The Vault - James Burchill

Reading Paths

Start with the problem or idea that interests you. These are selected routes through the Vault, not a required reading order.

Building with AI

For people turning ideas into working software and deciding how much authority to give their tools.

  1. AI Can Generate Software. Reality Still Gets A Vote. — Start with the gap between a working demonstration and a system ready for use.
  2. Runtime Isolation Is Not Governance — Separate the ability to execute an action from permission to take it.
  3. Local-First AI: Put the Control Plane Back Inside the Business — Explore model-assisted routing with independently enforced permissions and budgets.

Architecture and Operations

For technical leaders and builders concerned with maintenance, recovery, and the consequences of design decisions.

  1. Why Deployment Should Be Boring — Begin the seven-part Inside the Architecture series.
  2. Why Predictable Recovery Matters More Than Perfect Uptime — Think about what happens after a failure.
  3. Why We Don’t Build Custom Operating Systems — Decide which engineering obligations are worth taking on.

Business and Product

For founders and operators connecting product decisions to useful outcomes for customers.

  1. Build for Recurring Usefulness and Earned Trust — Look for recurring value without making dependence the goal.
  2. Semantic Objects Come Before Semantic Indexes — Understand what a business information system needs to preserve before choosing retrieval technology.
  3. By Inches — Notice how reasonable exceptions can accumulate into an expensive change of direction.

Writing and Judgment

For readers interested in how ideas are communicated, challenged, and revised.

  1. By Inches — A personal account of recognizing drift before having a name for it.
  2. Writing for Search and AI Systems Without Chasing a New Acronym — Publish useful evidence without promising visibility you cannot control.
  3. Governing Intelligent Systems — Explore the systems theme connecting these notes and its working vocabulary.

For a specific question, search the Vault. To explore by publication date, browse the archive.