Behind the Craft

Hosted by Peter Yang

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120

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Aug 2026

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Expert interviews and guides to help you level up as a product leader and creator fast.

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60 recent

August 16, 202641 min

How I Run My 1.5M+ Follower Content Business With Codex | Riley Brown

📌 Copy the AI system I use to run a one-person $1M+ business: https://www.behindthecraft.com 🤝 Subscribe to my practical AI newsletter read by 150K+ professionals: https://creatoreconomy.so Riley is a top AI creator and founder of Agent Native . In this episode, he showed me how he uses Codex to run his entire content business from generating engaging thumbnails to writing incredible video hooks. Riley also shared his full AI stack including some lesser known AI tools to edit videos, draw diagrams, and more. We talked about: (00:00) How Codex runs Riley’s 1.5M+ follower content business (03:16) Demo: Using Codex to create animations and B-roll (07:28) Demo: Codex can reverse-engineer a top YouTube hook (13:24) The BRENS framework to turn an idea into a strong hook (17:24) Demo: Riley’s Codex stack for diagrams, thumbnails, and posts (22:01) How Riley creates so much content every week (25:41) Demo: Using Codex and Paper for viral YouTube thumbnails (35:01) How to set up AI agents to find content ideas proactively Thanks to our sponsors: Google AI Studio: The fastest way to go from prompt to production https://aistudio.google.com/?utm_source=peteryang&utm_medium=partner&utm_campaign=26Q3-peteryang_ais Riverside: All-in-one AI studio for podcasts and video https://creators.riverside.com/PeterYang Wispr Flow: 4x faster than typing with your voice https://ref.wisprflow.ai/peteryang 📌 Get the takeaways: https://creatoreconomy.so/p/how-i-run-my-content-business-with-codex-riley-brown Where to find Riley: Agent Native, Riley’s new company: https://agentnative.inc/ X: https://x.com/rileybrown Website: https://rileybrown.xyz/ Subscribe to this channel - more interviews coming soon!

August 9, 202638 min

5 Rules for Building AI Agents That Work in Production | Nan Yu & Jacob Shumway

📌 Copy the AI system I use to run a one-person $1M+ business: https://www.behindthecraft.com 🤝 Subscribe to my practical AI newsletter read by 150K+ professionals: https://creatoreconomy.so Nan and Jacob built Linear Agent, which has transformed how the $1.25B company gets work done. In this episode, they took me from the initial memo to launch, showing how to give an agent tools to find the context it needs, use evals to improve reliability, and more. This episode is a must-watch if you want a concrete, behind-the-scenes example of how to build a production agent end to end. We talked about: (00:00) What’s holding AI agents back as models improve? (00:51) Three things every good agent needs (03:00) Demo: The internal memo that started Linear Agent (09:50) The biggest mistake to avoid when building agents (11:29) Demo: From Slack to code in 6 minutes with the agent (17:01) When prototyping, “use the biggest model until it works” (24:02) Give agents tools to find context, not more context (34:07) The first thing to do before building an agent Thanks to our sponsors: Oceans: Hire AI-native EAs http://oceanstalent.com/peter Riverside: All-in-one AI studio for podcasts and video https://creators.riverside.com/PeterYang Linear: The AI agent platform for modern teams https://linear.app/behind-the-craft 📌 Get the takeaways: https://creatoreconomy.so/p/5-rules-for-building-ai-agents-in-production-linear-nan-jacob Where to find Nan and Jacob: Nan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thenanyu Jacob on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacob-shumway-314a8366 Linear Agent: https://linear.app/docs/linear-agent Subscribe to this channel - more interviews coming soon!

