Luke Wagner
Writer & engineer, Brooklyn, NY
I write about building software — craft, tools, and the small decisions that make the web feel good.
I've spent the last several years building products for small teams — collaborative editors, data-heavy dashboards, and open-source UI. Writing is how I make sense of that work; lately I'm also building more of my own things in public.
Writing
All posts →Series
- Building Without Permission5 parts · 2026
Thesis. A thesis in five chapters on artists who build outside institutional permission: El Anatsui, Mark Bradford, and Theaster Gates, and what their materials and methods reconfigure.
- Kitchen Sink15 parts · 2026
Serialized fiction. A serialized novel told in weekly installments, set inside an asylum. Written with Jonah Karafiol.
Building
- MarginaliaIn progress
A reading app that turns your highlights into a searchable, linked notebook. Exploring local-first sync so it works offline by default.
- HumExploring
An ambient focus-music generator that runs entirely in the browser on the Web Audio API.
- Next experiment — Something new is always brewing. New experiments show up here first, usually with a post explaining why.
Elsewhere
Most of my favorite conversations start with an email about something I wrote. I read everything and reply to most of it.