Building FastTab with AI: A Custom Task Switcher for X11
FastTab is a custom task switcher developed to solve a specific performance issue in the Plasma desktop environment on X11. This tool is designed to run as a daemon to provide instant response to keyboard shortcuts, using Zig for development and OpenGL for rendering. The developer tackled this project with the assistance of AI tools, specifically Claude, which helped plan and iterate over the project.
The issue was the delay in the default task switcher, prompting a solution that leverages AI for both the planning and coding stages. The process began with a detailed conversation with the AI, which provided a specification for the application. Following the specification, the coding phases were broken down into several milestones for clearer project management.
A significant concern was the safe integration of AI within the development environment. To safeguard the system, the project utilized containers, specifically a customized version of contai, which acts as a Docker wrapper. This approach ensured that potentially destructive commands could be executed within an isolated filesystem, protecting the host machine. Git was extensively used to manage changes, enabling easy rollback in case of errors.
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