Build In Public | Blog | Chandler Nguyen

7 essays in the archive · 13 languages · 56 categories

FilterAll AI 131 Strategy 101 Paid Media 46 Expats in the US 80 Marketing 24 Living in the US 41 US Personal finance 32

Sep 24, 2026AIRead

I Built an App With Almost No UI. That Was the Point.

The best review of my comedy app came from a table with four friends and a round of drinks — and my first version failed it. So I removed the joke format, then I removed the interface. Here is what a one-gesture app forces, why a 75-second ceiling is a table-length constraint, and the uncomfortable part for anyone whose day job is attention metrics.

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Sep 14, 2026AIRead

I Gave My 9-Agent Marketing Platform Away as Open Source

STRAŦUM v1 is now MIT-licensed and public. Nine agents, two Postgres schemas, ten locales — and a table that shipped with Row Level Security switched off, reachable by anyone holding the key that loads in the browser. Here is what I gave away, what I would not build the same way again, and why you are welcome to fork it and build your own.

Aug 11, 2026AIRead

My AI Bill Went From $200/Month to $45. I Shipped More, Not Less.

June: $57.01. July: $33.09. Two months after switching to DeepSeek V4 Pro via OpenCode, my AI costs dropped 75%. The commit history proves I shipped more, not less — 786 commits across 4 products. Here's the full breakdown.

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No. 0406/10/2026AI

Build In Public archive.

I Built an App With Almost No UI. That Was the Point.

I Gave My 9-Agent Marketing Platform Away as Open Source

My AI Bill Went From $200/Month to $45. I Shipped More, Not Less.

Earlier entries

Offline Mode for My AI App Didn't Need AI. It Needed Boring.

Native Isn't a Skin: Rebuilding DIALØGUE's iOS App

I Rebuilt My Site With Two AI Models: Opus for Design, Codex for Execution

I Rolled Back 2,724 Lines After One AI Audio Change Broke Production

Build In Public archive.

I Built an App With Almost No UI. That Was the Point.

I Gave My 9-Agent Marketing Platform Away as Open Source

My AI Bill Went From $200/Month to $45. I Shipped More, Not Less.

Earlier entries

Offline Mode for My AI App Didn't Need AI. It Needed Boring.

Native Isn't a Skin: Rebuilding DIALØGUE's iOS App

I Rebuilt My Site With Two AI Models: Opus for Design, Codex for Execution

I Rolled Back 2,724 Lines After One AI Audio Change Broke Production

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