Thinking Models, Spring sale and MCPs

Hi friends,

I had a pleasant surprise with Cursor last week.

My vibe coding has been a struggle... I was overwhelmed by the AI giving inconsistent results, not following requirements, and reinventing the universe because I didn’t tell it I was using React in my project.

After sharing my workflow with others, people suggested I turn off the “Auto” models.

Cursor Auto model selection gives you a model based on its load and the task you give to it.

This is why, when using Auto mode, you can get different results for the same prompt.

I turned off the flag, and everything was back to normal. I was vibin’ through requirements and was back at speed finally.

Then recently I saw on X a post from a guy spending an extra $180 on the Gemini model because it’s so good, so I decided I’ll give it a shot.

https://x.com/akoskm/status/1925134225805844787?s=46

Gemini blew my mind.

It didn’t try to comply with everything I said to it or one-shot every prompt.

Yes, it’s slower, but for a reason.

It plans and analyses every step before executing it. This is how it detects if it violated a requirement you’ve set before, or the generated solution doesn’t match what you’ve asked for.

Scary & effective.

This is now the default model I use for coding.

Spring Sale

This was my most productive year so far.

Last year in April, I knew that becoming a father comes with changes to my schedule, but I never thought that it would only make me better appreciate the time frame that remains for creating.

The results:

3 books

• OpenAI Crash Course in One Hour: Build Production-Ready Generative AI Apps with React, TypeScript & Remix

• Building Cloud-Based PWAs with Supabase, React & TypeScript

• React Testing Library Crash Course: Learn to Test React Components (Step-by-step guide with practical examples, Vitest, RTL queries, advanced techniques included)

1 course

• Custom React Hooks Crash Course: Learn Hooks Through 6 Apps

4 egghead lessons

• Set up Vitest in a Vite Project to Unit Test React Applications using React Testing Library

• Set up a Custom ESLint Rule

• Test Custom ESLint Rules with Vitest and RuleTester

2 apps

• OneTaskX - #4 product of the day!

• Kidcarecards

This wouldn’t have been possible without your support and encouragement. This is why I’m running a 50% OFF spring sale on all my books and the Udemy course.

And that’s not all!

I’ve been extremely excited about MCPs, and my next book will be about this technology.

It’ll be as big as React.

Subscribe here to get early updates and previews: https://akoskm.gumroad.com/l/mcp.

MCP

The Model Context Protocol was started for me as just another hype, but I got really excited about the possibilities, and Microsoft’s recent announcement of adding native support for MCP in Windows just further proved to me that this is the direction where user interaction is headed.

I’ve been playing with MCPs for a couple of weeks now and wrote a simple guide that helps you understand the topic better.

https://akoskm.com/mcp-model-context-protocol-a-simple-guide/

If you’d like to dive into MCPs further, here’s a step-by-step guide on setting up and running your first MCP server:

https://akoskm.com/build-an-mcp-server-from-scratch/

Thanks for tuning in to this off-beat newsletter. Hit reply, send this to a colleague, or subscribe if you haven’t done so yet. 😁

Enjoy the rest of the week!

- Akos

P.S.: I’m not affiliated with them, but I’ve been looking for a Gmail alternative, and ProtonMail is celebrating its 11th year and offering a 50% discount. Maybe it’s time to migrate if you’re also looking for an alternative.