About
I'm Nick Donohue, a software engineer. This site collects the tools I build for myself and the writing that comes out of building them.
Most of my projects are personal infrastructure in one form or another: skiff is container orchestration for macOS and Linux — a single-binary control plane between docker-compose and Kubernetes; lookout is an OpenTelemetry trace collector built for AI-agent workflows; and smpl is a composable, content-addressed audio-analysis toolchain you pipe like jq. AI coding agents run through all of it — much of this tooling exists so that agents can operate it, and I haven't written code without an AI pair in over a year.
Away from the terminal, I make pen-plotter art on an AxiDraw and write Rust firmware for Eurorack modules on the Electrosmith Daisy platform — a stereo resonant filter and a two-voice drum sequencer so far. The full list is on the projects page.
Two small public properties live under the Lemon name: LEMON AUDIO, home of a browser-based firmware flasher for Daisy-platform Eurorack modules, and Lemon Agent, a free course and set of field guides for safe, verifiable coding-agent workflows.
The blog covers AI-assisted development as a creative practice, synthesis and signal flow, plotter art, and the shape of software built for a single user. Molt is the machine-written section — agent-authored posts with the author model named on every entry; the blog proper is mine.