August 2, 202646 min

Hermes Co-Founder on Building an AI Agent That Improves Itself | Karan Malhotra

📌 Copy my personal AI system to save time and build with AI: https://www.behindthecraft.com/ 🤝 Get my free AI newsletter read by 150K+ professionals: https://creatoreconomy.so/ Karan co-founded Nous Research, the company behind Hermes, the #1 personal agent and AI app overall on OpenRouter. I found him incredibly down to earth as we discussed why open-source AI must win, how Hermes gets better the more you use it, and even a live demo of how Hermes can mod your favorite childhood games. Karan and I talked about: (00:00) How Hermes differs from Claude Code and Codex (02:20) Why every AI model now sounds exactly the same (11:16) How to stop AI from saying “you’re absolutely right” (15:16) How Hermes creates skills without bloating its context (16:40) The open vs. closed-source debate on AI safety (23:40) Using one Kanban board for humans and AI agents (26:45) Demo: Rebuilding a childhood Sonic world with Hermes (36:07) How two Discord friends built a self-improving agent (42:40) How Hermes became its own biggest contributor Thanks to our sponsors: Riverside: All-in-one AI studio for podcasts and video https://creators.riverside.com/PeterYang Linear: The AI agent platform for modern teams https://linear.app/behind-the-craft Wispr Flow: 4x faster than typing with your voice https://ref.wisprflow.ai/peteryang 📌 Get the takeaways: https://creatoreconomy.so/p/hermes-co-founder-on-building-an-ai-agent-that-improves-itself-karan-malhotra Where to find Karan: X: https://x.com/karan4d Website: https://www.karan4d.com/ Hermes Agent: https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent Subscribe to this channel - more interviews coming soon!

July 26, 202634 min

ChatGPT Work + Codex Tutorial: My Complete System at OpenAI | Jason Liu

Jason is a DevEx engineer on the Codex team. In our episode, he showed me how he runs his entire workday using Codex, from his chief of staff thread to the way he builds skills that learn how he works. Jason wrote the official OpenAI guidebook on how to get the most out of Codex, so don’t miss this episode. Jason and I talked about: (00:00) The only job left after AI can do the work (02:40) Turn pinned threads into long-running workspaces (05:50) Build a chief of staff across Slack, email, and Linear (10:12) Teach Codex to write like you for every audience (13:33) Mine past sessions for new skills and workflows (20:01) How Codex revised a launch video while Jason was out (24:23) Build a drum practice site around how you learn (25:59) Goal, plan, and worklog for long-running Codex tasks (33:52) Why taste starts with knowing what feels wrong Thanks to our sponsor: Google AI Studio: The fastest way to go from prompt to production https://aistudio.google.com/?utm_source=peteryang&utm_medium=partner&utm_campaign=26Q3-peteryang_ais Riverside: All-in-one AI studio for podcasts and video https://creators.riverside.com/PeterYang 📌 Get my personal AI OS with useful AI skills, $270 in AI tool credits, live monthly workshops, and courses on Hermes and Codex agents: https://www.behindthecraft.com/ Where to find Jason: X: https://x.com/jxnlco Subscribe to this channel - more interviews coming soon!

July 19, 202641 min

How I Plan, Build, and Run Loops with Claude Code in 40 Minutes | Thariq Shihipar

Thariq works on the Claude Code team, and I’ve wanted to see how he builds for a long time. In our episode, he showed how to use /goal to keep Claude working, how he plans with Claude to remove unknowns before building, and how he runs a team of agents in Slack. He also shared why his team cut Claude Code’s system prompt by 80% and how he creates polished launch videos with Claude. Thariq and I talked about: (00:00) Goals, loops, and workflows to make Claude work longer (04:48) Live demo: Creating a polished video with one prompt (08:17) Plan by removing unknowns before you build (14:32) How Anthropic uses HTML artifacts for planning (18:35) Running parallel Claude tasks through Slack (27:34) Using separate creator and verifier sub-agents (31:08) How Thariq stays focused while Claude works in parallel (34:07) Why Anthropic cut Claude Code’s system prompt by 80% (37:01) How to become more technical when AI writes the code Thanks to our sponsors: Riverside: All-in-one AI studio for podcasts and video https://creators.riverside.com/PeterYang Linear: The AI agent platform for modern teams https://linear.app/behind-the-craft Wispr Flow: 4x faster than typing with your voice https://ref.wisprflow.ai/peteryang 📌 Get the takeaways: https://creatoreconomy.so/p/how-i-plan-build-and-run-loops-with-claude-code-thariq-shihipar 📌 Get my personal AI OS with useful AI skills, $270 in AI tool credits, live monthly workshops, and courses on Hermes and Codex agents: https://www.behindthecraft.com/ Where to find Thariq: LinkedIn: https://x.com/trq212 Website: https://www.thariq.io/ Subscribe to this channel - more interviews coming soon!

