Building with AI, in the open.
I'm Sam Keen. I work hands-on with AI-assisted development, then write and teach what actually holds up, through a weekly newsletter and live workshops. Author of Clean Architecture with Python, and formerly a generative AI architect at AWS.
25+ years shipping production software.
Co-founder of Portland AI Engineers (1,300+ members)
The newsletter
Every week, I dig into what's actually working in the new AI abstraction layer so you can make informed decisions without drowning in hype. A consistent weekly AI review for developers, plus long-form deep dives that go beyond the headlines.
What makes it different
See all the content on Substack
Projects
A few things I've built alongside the writing. The newsletter shows how I think; these show what I ship.
Tilth
Active-DevelopmentA harness for long-running agents that work autonomously, then let you replay the whole run.
A minimal harness for autonomous coding agents against any OpenAI-compatible endpoint. It carries the machinery a watched pair-programming agent can skip: an evaluator that judges whether a change is a proper solution, between-task budget caps, and offline-first observability you can replay end to end.
LSP4Agents
Active-DevelopmentA language-server client built for coding agents, not IDEs.
An experiment in giving coding agents the structured tools developers rely on: go to definition, find references, real type errors. Existing LSP integrations assume an IDE on the other end, so this explores what a client designed for an agent's workflow looks like.
knobs.cc
A desktop inspector for every knob Claude Code gives you: where it lives, what it's set to, and which layer wins.
Claude Code's configuration spans settings files at several layers, environment variables, and permissions. knobs.cc is a local desktop app that surfaces every setting, its value, and which layer takes precedence.
Community
Teaching and showing up in the developer community: live, hands-on workshops, plus the talks, panels, and demos I give along the way.
Workshops
Live, hands-on sessions on Maven. You won't just hear about AI tools. You'll use them in real time, building artifacts you take back to work.
/ Always available
Build the CLAUDE.md Your Project Needs
A 30-minute lightning lesson. Learn the framework for structuring the project context file that makes Claude Code actually understand your codebase.
Watch free on Maven/ Upcoming
Effective Software Engineering with Claude Code
June 20, 2026 · 10:30 AM EDT (4 hours)
From prompts to systems. For senior engineers, tech leads, and architects already using Claude Code who want repeatable results: CLAUDE.md context layers, reusable skills, guardrails, and team-level practices.
Register on Eventbrite/ Previous
Context Engineering for Claude Code
Maven · 3-hour cohort workshop
Build the context layer that turns Claude Code from a suggestion engine into a development partner.
View on Maven
Building RAG Applications
In-person workshop
Hands-on workshop teaching retrieval-augmented generation patterns with real-world datasets.
Speaking
Talks, panels, and demos on AI-assisted software development.
- MAY 20, 2026PORTLAND, OR
Maseeh College of Engineering · Portland State University
Panelist: AI Futures
Joined the AI Futures industry panel at the Maseeh Exchange: Events With Impact, alongside PSU faculty exploring how AI is being applied to real-world challenges.
- MAY 14, 2026PORTLAND, OR
Portland WIP AI Demos Lunch · UpStart Collective
Presented knobs.cc
Demoed the in-progress build at Portland’s informal show-and-tell for AI builders: a desktop inspector for every knob Claude Code gives you, where it lives, what it’s set to, and which layer wins.
Recordings
“Clean Architecture with Python”
Interview on the GOTO Conferences channel about the book and building maintainable software systems.
“Observability in AI”
Screencast presentation on observability patterns for AI systems in production.
Watch on YouTube
Sam Keen
I've spent 25+ years shipping production software at companies like Nike, Lululemon, AWS, and a handful of startups. I led the GenAI Innovation Lab at AWS, where I helped teams separate signal from noise in AI adoption.
Now my work is AI-assisted development: building in the open, writing, and teaching. Building with AI, not building AI. My newsletter reaches developers every week, and my workshops on Maven give teams hands-on systems for working with tools like Claude Code.
I also co-founded Portland AI Engineers, a community of 1,300+ practitioners exploring practical AI together.
I occasionally take on select consulting engagements for engineering teams navigating AI adoption. Let's talk if that's of interest.