Nikita Prokopov
Programmer and designer who writes at tonsky.me; author of Fira Code, DataScript and AnyBar.
Nikita Prokopov did not write this page. ppll compiled it from their own words, each linked to the source. Is this you? · Report a mistake
Latest GitHub
What they believe
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Polished UI is a reasonable signal that a team invested comparable effort in the underlying code quality.
Users can't see the code, so UI is the only way for them to judge the quality of the app. If UI looks good, that means developers had time to polish it, which means that they probably spent a comparable amount of time to iron out the code.
tonsky.meSaid 13 Jun 2026This on korrents
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Native OS APIs are worse to develop against than web APIs, and platform vendors discourage native app development.
Native APIs are terrible to use, and OS vendors use everything in their power to make you not want to develop native apps for their platform.
tonsky.meSaid 3 Mar 2026This on korrents
The bold line is korrents’ wording; the quote is theirs. These 2: what they wrote before what they said aloud, one per source, newest first.
Feed
As its own page →Hiding
21 October
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11 October
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15 August
4 August
14 July
13 June
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korrents.com
Polished UI is a reasonable signal that a team invested comparable effort in the underlying code quality.Their words
Users can't see the code, so UI is the only way for them to judge the quality of the app. If UI looks good, that means developers had time to polish it, which means that they probably spent a comparable amount of time to iron out the code.
3 March
From one piece Claude is an Electron App because we’ve lost native 3 beliefs · tonsky.me
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korrents.com
Bloated, slow software is caused by a lack of engineering care, not by the choice of technology stack.Their words
The real problem is a lack of care. And the slop; you can build it with any stack.
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Their words
These days, though, native is as bad as the web, if not worse.
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korrents.com
Native OS APIs are worse to develop against than web APIs, and platform vendors discourage native app development.Their words
Native APIs are terrible to use, and OS vendors use everything in their power to make you not want to develop native apps for their platform.
15 January
From one piece Podcast: На Маке нет никаких шкафов @ Думаем дальше 3 beliefs · tonsky.me
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korrents.com
Frontend-backend communication should be mediated through a shared database rather than a custom API.Their words
Communication between frontend and backend should be handled by database
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korrents.com
Making programming easier for more people has caused software to become bloated, slow and hard to manage.Their words
Компьютеры стали бытовым прибором, начать программировать легче, чем когда-либо, сложнейшие вещи делаются просто и даже тривиально, написаны горы готового кода. К сожалению, у этого есть и обратная сторона - программы становятся большими, медленными, неуправляемыми, непонимаемыми.
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korrents.com
Local-first software will not become the dominant architecture, and that is an acceptable outcome.Their words
Local-first is not going to win, but that's okay We'll explore the complexities of traditional stack (db-server-frontend), develop a theory of software evolution: which systems succeed and why.
5 January
From one piece It’s hard to justify Tahoe icons 3 beliefs · tonsky.me
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korrents.com
If every element in an interface is marked as distinct, none of them actually stand out.Their words
To stand out, things need to be different. But if everything has an icon, nothing stands out.
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korrents.com
There is no good icon metaphor for every possible action, no matter how much effort goes into finding one.Their words
It's delusional to think that there's a good icon for every action if you think hard enough. There isn't.
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korrents.com
Human-interface design principles from decades ago remain valid because human cognition hasn't changed.Their words
But the principles-as long as they are good principles-still apply, because they are based on how humans work, not how computers work.
15 December 2025
From one piece Statistics made simple 2 beliefs · tonsky.me
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Their words
I mean, sure, you might try to guess people's tastes and only write about what's popular, but that will destroy your soul pretty quickly.
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korrents.com
Raw pageview or reader counts are not actionable information for a writer's editorial decisions.Their words
analytics is not actionable: what difference does it make if a thousand people saw my article or ten thousand?
Nothing matches.
Beliefs
Korrents What they believe 12 beliefs — each backed by an exact quote.
Each is a — compiled by korrents.com, not by them: the one-line wordings are korrents', the quotes are theirs.
Recent
Polished UI is a reasonable signal that a team invested comparable effort in the underlying code quality.
Users can't see the code, so UI is the only way for them to judge the quality of the app. If UI looks good, that means developers had time to polish it, which means that they probably spent a comparable amount of time to iron out the code.
Every Frame Perfect Said 13 Jun 2026
Native OS APIs are worse to develop against than web APIs, and platform vendors discourage native app development.
Native APIs are terrible to use, and OS vendors use everything in their power to make you not want to develop native apps for their platform.
Claude is an Electron App because we’ve lost native Said 3 Mar 2026
Native app UI is no longer more consistent or polished than the web, and may be worse.
These days, though, native is as bad as the web, if not worse.
Claude is an Electron App because we’ve lost native Said 3 Mar 2026
Show 9 more
Bloated, slow software is caused by a lack of engineering care, not by the choice of technology stack.
The real problem is a lack of care. And the slop; you can build it with any stack.
Claude is an Electron App because we’ve lost native Said 3 Mar 2026
Local-first software will not become the dominant architecture, and that is an acceptable outcome.
Local-first is not going to win, but that's okay We'll explore the complexities of traditional stack (db-server-frontend), develop a theory of software evolution: which systems succeed and why.
Podcast: На Маке нет никаких шкафов @ Думаем дальше Said 15 Jan 2026
Making programming easier for more people has caused software to become bloated, slow and hard to manage.
