Abie Maxey

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The blog

Notes from the field, on nomad life, systems, language, and what it actually takes.

87 posts
My European Year Recap
PinnedJournalsDecember 28, 20258 min

My European Year Recap

The Hero That Follows Your Cursor
BuildingOctober 15, 20269 min

The Hero That Follows Your Cursor

One photo of me, one photo of headphones, and a few chats in Julius later there is an animated me on my portfolio that looks wherever your cursor goes. The five steps, every prompt, the sprite strip, the spring ~ and the hour she looked the wrong way.

How We Book Flights With AI Now
BuildingOctober 11, 20268 min

How We Book Flights With AI Now

Madrid to Davao. The obvious search said €667, I paid €319, and three days in Provence turned out to be free. The five prompts I used, the move that was worth €189 on its own, and the fare no search engine would show me.

The Admin of Being Me
SystemsOctober 11, 20267 min

The Admin of Being Me

I started texting Instinct my life admin over iMessage, and every night its report lands in the dashboard I run my days from. How the handoff works, what the report looks like, and why Claude alone wasn't enough.

Connect Gmail and Google Calendar to Your Own Dashboard
BuildingOctober 8, 20266 min

Connect Gmail and Google Calendar to Your Own Dashboard

I connected Gmail and Google Calendar to the dashboard I run my days from. The four pieces every Google connection needs, the two walls I hit (a script that ignored .env.local and an API that was switched off), and how to ship it without leaking it.

What My 2020 Travel Spreadsheet Told Me
BuildingOctober 7, 20267 min

What My 2020 Travel Spreadsheet Told Me

I rebuilt the travel expense tracker I kept in 2020 into a dashboard. Seven trips, 294 rows, eight currencies, and one number I did not expect: 46% of it was never travel at all.

Be a Spider-Woman in Your Own City
BuildingJuly 30, 20267 min

Be a Spider-Woman in Your Own City

Fifteen seconds, one continuous shot, zero cuts, swinging through Madrid at golden hour. The full video prompt, the body mechanics that stop her floating, the five timed beats, and the six lines you rewrite to move it to your city.

Turn Three Selfies Into a Photoshoot
BuildingJuly 30, 20267 min

Turn Three Selfies Into a Photoshoot

Three phone photos from a Madrid rooftop and one long prompt produced a Spider-Woman shoot in Brooklyn. The eight blocks every prompt of mine is built from, the identity lock nobody writes, and the four lines that stop it looking like AI.

Turn Your Prompt Library Into an App
BuildingJuly 28, 20268 min

Turn Your Prompt Library Into an App

This is exactly how I built Filtr, a 24-filter photo app that generates real images, inside Higgsfield Apps with Claude connected over MCP. I never opened a code editor. Seven steps, both prompts, and the ideas worth stealing.

Build Your First AI App This Week
BuildingJuly 17, 20266 min

Build Your First AI App This Week

Connect Higgsfield to Claude and ship an app with no code and no servers. The exact setup I used, plus Dopamine Desk, the app I built with it for a $100K contest.

Claude Agrees With You Too Much. Here's My Fix.
BuildingJune 17, 20266 min

Claude Agrees With You Too Much. Here's My Fix.

The more confident you sound, the more Claude agrees, even when you're wrong. So I stopped asking one model and started running a council of five. Five lenses, blind peer review, one clear verdict. No code, no API key.

The Dev Stack You Need to Ship Real Products
BuildingJune 5, 20263 min

The Dev Stack You Need to Ship Real Products

6 tools. No fluff. The exact stack I use to build, deploy, and monetize products from my laptop. Claude Code, Supabase, Vercel, GitHub, Higgsfield, Stripe.

The Claude Skills Directory
BuildingMay 11, 20269 min

The Claude Skills Directory

There are 1,116 Claude Code skills on GitHub. You only need 71 of them. The curated shortlist, and how to build the ones nobody else has.

Claude Code Setup Done Right
BuildingMay 7, 202610 min

Claude Code Setup Done Right

Most guides stop at the install command. That's where the real config work begins, CLAUDE.md, skills, MCP servers, and the habits that make it all stick.

Stop Re-Explaining Yourself to Claude
BuildingMay 7, 20267 min

Stop Re-Explaining Yourself to Claude

Every new chat, you retype the same context. Your name, your tone, your rules. There's a better way, Claude skill files let you say it once and never again.

Best Coffee Shops in Madrid, A Living Review
Madrid LifeApril 15, 20265 min

Best Coffee Shops in Madrid, A Living Review

Working through every specialty coffee shop in Madrid. Ratings on the cup, the vibe, and how well it works as a place to think or film. Updated as I go.

Why Git Matters When You Build with AI
BuildingApril 9, 20266 min

Why Git Matters When You Build with AI

AI can write your code. But if it only lives on localhost, you haven't shipped anything. A real story about broken deploys, squash merge disasters, and the workflow that actually works.

How I Use Claude Code to Run 3 Businesses from My Laptop
BuildingApril 4, 202612 min

How I Use Claude Code to Run 3 Businesses from My Laptop

Years of engineering is what makes AI tools actually work. Here's the real workflow, not a demo, not a review, the actual system I use to build products from a laptop in Madrid.

How I Replaced Qwilr with My Own Proposal System
BuildingMarch 23, 20267 min

How I Replaced Qwilr with My Own Proposal System

Qwilr charges $35/month for branded proposals. I built my own in a day, e-signatures, pipeline tracking, terminal-style design. Zero subscription, forever.

How I Built an IG Carousel Editor with AI
BuildingMarch 22, 20268 min

How I Built an IG Carousel Editor with AI

I'm a software engineer. I could've built this the slow way. Instead I used AI as my co-pilot and shipped a full IG carousel editor over a few weeks. Here's the entire process.

I Accidentally Travelled the World
JournalsMarch 17, 20266 min

I Accidentally Travelled the World

It started with heartbreak, little savings, and a one-way ticket to Japan. No plan. No roadmap. Just the belief that not doing something about my life was more painful than the unknown.

The Real Cost of Moving to Spain
EuropeMarch 17, 20267 min

The Real Cost of Moving to Spain

Everyone romanticises Spain. Tapas, siestas, golden hour. Nobody tells you about the bureaucracy, the rent spikes, or the loneliness of not speaking the language.

Weekly Dispatch

The builder's diaries.

What I'm building, breaking, and figuring out.

  • AI tools I actually use to build faster
  • Behind-the-scenes of growing a business in Madrid
  • Community plays, client wins, and real revenue breakdowns
  • Grounded dispatches from someone building roots
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