The Taku Blog
Ideas worth building on.
Stories, product notes, and perspectives on how AI gets discovered, used, remixed, and shared.
October 7, 2026
AI Agent Marketplace: 7 Places to Get Agents, Compared
What an AI agent marketplace is, the three kinds, and how AWS, Salesforce, Google, Microsoft, the GPT Store, Apify and Taku compare.
October 7, 2026
AI App vs Prompt vs Skill: What's the Difference?
A prompt is text you paste each time, a skill is packaged instructions the AI loads on demand, and an app runs a job end to end. How to pick one.
October 7, 2026
AI for Research Papers: The Right Tool for Each Job
AI for research papers, sorted by job: finding papers, mapping a field, reading one closely, and cutting a conference down to a 20-paper reading list.
October 7, 2026
Claude Desktop vs Claude Code: Which One Do You Need?
Claude Desktop is an app; Claude Code is an agent that also runs inside it. What each can reach on your machine, how MCP differs, and which plan you need.
October 7, 2026
How to Monetize AI Agents: 5 Models and Their Costs
How to monetize AI agents: subscriptions, usage or outcome pricing, client builds, marketplaces and open source, plus model costs and what to validate first.
October 7, 2026
How to Sell AI Skills: Prompts, Claude Skills and Workflows
How to sell AI skills, Claude skills, prompts and n8n or Make workflows: what buyers pay for, how to package it, where to list it and how to price it.
October 7, 2026
LM Studio Alternatives: 8 Local LLM Apps Compared
Eight LM Studio alternatives for running local LLMs, sorted by what you want instead: open source, a CLI or API, a simpler app, team RAG, or Intel Mac support.
October 7, 2026
TypingMind Alternatives: 9 Chat Apps for Your Own API Keys
TypingMind alternatives compared: open-source, self-hosted, desktop and local-model chat apps that take your own API keys, and how to pick one.
October 5, 2026
AI Agent Memory: How It Works and What It Costs You
AI agent memory explained: why a model starts blank on every call, the four layers apps use to remember you, and what to ask any AI product about it.
October 5, 2026
AI Hallucinations: Why They Happen and How to Reduce Them
Why AI makes things up, where it bites (citations, numbers, quotes, code), and a six-step checklist to reduce hallucinations, each tied to a primary source.
October 5, 2026
AI Tools for Excel: What Each One Does Well
AI tools for Excel, sorted by job: formulas, data cleaning, analysis and charts, and whole workbooks. What to use, and how to check the numbers.
October 5, 2026
Aider vs Claude Code: Git-Native Pair or Full Agent
Aider lets you pick any model and commits every edit to git. Claude Code is a fuller agent harness locked to Claude models. Here is how to choose.
October 5, 2026
Claude Code GitHub Actions: Setup and @claude Guide
Set up Claude Code GitHub Actions with /install-github-app or by hand: secrets, workflow file, triggers, permissions, CLAUDE.md, and security rules.
October 5, 2026
Claude Code Headless Mode: Run claude -p in Scripts
Claude Code headless mode is the -p flag. How to pipe input, pick an output format, limit tools and turns, resume sessions, and run it in CI.
October 5, 2026
Claude Code JetBrains Plugin: Install and Setup
How to run Claude Code in JetBrains IDEs: install the plugin, connect with /ide, use IDE diffs and selection context, plus WSL and remote notes.
October 5, 2026
Claude Code on the Web: How Cloud Sessions Work
Claude Code on the web runs sessions on Anthropic's cloud, not your laptop. How to start one, what GitHub does, and what keeps running when you close the tab.
October 5, 2026
Claude Code Permissions: Modes, Rules, settings.json
How Claude Code permissions work: the six permission modes, allow, ask and deny rules, which settings file wins, /permissions, and where the sandbox fits.
October 5, 2026
Claude Code Slash Commands: Built-In and Custom
Claude Code slash commands explained: what the built-in ones do, where custom commands live, and how they relate to skills now that the two have merged.
October 5, 2026
Claude Code vs Lovable: App Builder or Coding Agent?
Lovable generates and hosts your web app. Claude Code edits a codebase you own. How to choose, and how the Lovable-to-GitHub-to-Claude Code handoff works.
October 5, 2026
Context Window Explained: Why the AI Forgets
What a context window is, how tokens fill it, why long chats go wrong, and how compaction, memory, and retrieval differ. Habits that keep AI useful.
October 5, 2026
Dify vs Langflow: App Platform or Flow Builder
Dify vs Langflow compared on licence, RAG, publishing, MCP and self-hosting. Dify ships a finished AI app; Langflow is a Python-based visual builder.
October 5, 2026
Google Antigravity vs Cursor: Agent-First or Editor-First?
Antigravity is now a family of agent-first surfaces from Google. Cursor is an AI editor owned by SpaceX. Here's how they differ as of October 2026.
October 5, 2026
MCP Security Risks: What to Check Before You Connect
MCP security risks as the spec itself names them: code execution, prompt injection, token misuse, and untrusted servers, plus a checklist before you connect.
October 5, 2026
Mistral vs ChatGPT: Open Weights, EU Data, and Breadth
Le Chat is now Vibe. Where Mistral's open-weight models and EU hosting beat ChatGPT, and where ChatGPT's wider feature set still wins.
