Taste is the New Moat - Building Winterfell

1/19/26

  • ref: https://winterfell.dev
  • Main Idea: have an approach and taking ownership while building applications
  • AI Era
    • AI can replicate nearly everything
    • intense debate online about whether human engineers are still necessary
    • what is the distinction b/w project and a product.
      • edge cases
      • micro interactions
      • performance
    • other factors:
      • thoughtful defaults
      • do it now mindset
  • winterfell
    • generates contract for web3 applications using prompts
    • similar like lovable.
  • edge cases
    • added templates for people who dont want to create contract from scratch.
    • if there is already a chat existing, ask the user for a new chat, instead appending everything (prompt + template) in a single chat.
    • learning: think of all the edge cases in the application and what all features you wanna support with your own constraints.
    • users might wanna export the codebase to your Github
      • users choosing repo name is already existing -> added a small ui change to show it is not available.
      • if available show a green sign -> users are able to know , users will come back -> small retention things required to launch it to the market.
    • anything that we ship should have a purpose, otherwise it will drive customers away.
    • while making features , always things of these small edge cases that can happen.
  • thoughtful defaults
    • while building, make the thing as much polished as we can.
    • think of it as the users will come into the picture, they will use it and what all interactions will come into the picture.
    • think of everything as intention of building and shipping a product
    • take ownership and make your product e2e ready.
    • don’t leave and make things only functional - focus on experience also
  • ui/ux and dx
    • best resourceful application, should be functional, maintainable, can be itered fast and should be useful for others.
    • have clean distinctions on what we are building.
    • not only ui/ux , but also write clean code -> better dx lets you debug and maintain code easier.
  • project/ product
    • project
      • application which was built to just showcase its purpose
      • bugs and improvements kept to solve later.
      • shortcuts taken to hit the deadline
    • product
      • an application which is being built in a way that real users will kick in
      • take the ownership of quality at every level. just don’t ship code that “works” - refine it until it truly serves users well.
      • think in terms of scalability, maintenance and evolution.
  • understand the user journey map
    • always place the user journey maps before writing a single line of code
    • onboarding / entry point
      • winterfell -> primarily entered through developer channels.
      • core audience to developers
      • require sign in via github -> primary authenticated
        • want the code in their local github
      • non -developer users , Google Sign in as fallback authentication.
    • discovery
      • aim to deliver by exploring key features through clear and intuitive navigation.
    • playground
      • user experience though interaction with the site.
      • needed to make the playground page the most polished.
      • the core of the product -> shouldn’t send a bad signal -> remove rigidness and to support the site.
      • all the behaviors should work like a charm.
    • retention and trust signals
      • if users feel stuck or annoyed, they wont use it again.
      • try to take reviews
      • the repository creation small ui fix -> red if already exists or green if can be created
        • think of small edge cases like this , to make ux better.
  • iceberg principle :
    • small feature like adding collaborator actually hides several imp considerations beneath the surface.
    • difference bw project perspective and production perspective.
  • taste is not personal preference
    • you can always know a good website from a bad one.
    • how to develop good taste ?
      • not only browse websites from users perspective , but also from a developer’s eye
      • eg: gumroad and its neobrutalist theme of website.
      • train yourself with intent , it can’t be imposed or downloaded.
    • inspiration
      • scroll products not products
        • eg: huly.io -> discord but for teams
        • eg: cal.com
        • eg: aceternity.ui
        • eg: reactbits
      • decode -> understand their behaviour
      • internalize -> rebuild those interactions
      • refine -> remove the unneccessary clogs and make the application own it, even if it is copied
  • “learn to write clean code, not just UIs. and learn to write it with bare hands”
  • “in a world of scarcity, we treasure tools, in a world of abundance, we treasure taste”