Will Klein

✌🏽Developer Experience Engineer @ToolspaceDX. Prev: design systems developer advocate, full-stack dev, engineering manager.

[Will Klein @willklein_]

I almost couldn’t do this talk at #CascadiaJS.

I persisted through absolute weariness and exhaustion to make it to this stage.

To all the kind folks who said such wonderful things afterwards:

Thank you, it really means so much and makes it all worthwhile. ❤️

[Roxy Rodbeck @RoxanaCodes]

Great job @focusotter! I guess everyone thinks you’re a genius developer! 😜

@CascadiaJS #CascadiaJS

[Roxy Rodbeck @RoxanaCodes]

Thanks for teaching us about ATProto, @brittanyellich!! 🔥🔥🔥

@CascadiaJS #CascadiaJS

[Kaelig @kaelig]

a week ago, i wrote about how taste & judgement fit in design system agentic workflows

since then, top design system and ui infra teams reached out 🤯 we’re exploring roles mixing AI + craft + scale + design + engineering 🚀

check out the piece & dm me! https://t.co/7oyQEFsd1V

[Will Klein @willklein_]

This talk on compostable APIs by @darius_cepulis absolutely captivated me!

Choosing the right abstraction is often challenging, but I agree that composition is a powerful and effective strategy. Darius described this incredibly well across different examples.

#cascadiajs

[Will Klein @willklein_]

The most practical CSS talk on color tokens, theming, and color functions by @jdsteinbach for us at @CascadiaJS!

I have some refactoring to do to simplify my CSS now. 👏

#cascadiajs

[Will Klein @willklein_]

Great examples: Netlify’s CLI worked well for devs, but broke down for agents trying to pipe bash commands into the interactive wizard/workflow.

Just adding one line of instruction - how to perform the desired action in a single shell command - fixed the agent experience.

[Will Klein @willklein_]

“Developers are going to be more needed in the future, not less.”

@biilmann not just saying what we want to hear, but backing it up with a slick breakdown of Agent Experience (AX) design.

Devs are needed to build this, creating good AX alongside traditional DX.

[Will Klein @willklein_]

Fascinating talk by @biilmann, starting with what AI enables us to do differently.

At Netlify, they built tools instead of buying them, which created budget to hire more devs & continue the cycle.

I’m a big fan of building bespoke tools that fit our unique processes. 🔥

[Roxy Rodbeck @RoxanaCodes]

Always love running into this guyyy!!
@willklein_

@CascadiaJS

[Will Klein @willklein_]

@theisraataha You’re definitely missed!

[Will Klein @willklein_]

On my way to my first conference of 2026!

I needed to take the last six months off but it’s good to be back.

This will be my sixth time visiting the Pacific Northwest for #CascadiaJS. Looking forward to seeing so many people again.✌🏽

[Will Klein @willklein_]

Safia and Adam from @warpdotdev have brought us one of the most creative and engaging group activities to open @CascadiaJS!

Also low key a great intro to what Warp been cooking, it’s way beyond just a terminal! 🔥

[Will Klein @willklein_]

I have to share this with anyone that shops at @amazon before they make the same mistake.

My order for a $5,100 mower 7 weeks ago was NOT delivered - their order status claims it was while FedEx confirmed otherwise - and after weeks of calls to Amazon, they promised a refund was being issued two weeks ago.

Today, their executive customer service walked that back and said they are unable to issue a refund. They asked for documentation which I already provided from FedEx.

Lesson: be careful what you order from Amazon. Small stuff is easy to return but if it’s a freight package, you may be rolling the dice.

I don’t know what else to do. 😣

[Will Klein @willklein_]

@RoxanaCodes Let’s go!! 🤜🤛

[Will Klein @willklein_]

@Jordynww 👏!

Between looking and selling it was about a year for us. Congrats!

[Will Klein @willklein_]

What free models (Zen) are people using with OpenCode?

I gave Big Pickle (GLM 4.6) a shot a while ago and it's been good enough to stick.

[Will Klein @willklein_]

Actually trying out Vercel to see what the gold standard in DX deployments is about.

Next.js isn't my cup of tea but I will dabble.

Also rolled with Tailwind on this project - I won't touch it, but what's what LLM-assisted coding is for.

[Will Klein @willklein_]

@_christinacodes Making me wonder if I can find my old Fortune City site or anything I built back in the day.

[Will Klein @willklein_]

@blackgirlbytes She's getting so big!

[Anubhav @Anubhavhing]

@DavidKPiano nothing kills productivity faster than measuring the appearance of productivity