Tooling on Brett Smith

Checking Out exe.dev

Sat, 03 Jan 2026 06:34:00 -0700

Finally took a look at David Crawshaw’s new project exe.dev , a slick new service for spinning up virtual machines in seconds. It’s a subscription service that gives you access to VM’s with persistant disks for a really great price. Enough is enough and I am slowly iterating through creating my own end to end agent orchestration system where I can manage projects as a HOTL (Human on the loop; shoutout Geoffrey Huntley ).

uv tips

Mon, 21 Jul 2025 10:23:00 -0700

Today I learned about some powerful, lesser-known features of uv , a fast Python package and environment manager. Beyond the usual uv venv and uv sync, uv offers commands that streamline workflows for tool management, Python versions, and reproducible builds. Here’s a quick overview of some standout features:

Running ruff directly

# Install CLI tools globally in isolated environments (like pipx, but faster)
uv tool install ruff
# Run tools ephemerally without permanent installs
uvx ruff check

Manage Python versions directly

# Install specific Python versions
uv python install 3.10 3.11
# List installed versions
uv python list
# Upgrade to latest patch release
uv python upgrade 3.10

Compile requirements for reproducible builds

# Generate a pinned lockfile
uv pip compile requirements.in -o requirements.txt --universal
# Pre-compile bytecode for faster container startup
uv pip compile requirements.in -o requirements.txt --compile-bytecode

Run commands with automatic environment syncing

# Auto-sync dependencies before running
uv run ruff check
# Use non-editable installs for production-like setups
uv run --no-editable python script.py

Build and package Python distributions

# Create source distribution and wheel
uv build --wheel
# Skip build isolation for tricky dependencies
uv build --no-build-isolation-package numpy

I have really liked using uv in my work and personal projects. It’s no secret it is becoming the best way to manage Python dependencies. Knowing some of the other things uv can do helps make developing in Python that much more enjoyable.

Repomix

Sun, 20 Jul 2025 16:37:26 -0700

I have been using RepoMix on and off for projects on Github, but I never knew they had a CLI for it. It’s extremely useful and easy to setup. I was using a custom python script but the repomix cli is much easier to work with.

There are a bunch of useful commands. Here is a quick overview:

# Install using npm
npm install -g repomix

# Then run in any project directory
repomix

Pack specific files or directories