Christopher Petersen

Father, husband, CTO and cofounder of developer, entrepreneur and technologist.

[Christopher Petersen @cpetersen]

What does a real RAG pipeline look like in production?

In this talk at @7CTOs, I walk through:
→ Chunking strategies
→ Search (BM25 + vectors)
→ Query rewriting, HyDE
→ Reranking, repacking
→ Tool calls

It’s a full-stack view of modern LLM app design.
https://t.co/NksC0APNH5

#RAG #LLM #AI #GenAI

[Christopher Petersen @cpetersen]

Hot take: AI startups relying solely on OpenAI, Anthropic, or Gemini are as vulnerable as the old social startups that were entirely dependent on Facebook's API. One API change could spell disaster. Everyone in this space should experiment with running their own models.

[Christopher Petersen @cpetersen]

10/ These are my thoughts right now.
But if one thing is constant in this space, it’s that everything changes.

Vibe on. 🌀

[Christopher Petersen @cpetersen]

1/ Observations of a vibe coder 🧵
I’ve been vibe coding for a while now — side projects, little work utilities, messing around. Here are some things I’ve learned. 👇

[Christopher Petersen @cpetersen]

9/ If I were a Jr dev today:
I’d focus on what I learned in data structures and algorithms classes, not syntax. The skill is in applying those patterns, prompting better and reviewing the output.

[Christopher Petersen @cpetersen]

8/ What I really want:
A local version of GitHub’s PR UI. Inline diffs are fine, but I want full diffs + explanations + line comments + back-and-forth refinement.

[Christopher Petersen @cpetersen]

7/ For example:
“I plan to support multiple implementations of object X, so please encapsulate it well.”

[Christopher Petersen @cpetersen]

6/ Ask for smaller changes.
Asking it to “build the whole feature” rarely works. I aim for something between a loop and a full feature — and give context for where it’s going.

[Christopher Petersen @cpetersen]

5/ Your code review skills matter more than ever.
You wouldn’t let a junior dev commit without a review, right? Same goes here. You should understand the diff before committing it — or before prompting again.

[Christopher Petersen @cpetersen]

4/ Keep your repo clean.
Never let it work on a tree with uncommitted changes. I make tons of local branches and commit often. Makes it easy to revert if things go sideways.

[Christopher Petersen @cpetersen]

3/ Orchestration matters.
Sometimes I need @claude_code to design something, @cursor_ai to refactor it, and @windsurf_ai to finish the last 10%. It’s less like “pick a model” and more like conducting a band.

[Christopher Petersen @cpetersen]

2/ Tools matter.
I flip between @claude_code, @windsurf_ai, and @cursor_ai. Even when using the same model, they get stuck in different ways. Switching tools helps me stay unblocked.

[Christopher Petersen @cpetersen]

Not all chunks are created equal.

In my latest blog post, I break down how Benchmate approaches chunking for RAG—from simple token splits to full semantic clustering.

“An ideal chunk is one answer to one question.”

Read more: https://t.co/MUe77Zoca3
#RAG #LLM

[Paul Graham @paulg]

It's strange to think it would be at all controversial to post this. But in a time of moral decay, the obvious becomes controversial.

[Christopher Petersen @cpetersen]

New post is live: “Data Sources and Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG)”! Dive into how high-quality data sources transform AI-driven insights in pharma research. #AI #RAG #Pharma #DrugDiscovery

https://t.co/h3nu2NmcTD

[Christopher Petersen @cpetersen]

https://t.co/dgtRKVaYP9

[Christopher Petersen @cpetersen]

I spent a bit of time vibe coding up an app I’ve wanted to build for a long time. It took less than 30 minutes and $3 in Anthropic credits and I had a fluid dynamic simulation that runs in the browser.

As software developers we really need to expand our ideas of what we can accomplish.

[Captain Mark Kelly @CaptMarkKelly]

Peacefully protesting is a First Amendment right, but vandalism is not. Those trashing Tesla dealerships and vehicles should be prosecuted.

[Christopher Petersen @cpetersen]

@elonmusk @DOGE I want to use blockchain to make the FDA more efficient. Can I help? https://t.co/YrU1b60j6N