How this site was made.
This site was designed and built by an AI agent, reviewed by another AI agent, and judged by a human. Here's the whole process — unedited.
"Hey for the website build how about we try something interesting — how about we let you do the whole thing very autonomously. You know what I'm looking for. We have some pretty good definition in place... why don't you just fully take a crack at a first iteration of the website and then we can simply go from there. Can I leave it with you?"
— Jason, via Slack
The agent (Gibson) pulled context from multiple sources:
- → Brand guidelines: Dark Signal (locked 2026-03-05)
- → PRD: Personal Website Redesign spec
- → YouTube channel: 25 videos, yt-dlp metadata
- → Substack RSS: 6 published essays
- → Obsidian vault: Project context, quotes, voice
Framework: Astro 5.18 — static, fast, no JS by default
Styling: Tailwind 4 — via @tailwindcss/vite
Fonts: Playfair Display + Inter + IBM Plex Mono + Caveat
Animation: CSS only — IntersectionObserver for triggers
Content: Markdown + JSON — git as CMS
Deploy: Vercel — push = deploy
5 pages. 8 components. Content seeded. Clean build in 478ms.
Zero JavaScript frameworks. 18KB CSS. 368KB total.
Prompt to build
Build time
JS frameworks
CD grade
A second AI agent (the Creative Director) reviewed the site against the Dark Signal brand guidelines and for overall quality.
"Color system is locked in. No rogue colors. The circle-mark uses amber at 0.85 opacity with a subtle -2deg rotation — feels hand-drawn without being cartoonish."
"The site tells you Jason builds things but never shows you. Every page says some version of 'I build, I ship, I'm not theoretical.' But the site itself is a content directory. The irony is sharp."
"I think we should take a crack at solving all of these things. I'm even thinking about whether there's some way we can weave the build aspect into every element of the site — something that's very clever."
— Jason, via Slack
Three layers of progressive disclosure:
Layer 1: The clean site — great design, works for everyone
Layer 2: The hints — margin annotations, terminal snippets, metadata footers
Layer 3: The full story — this page
Jason's directive: "90% should discover it. The site becomes infinitely more interesting when they do."
"The site is now distinctive rather than just competent. The meta-layer isn't just decoration — it's central to the site's new thesis."
"Would a head of design be proud to share it? Yes — and surprised."
Pages built
Build time
Layers deep
CD grade
"ITS LOOKING REALLY GOOD. /Build — I LOVE LOVE LOVE this page."
"Contrast and legibility are the biggest challenges. The written annotations are kinda small — I cannot read any of them. Signal page — can we make it more organic, less rigid? I feel like this page could shine more."
— Jason, via Slack · 10 points of feedback
The result: what you're reading right now. Each round of feedback makes the collaboration more visible.
This page will continue to evolve. Every change is a commit. Every commit is visible.
Every change is a commit · The process is the product