimately benefiting human developers.
Tags: ai, coding, agentic-coding
Stop Writing Code for Humans - The Future Belongs to AI Agents
Ben Houston • 16 Minutes Read • March 5, 2025
As AI coding agents become increasingly capable, we need to rethink our code organization and documentation practices. Here's why traditional "human-first" coding approaches are becoming obsolete and how to structure your projects for optimal AI compatibility.
Tags: ai, coding, agentic-coding
I've started using TanStack/Start and I like it a lot.
Ben Houston • 5 Minutes Read • February 18, 2025
Why TanStack/Start may be the right choice for your next project. Exploring the unique features of TanStack/Start in comparison to Remix, and Next.js.
Open Core: The Startup Strategy That Balances Community with Profit
Ben Houston • 4 Minutes Read • December 20, 2024
Open Core combines the viral growth of open source with the revenue potential of enterprise software – but most founders get the balance wrong. Drawing from my experience building both open source and enterprise products, I explain why this model particularly shines for developer tools, and how to execute it without alienating either developers or paying customers.
Tags: entrepreneurship, coding
The Origins of Krakatoa: A VFX Rendering Journey
Ben Houston • 6 Minutes Read • December 6, 2024
From solving a unique rendering challenge for a single film to becoming an industry-standard tool used in blockbuster movies like Avatar and Harry Potter, the origin story of the Krakatoa point renderer.
Tags: entrepreneurship, graphics, coding
Building Deadline: Finding Product Market Fit in a VFX Studio, and almost winning an Oscar
Ben Houston • 7 Minutes Read • December 5, 2024
Sometimes big opportunities come from solving what seem like minor problems. In 2002, fresh out of university, I accidentally co-created what would become one of the most widely-used tools in Hollywood visual effects - all because I needed a better way to run fluid simulations.
Tags: entrepreneurship, graphics, coding
The Entrepreneurial Journey of Clara.io: Finding Product-Market Fit in Unexpected Places
Ben Houston • 6 Minutes Read • December 4, 2024
How a pioneering web-based 3D editor pivoted from trying to revolutionizing visual effects to finding unexpected success in enterprise product visualization.
Tags: entrepreneurship, graphics, coding
I Didn't Need Kubernetes, and You Probably Don't Either
Ben Houston • 7 Minutes Read • November 5, 2024
Kubernetes often represents the ultimate solution for container orchestration, but my experience has led me to leave it behind in favor of a simpler, cost-effective solution using Google Cloud Run.
Tags: coding
RISC-V in 2024 is Slower Than You Think
Ben Houston • 4 Minutes Read • October 23, 2024
RISC-V is currently quite slow compared to modern CPUs in 2024.
Tags: coding, algorithms
Introducing Web3DSurvey: Tracking WebGL and WebGPU Capabilities
Ben Houston • 3 Minutes Read • September 1, 2024
Web3DSurvey is a tool for 3D web developers that tracks and aggregates WebGL, WebGL2, and WebGPU capabilities providing valuable insights into real-world support for these features.