Developer replaced every daily tool with custom software built in x86_64 assembly (CHasm) and Rust (Fe2O3) over ~60 hours, guided by Claude Code.
Key Takeaways
Two-layer stack: CHasm (assembly, no libc) handles window manager, status bar, screen locker, terminal, login shell; Fe2O3 (Rust on shared TUI lib crust) covers editor, file manager, email/RSS, calendar, astronomy, and media tracking.
vim replaced in 72 hours by scribe: modal like vim, strips unused features, adds soft-wrap, focus/reading mode, HyperList syntax, persistent cross-session registers, and inline AI prompt.
Author frames the shift as economic: AI codegen plus well-documented TUI patterns collapsed years-long personal projects into weekends.
Software is explicitly not for distribution – no configurability, no docs, no issue tracker. Complexity from multi-user accommodation is stripped entirely.
Firefox and WeeChat are the only remaining third-party programs.
Hacker News Comment Review
Cost skepticism surfaced quickly: Claude Code at non-Max tiers is expensive, but the author clarified he runs Claude Max subscription (~flat rate) and logged roughly 60 hours of his own time across the full CHasm + Fe2O3 suite.
A sharp counter-argument holds that LLM-generated codebases become opaque fast – you end up owning code you can barely recognize or modify solo, undermining the “fully mine” framing.
Broader pattern resonating: commenters are independently building “extremely personal software” (one called it EPS) for audiences of 1-10, citing the same cost-collapse dynamic across Ruby, tmux wrappers, and custom hardware.
Notable Comments
@blks: “piles of code that you barely recognise” – questions whether LLM-authored code is truly yours in any meaningful sense.
@vidarh: doing the same in pure Ruby – wm, shell, terminal, editor, file manager, dmenu clone – mostly hand-written, now selectively improved with Claude.
