Corey Daley

Corey Daley

Software Engineer & AI Enthusiast

About

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Hi, I’m Corey Daley

I’m a software engineer who’s fascinated by the intersection of human creativity and artificial intelligence. This blog is my corner of the internet where I explore how AI tools are transforming the way we write code, create content, and solve problems.

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What I Do

I build things with code—and increasingly, I build them with AI. From AI pipeline orchestration engines and Obsidian plugins to Hugo themes and developer tooling, I’m constantly experimenting with how different AI assistants can augment human capabilities without replacing human judgment. Most of what I build is open source.

You can find a full list of projects — active, completed, and archived — on the Projects page.

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Why This Blog Exists

This site was built collaboratively with Claude Code—not just to have a blog, but to explore how AI and humans work together effectively. Every post is an experiment in AI-assisted creation, and I’m transparent about that process.

I write about:

  • AI-assisted development and how different tools find their niches
  • Pipeline orchestration and building durable, declarative AI workflows
  • Plugin and tool development — Obsidian plugins, Hugo themes, developer utilities
  • Open source — building in public and sharing the learning journey
  • Web development with Hugo, static site generators, and modern tooling
  • Ethics and best practices around AI in software engineering
  • Productivity workflows that balance automation with intentionality
  • Career insights from navigating the rapidly evolving tech landscape
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My Philosophy on AI

I don’t believe AI is here to replace developers—I believe it’s here to amplify what we can do. But with that power comes responsibility. I think a lot about questions like:

  • When does using AI cross the line from productivity tool to ethical problem?
  • How do we maintain authenticity and skill development while leveraging AI?
  • What does transparency look like when AI contributes to our work?
  • How can we use AI as a learning tool rather than a replacement for learning?

You’ll find these themes woven throughout my writing, because I believe the best way to navigate AI’s role in software engineering is through open, honest exploration of the hard questions.

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The Iterative Approach

One of my core beliefs is that great software emerges from iteration, not perfection on the first try. Whether I’m building a Hugo theme, writing a blog post, or integrating a new AI tool into my workflow, I embrace the cycle of:

  1. Build something that works
  2. Test it in the real world
  3. Get feedback (from humans or from running into problems)
  4. Refine based on what I learned
  5. Repeat

This blog itself is a product of that process—constantly evolving as I learn more about what works and what doesn’t.

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Beyond Code

When I’m not experimenting with AI tools or writing about software engineering, I’m thinking about how technology shapes our work, our communities, and our future. I’m particularly interested in:

  • How AI is changing hiring practices and career development
  • The democratization of technical skills through AI assistance
  • Building in public and sharing the learning journey
  • The ethics of AI-generated content in open source communities
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Let’s Connect

I’m always interested in connecting with fellow developers, AI enthusiasts, and anyone curious about the intersection of technology and creativity.

You can find me on:

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What’s Next?

A few things actively in progress:

  • Attractor — working on a video series covering installation, configuration, and advanced pipeline patterns (conditional branching, parallel execution, human gates)
  • obsidian-ai-agent-sidebar-plugin — continuing to expand agent support and vault operation capabilities
  • agent-config — evolving the multi-agent config pipeline as new tools and formats emerge

The broader thread connecting all of it: pushing on what AI-as-a-peer looks like at the workflow level — not just for individual coding tasks, but for multi-agent pipelines that can plan, execute, validate, and recover from failure with minimal human intervention.

If you’re on a similar journey, or if you have thoughts on any of the topics I write about, I’d love to hear from you. This blog is a conversation, not a monologue.

Thanks for being here!