Hello and welcome to The Mindshift AI Inference!

This week we explored: Ambient AI; terminal tools that speak your language; a networking AI that makes introductions and why ideas now matter more than execution. Today I want to step back and show you the bigger picture.

You can build your own AI-powered creativity system. Not by buying another app. Not by subscribing to another service. By assembling simple pieces that you control.

Here is what you need:

Plain text files or markdown. Nothing fancy. Text files have survived every technology shift for fifty years. They will survive the next fifty. No lock-in. No proprietary formats. Just words.

A folder system. Drafts here. Research there. Published work in another place. Ideas in a single file you keep adding to. Simple structure beats complex apps.

Version control. GitHub. Every change tracked. Every version saved. You can see how your thinking evolved. You can go back. You can branch.

An AI layer. Claude Code, or any terminal AI that can read and write files. This is where The Thinking Loop lives. The AI reads your files. Generates options. You filter. Refine. Repeat.

That is it. Four components. All portable. All inspectable. All under your control.

Controllable Components

Most productivity tools are designed to capture you. Your notes live in their cloud. Your workflows depend on their features. Your data sits behind their login.

This system is different. Every piece is replaceable. You can swap the AI. You can move the files. You can change the folder structure. Nothing depends on a single vendor.

Earlier this month I wrote: "If you can inspect it, compare it, and move it, AI is a tool. If you cannot, it is a dependency."

This creativity system passes that test. Every file is readable. Every change is visible. Every component can leave.

The bigger picture:

The tools we use shape how we think. Rigid tools create rigid thinking. Flexible tools create space.

When your system is made of simple, movable pieces, you can experiment. Reorganize your folders. Add a new workflow. Nothing breaks. Nothing is lost.

The system grows with you instead of constraining you.

Build your own system. Make it simple. Keep it yours.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Matthias