July 12, 202647 min

How to Build AI Agents That Check Their Own Work | Jared Zoneraich

Jared is a Builder in Residence at Cognition, the team behind Devin. He showed me why teams often overbuild their first agents, and how simple prompts, better tools, and self-testing work together instead. Then he demoed one manager agent breaking down a task, directing 10 cloud agents, and deciding what a human needs to review. Jared and I talked about: (00:00) Why teams overbuild their first AI agent (02:50) Let the model cook before adding rules (03:16) Why tools matter more than better prompts (10:51) Why you should build evals after shipping (16:06) What cloud agents can do that local agents can’t (20:30) How to get one agent to manage other agents (25:39) Demo: One agent launches a team of 10 (28:03) How agents prove their work before you review it (33:18) The best tasks for agent teams to work on Thanks to our sponsors: Riverside: All-in-one AI studio for podcasts and video https://creators.riverside.com/PeterYang Linear: The AI agent platform for modern teams https://linear.app/behind-the-craft Wispr Flow: 4x faster than typing with your voice https://ref.wisprflow.ai/peteryang 📌 Get the takeaways: https://creatoreconomy.so/p/how-to-build-ai-agents-that-check-their-own-work-jared-cognition-devin 📌 Get my personal AI OS with useful AI skills, $270 in AI tool credits, live monthly workshops, and courses on Hermes and Codex agents: https://www.behindthecraft.com/ Where to find Jared: X: https://x.com/imjaredz Devin: https://devin.ai Subscribe to this channel - more interviews coming soon!

July 5, 202639 min

OpenAI PM Reveals How He Uses Codex to Do Product Work | Rohan Varma

As a product manager for OpenAI Codex, Rohan has a firsthand look at how one of the most AI-native teams in the world operates. He showed me how he uses Codex to trigger work from Slack replies, prototype designs with image generation, replace stale PRDs with live project sites, and more. Watch this episode if you’re tired of all the nonsense around “AI-native PM” and want to see how a real one actually operates. Rohan and I talked about: (00:00) Codex can do more than you think (01:53) Use Codex to pull context from Slack, docs, Linear, and email (03:28) How Codex flips planning from docs to demos (13:14) Demo: Do the task once with Codex, then automate it (14:30) Demo: Trigger Codex automations from Slack replies (17:26) Demo: Use Image Gen to explore design variants fast (19:58) Demo: Turn any Codex thread into a reusable skill (29:55) Demo: Turn project context into a shareable Site (33:33) Use one Codex thread to manage other Codex threads (37:18) Aim 10x more ambitious than feels reasonable Thanks to our sponsors: Linear: The AI agent platform for modern teams https://linear.app/behind-the-craft Wispr Flow: 4x faster than typing with your voice https://ref.wisprflow.ai/peteryang Riverside: All-in-one AI studio for podcasts and video https://creators.riverside.com/PeterYang 📌 Get the takeaways: https://creatoreconomy.so/p/openai-pm-reveals-how-he-uses-codex-for-product-work-rohan-varma 📌 Get my personal AI OS with useful AI skills, $270 in AI tool credits, live monthly workshops, and courses on Hermes and Codex agents: https://www.behindthecraft.com/ Where to find Rohan: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rohannvarma X: https://x.com/TheRohanVarma Codex: https://openai.com/codex/ Subscribe to this channel - more interviews coming soon!