Компьютеры стали бытовым прибором, начать программировать легче, чем когда-либо, сложнейшие вещи делаются просто и даже тривиально, написаны горы готового кода. К сожалению, у этого есть и обратная сторона - программы становятся большими, медленными, неуправляемыми, непонимаемыми.
Podcast: На Маке нет никаких шкафов @ Думаем дальше Said 15 Jan 2026
Frontend-backend communication should be mediated through a shared database rather than a custom API.
Communication between frontend and backend should be handled by database
Podcast: На Маке нет никаких шкафов @ Думаем дальше Said 15 Jan 2026
Human-interface design principles from decades ago remain valid because human cognition hasn't changed.
But the principles-as long as they are good principles-still apply, because they are based on how humans work, not how computers work.
It’s hard to justify Tahoe icons Said 5 Jan 2026
There is no good icon metaphor for every possible action, no matter how much effort goes into finding one.
It's delusional to think that there's a good icon for every action if you think hard enough. There isn't.
It’s hard to justify Tahoe icons Said 5 Jan 2026
If every element in an interface is marked as distinct, none of them actually stand out.
To stand out, things need to be different. But if everything has an icon, nothing stands out.
It’s hard to justify Tahoe icons Said 5 Jan 2026
Raw pageview or reader counts are not actionable information for a writer's editorial decisions.
analytics is not actionable: what difference does it make if a thousand people saw my article or ten thousand?
Statistics made simple Said 15 Dec 2025
Writing to chase popularity rather than genuine interest corrupts a creator's work.
I mean, sure, you might try to guess people's tastes and only write about what's popular, but that will destroy your soul pretty quickly.
Statistics made simple Said 15 Dec 2025
What is a korrent?
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Nobody here wrote their own korrents. They are compiled from public statements, and a person can change their mind, which is recorded too.
Recommends rcmnd
rcmnd What they recommend 6 things — each backed by an exact quote.
Compiled by rcmnd.app, not by them: the quotes are theirs, and each links to the post it was copied from.
Recent
Liked Xgimi H1 projector
and a Xgimi H1 LED projector. Much bigger image than any TV would give you, perfect for immersive experiences.
usesthis.com 22 Nov 2018
Disliked Nexus 5X
My phone is an old Nexus 5X, which is almost unusable with today’s apps
usesthis.com 22 Nov 2018
Loved Nintendo Switch
For entertainment I’m super happy with the Nintendo Switch, which has a multitude of great games
usesthis.com 22 Nov 2018
Show 3 more
Loved Bose QuietComfort 35
My go-to headphones are wireless Bose QuietComfort 35’s, which are fantastic for when you need to concentrate or you’re just tired of noise from a plane or train.
usesthis.com 22 Nov 2018
Liked Microsoft Sculpt keyboard
My keyboard is a Microsoft Sculpt which is surprisingly ergonomic and very good for my hands. Looks nice too. I only wish it was mechanical.
usesthis.com 22 Nov 2018
Mixed on Dell P2415Q
a 24" 4K display which occasionally gives me headaches, but when it works the image is perfect.
usesthis.com 22 Nov 2018
Where they publish
Blog tonsky.me His blog on programming, design and typography.
Recent
- Logo: Squawkbox 14 Jul 2026 Squawkbox is a boiler fleet monitor.
- Every Frame Perfect 13 Jun 2026 How imprecise UI animations erode trust in product
- Claude is an Electron App because we’ve lost native 3 Mar 2026 Article argues that Claude is not an Electron app not because LLMs can’t do it, but because there are no advantages left for native
Show 3 more
- Podcast: На Маке нет никаких шкафов @ Думаем дальше 15 Jan 2026 С Ильей Бирманом провожаем Алана Дая, вспоминая, в чём состоят достижения Мака, Джобса и ХИГа (но и Винду добрым словом тоже вспоминаем).
- It’s hard to justify Tahoe icons 5 Jan 2026 Looking at the first principles of icon design—and how Apple failed to apply all of them in macOS Tahoe
- Statistics made simple 15 Dec 2025 Announcing a simple statistics library for Clojure web servers
Link verified 5 Sept 2026. Recent items update automatically from the channel.
GitHub tonsky His GitHub account, home of Fira Code and DataScript.
Recent
- linear-test 21 Oct 2026
- tonsky.me 20 Oct 2026
- unquarantine — A menubar app that automatically removes quarantine flag from all your downloads 20 Oct 2026
Show 14 more
- grumpy — Minimalistic blog engine 20 Oct 2026
- youtubecast — Turns YouTube channels/playlists into audio podcast feeds 19 Oct 2026
- chillalert 18 Oct 2026
- tgadmin 17 Oct 2026
- macos-cursors-comic-book — Big bold beautiful comic book-style cursors for macOS 14 Oct 2026
- clojure-plus — A project to improve experience of using Clojure stdlib 11 Oct 2026
- Clojure-Sublimed — Clojure support for Sublime Text 4 11 Oct 2026
- Sublime-Executor — Run any executable from your working dir in Sublime Text 11 Oct 2026
- persistent-sorted-set — Fast B-tree based persistent sorted set for Clojure/Script 9 Oct 2026
- zed-theme-alabaster 13 Sept 2026
- datascript — Immutable database and Datalog query engine for Clojure, ClojureScript and JS 15 Aug 2026
- jure — Alternative Clojure CLI that follows shell calling conventions 4 Aug 2026
- FiraCode — Free monospaced font with programming ligatures 28 Jul 2026
- clj-simple-stats — Simple statistics for Clojure/Ring webapps 21 Jul 2026
Link verified 5 Sept 2026. Recent items update automatically from the channel.
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