SimonWillison.net is the long-running blog of Simon Willison, a software engineer, open-source creator, and co-author of the original Django framework. He writes about Python, Django, Datasette, AI tooling, prompt engineering, search, databases, APIs, data journalism, and practical software architecture. The blog includes detailed notes from experiments, conference talks, and real projects. Readers will find clear explanations of topics such as LLM workflows, SQL patterns, data publishing, scraping, deployment, caching, and modern developer tooling. Simon also publishes frequent micro-posts and TIL entries that document small discoveries and tricks from day-to-day engineering work. The tone is practical and research oriented, making the site a valuable resource for anyone interested in serious engineering and open data.
127 articles from this blog
OpenAI's ChatGPT Images update focuses on faster generation, better instruction following, and lower costs, with comparisons to competitor models.
Release notes for s3-credentials CLI tool version 0.17, introducing new commands for S3 bucket policy management and a local credential server.
Introducing ty, a new, extremely fast Python type checker and language server from Astral, promising massive speed improvements over mypy and Pyright.
Introducing Poe the Poet, a tool for managing project tasks and commands via pyproject.toml, demonstrated with a Python documentation setup.
Kent Beck discusses how AI coding assistants accelerate learning for junior developers, improving their productivity and making them better hires.
A developer uses Codex CLI and GPT-5.2 to port the JustHTML Python HTML5 parser to JavaScript in 4.5 hours, creating a fully tested library.
Merriam-Webster names 'slop' the 2025 Word of the Year, defining it as low-quality, mass-produced AI-generated digital content.
A look at JustHTML, a new Python HTML parser library, and how it was built using AI-assisted programming and 'vibe engineering'.
Obie Fernandez reflects on AI coding agents shifting developer focus from writing code to decision-making and intent.
A guide on using the OpenAI Codex CLI, focusing on skill workflows, reading SKILL.md files, and efficient resource management.
OpenAI is quietly adding 'skills' support to ChatGPT and Codex CLI, a feature inspired by Anthropic for extending AI capabilities with custom folders and scripts.
OpenAI announces GPT-5.2, a major AI model update with new variants, improved benchmarks, and advanced features like response compaction.
A developer shares patterns and best practices for creating single-file HTML tools using LLMs, covering prototyping, dependencies, and deployment.
Explores the 'Normalization of Deviance' concept in AI safety, warning against complacency with LLM vulnerabilities like prompt injection.
A developer details implementing a dark mode toggle using CSS, media queries, localStorage, and tools like Claude Code and ImageMagick.
A retrospective on Let's Encrypt's 10-year impact, highlighting its growth to become the world's largest certificate authority and its role in securing the web.
Mistral AI releases Devstral 2 and Devstral Small 2, two new open models focused on powering coding agents and software development tasks.
An interview about Canada Spends, a project using Datasette, SQLite, and LLMs to make Canadian government financial data accessible and explorable.
Major tech companies launch the Agentic AI Foundation under the Linux Foundation to promote open, collaborative standards for AI agent development.