June 28, 202642 min

Inside Anthropic’s Bet on Claude Agents that Work While You Sleep | Jess Yan

As product lead at Anthropic, Jess has a first-hand look at how Anthropic teams are moving from prompting AI to building long-running agents that work overnight. In our episode, Jess showed me how to build a Claude analytics agent from scratch, then covered how Anthropic PMs use agents internally to understand the codebase, monitor customer feedback, and make better product decisions. Jess and I talked about: (00:00) AI agents that work while you sleep (03:46) Claude Managed Agents help for long-running tasks (05:22) Demo: Building a Claude analyst agent from scratch (09:28) Traces: How to see where an agent got stuck (15:08) Evals: How agents grade their own work (20:16) 5 ways in which Anthropic PMs use agents internally (28:06) Processing a 4,000-company waitlist with agents (32:47) To build your first agent, focus on helping one person (36:47) What changes when agents can work overnight Thanks to our sponsors: Linear: The AI agent platform for modern teams https://linear.app/behind-the-craft Wispr Flow: 4x faster than typing with your voice https://ref.wisprflow.ai/peteryang Riverside: All-in-one AI studio for podcasts and video https://creators.riverside.com/PeterYang 📌 Get the takeaways: https://creatoreconomy.so/p/inside-anthropics-bet-on-claude-agents-jess-yan 📌 Get my personal AI operating system with all my skills and prompts: https://www.behindthecraft.com/ Where to find Jess: X: https://x.com/jess__yan Website: https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/managed-agents/overviewSubscribe to this channel - more interviews coming soon!

June 21, 202641 min

Full Tutorial: Make Professional Launch Videos for Free with Hyperframes | Bin Liu & Jake Moran

Bin and Jake built HyperFrames , HeyGen’s free open-source tool that turns HTML into professional product launch videos. In this episode, they shared how you can one-shot a launch video for any website. Jake also walked through his personal playbook to make amazing videos with AI — from storyboarding to reusing components to polish. We talked about: (00:00) From HTML to professional video with AI (02:37) How to install HyperFrames in Codex or Claude Code (04:50) Demo: Make a launch video in one shot from Spotify.com (10:47) Jake’s workflow to level up AI videos (13:06) frame.md: Turn brand guidelines into video direction (15:05) storyboard.md: Write the story before building scenes (17:31) HyperFrames launches: Reuse HeyGen’s real components (20:17) Get AI to generate static frames for review before rendering (22:46) Studio: Make visual edits and final polish Thanks to our sponsors: Linear: The AI agent platform for modern teams https://linear.app/behind-the-craft Wispr Flow: 4x faster than typing with your voice https://ref.wisprflow.ai/peter-yang-jun21-pod Riverside: All-in-one AI studio for podcasts and video https://creators.riverside.com/PeterYang 📌 Get the takeaways: https://creatoreconomy.so/p/full-tutorial-make-professional-launch 📌 Get my personal AI operating system with all my skills and prompts: https://www.behindthecraft.com/ Where to find Bin and Jake: Bin: https://x.com/liu8in Jake: https://x.com/JakeFromHeyGen HyperFrames: https://github.com/heygen-com/hyperframes Subscribe to this channel - more interviews coming soon!

June 14, 202647 min

Agentic Engineering, Clearly Explained in 50 Min | Matt Van Horn

Matt has no CS degree, doesn’t know how to code, and doesn’t even read the plans that AI writes. Despite this, he’s built an incredible open source track record with projects like last30days (#1 trending on GitHub with 40K+ stars) and Printing Press (a tool that lets agents use any website or app). Matt has been a huge inspiration for my AI builder journey, and I think you’ll feel the same after watching our conversation. Matt and I talked about: (00:00) "I don't read code and the plans are for AI" (01:19) Compound Engineering: Matt’s go-to agentic loop (07:07) How Matt builds without a CS degree or reading code (11:18) Printing Press: Turning any website into an agent CLI (15:38) How Printing Press finds hidden APIs and GitHub projects (22:44) Why CLI + skill beats MCP for agent workflows (32:49) How Matt contributes to Python, Go, and other top repos (44:28) Why Matt is still afraid to launch finished projects Thanks to our sponsors: Linear: The AI agent platform for modern teams https://linear.app/behind-the-craft Wispr Flow: 4x faster than typing with your voice https://ref.wisprflow.ai/peteryang Riverside: All-in-one AI studio for podcasts and video https://creators.riverside.com/PeterYang 📌 Get the takeaways: https://creatoreconomy.so/p/the-ai-agent-system-behind-this-non-technical-founder-matt-van-horn 📌 Get my personal AI operating system with all my skills and prompts: https://www.behindthecraft.com/ Where to find Matt: X: https://x.com/mvanhorn GitHub: https://github.com/mvanhorn Printing Press: https://printingpress.dev last30days: https://github.com/mvanhorn/last30days-skill Subscribe to this channel - more interviews coming soon!