Arc Notes Weekly #95: Verticals
This week, Explore OpenAI Codex in action, DoorDash’s AI-powered search evals, and the case for clever code.
This week, go hands-on with OpenAI Codex and explore its chat-first approach to coding. See how DoorDash uses LLMs to evaluate search results in real time, and discover why clever code might be more valuable than you think.
Sponsor Spotlight: Smarter Monetization for SaaS Tired of hard-coding pricing logic? Schematic makes entitlements a first-class primitive, so you can stop burying access rules in brittle conditionals and let the product teams take control.
Enjoy this week's round-up!
— Mahdi Yusuf (@myusuf3) or LinkedIn
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Articles
OpenAI Codex: A Hands-On Review
Dive into a hands-on review of OpenAI's Codex, exploring its potential to revolutionize workflows with its chat-first interface and GitHub integration. While it excels at handling multiple tasks in parallel, the review highlights areas for improvement, such as error handling and network connectivity in execution sandboxes. Discover whether Codex can unlock productivity gains for you!How DoorDash Uses AI to Revolutionize Search Evaluation
Learn how DoorDash's AutoEval system, powered by large language models, transforms search result evaluations by providing scalable, accurate, and near-real-time assessments, outperforming traditional human annotations and enhancing efficiency across their platform!Discover the Ultimate Directory for MCP Servers
Explore the MCP Directory, a comprehensive resource for finding awesome MCP servers, complete with a live preview and easy setup instructions. Whether you're a developer or just curious, this directory is your go-to guide for MCP server exploration!Schematic: Modern Monetization Without the Hacks
Most SaaS products bury pricing logic deep in brittle conditionals — making it painful to evolve plans, manage trials, or run sales. Schematic fixes that by making entitlements a first-class primitive. Developers stop hard-coding access rules and start using entitlements.check() instead. Product and GTM teams take over from there, owning monetization without shipping code.
No more brittle logic. Just clean, flexible monetization.
Why Writing Clever Code Can Be a Good Thing
While clever code is often frowned upon, this article argues that it can be a valuable tool for skill development and problem-solving. Discover how writing clever code can push your boundaries and prepare you for those moments when a simple solution just won't cut it!Streamlining Feedback: A Guide to Effective Document Review
Discover how to provide feedback that truly helps document authors, reducing the overhead of sharing widely and fostering better cross-team communication. Learn why focusing on the author's needs, rather than your own goals, is key to creating an environment where sharing is encouraged and beneficial for all.Mind-Blowing Reads That Changed My Programming Language Perspective
Max Bernstein shares a collection of transformative writings that reshaped his understanding of programming languages and compilers. From a simple semi-space collector to a Python interpreter written in Python, these articles and posts offer fresh insights and practical approaches that could change how you think about coding too!Understanding Judgment Lists: A Key to Search Relevance
How judgment lists can transform search relevance evaluation from a subjective task into a systematic practice, providing a safety net for search teams to innovate without fear of breaking the system. Learn how these lists help rank search results effectively and explore the different methods of creating them.Projects
fina
Discover how Fina can revolutionize your financial tracking with its customizable, AI-powered features that make managing personal and business finances a breeze. Say goodbye to spreadsheets and hello to peace of mind!helixdb
HelixDB is a cutting-edge, open-source graph-vector database built in Rust, engineered for high-performance AI and RAG applications. With speeds up to 1000x faster than Neo4j, HelixDB is redefining how data is stored and retrieved. Explore its powerful features and discover how it can transform your data infrastructure.
Why 'Let's Just' Ideas in Engineering Often Fail
Steven Sinofsky dives into why seemingly simple engineering solutions like 'let's just make it pluggable' or 'let's just add an API' often end up being more complex and problematic than anticipated. Discover the pitfalls of these common approaches and why they rarely work as intended.