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A practical guide for non-technical people who want to ship code with AI

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# Learning to Speak Code

A practical guide for non-technical people who want to ship code with AI.

## Who This Is For

- Product Managers with strong technical literacy and can articulate technical systems in natural language
- Sales professionals who want to build the feature requests they get from customers
- Marketers who want to build the demo & landing page for the product they're promoting

## What's Inside

### [QUICKSTART.md](./QUICKSTART.md)
The core 4-step workflow: Plan → Issues → Implement → Review. Start here.

### [Default Tech Stack](./tech-stack.md)
My go-to technologies for shipping apps: Next.js, React, Supabase, Tailwind, TypeScript, Vercel.

### [Updates](./UPDATES.md)
A log of how my coding practices are evolving over time.

### Frameworks
Deep dives into the mental models that make AI coding work:

| Framework | What You'll Learn |
|-----------|-------------------|
| [Comprehensible Code](./frameworks/01-comprehensible-code.md) | Why you must understand every line the AI writes |
| [Context Engineering](./frameworks/02-context-engineering.md) | Managing the AI's memory for better output |
| [Atomic Features](./frameworks/03-atomic-features.md) | Ship small, ship often, stay reversible |
| [Emergent Abstractions](./frameworks/04-emergent-abstractions.md) | Why you shouldn't over-architect early |
| [Agent Phalanx](./frameworks/05-agent-phalanx.md) | Orchestrating multiple AI models (advanced) |

### Cheatsheets
Quick reference guides for daily work:

| Cheatsheet | What It Covers |
|------------|----------------|
| [Prompting Patterns](./cheatsheets/prompting-patterns.md) | How to "talk" to AI effectively |
| [Claude Code Tips](./cheatsheets/claude-code-tips.md) | Tool-specific tips and workflows |
| [Git Survival Guide](./cheatsheets/git-survival-guide.md) | The "social protocols" of version control |

### Examples
Sample templates you can copy and adapt:
- [GitHub Issue Template](./examples/github-issue-template.md)
- [PR Review Checklist](./examples/pr-review-checklist.md)

### [Model Breakdowns](./models/)
Real-world notes on AI models for coding—updated as new models drop:

| Model | Best For |
|-------|----------|
| [Claude Opus 4.6 (1M)](./models/claude-opus-4-6.md) | Everything—my daily driver, autonomous long-running tasks |
| [GPT 5.4](./models/gpt-5-x.md) | Formalized code review, deep context gathering |
| [Gemini 3.0](./models/gemini-3-0.md) | Front-end design, asset generation |

---

## The Core Insight

> "The hardest part wasn't learning to review AI-written code... despite what everyone told me. The hill was learning how to work with other engineers on the same repo, where we all rely on the engine running smoothly." 
- from my post reflecting on ["90 Days at Complex"](https://language.substack.com/p/90-days-at-complex)

Learning to code with AI is surprisingly tractable. The "hard" part is mastering the **ancillary practices** that developers take for granted: git, version control, branch management, PR etiquette, and CI/CD pipelines. These are social protocols encoded in technical systems.

This repo is designed to help you learn both.

---

## How to Use This Repo

**If you're brand new:** Start with [QUICKSTART.md](./QUICKSTART.md), then read [Comprehensible Code](./frameworks/01-comprehensible-code.md).

**If you're already coding with AI:** Skim the frameworks for mental models you might be missing, then keep the cheatsheets open while you work.

**If you want to go deep:** Read everything in order. The frameworks build on each other.

---

## About

These frameworks have emerged from my experience evolving from product manager, to startup founder, to building as a "collapsed" talent–owning product, design, code, and adoption as a single contributor.

Your mileage may vary. But the frameworks are battle-tested.

---

## Go Deeper

This repo is free. If you want more hands-on help:

**→ [Work with me](./WORK-WITH-ME.md)** — Workshops, 1:1 coaching, and enterprise training.

Or just [say hi](mailto:seanthielen.e@gmail.com)

---

*Some links in this repo are referral links.*

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