agentic-hacks → Smithers workflows

A worked translation of Matt Van Horn's "Every Agentic Engineering Hack I Know (June 2026)" into durable, repeatable workflows built on Smithers.

The article is a list of habits a human performs by hand — open six tabs, dictate a plan, paste a transcript, run an errand CLI. Each habit is a process, and a process you repeat is a workflow. Smithers is what you get when you stop performing the process and start declaring it: the thinking goes in the plan, the plan goes in a .tsx file, and the runtime executes it durably — surviving crashes, suspending for free while it waits on a human or an email, and recording what it learned for next time.

Setup

git clone https://github.com/smithersai/agentic-hacks
cd agentic-hacks
bun install          # or pnpm / npm install

You'll need the Smithers CLI and a coding agent on your PATH:

bun add -g smithers-orchestrator   # provides the `smithers` command

Run any workflow by path:

smithers up workflows/brain-dump-to-plan.tsx --input '{"prompt":"add per-org rate limits"}'
smithers up workflows/fan-out-tabs.tsx -d     # detached/background — check `smithers ps`
smithers graph workflows/inbox-agent.tsx      # render the graph without executing

The mapping

#	Hack (from the article)	Workflow	Smithers primitive it leans on
1	Write a plan.md the moment you have an idea	brain-dump-to-plan	Sequence (research → plan), agent writes the file
2	Plan for the plan — same method for non-code work	brain-dump-to-plan (mode:"prose")	one workflow, two prompts
3	Trust the plan — don't read it, just /ce-work it	compound-build	Loop until validated + reviewed
4	Run /last30days to research before planning	morning-research-digest	cron + scheduled run
5	4–6 concurrent cmux tabs	fan-out-tabs	Parallel maxConcurrency
6	Compound-engineering /ce-work builds	compound-build	plan → implement → validate → review → remember
7	Become the signal — steer, don't type	inbox-agent, errand-runner	Approval / HumanTask gates
8	AgentMail — email-triggered sessions	inbox-agent	WaitForEvent (durable suspension)
9	Printing-Press CLIs for real-world errands	errand-runner	agent bash + Approval before side effects
10	Granola captures + processes meeting transcripts	meeting-to-tickets	extract → Parallel ticket creation
11	Point agents at your Bear/Obsidian/Notion vault	knowledge-recall	cross-run memory (recall + remember)
12	Skills: copy a good example, have the agent replicate it	skill-from-example	exemplar → generate → self-check Loop

Hacks that are environment, not workflow

Some of the article's hacks are hardware or shell ergonomics — there's nothing to orchestrate, so they're intentionally not turned into workflows:

• Gooseneck microphone; Wispr Flow / Monologue / iOS dictation — input devices. They feed the prompt input of every workflow here (dictate the brain dump).
• New terminal tabs default into Claude Code; remote control for mobile — shell + Gateway config, not a graph. (Smithers' own smithers ui / Gateway already covers the "drive a live run from your phone" half of this.)
• "Beware AI psychosis" — a discipline, not a DAG. The closest Smithers analog is that every workflow here has a terminal condition (a done, a maxIterations, an Approval) so the loop ends instead of running forever.

The shape they share

Read in order, the files go from synchronous-ish to fully event-driven:

1. brain-dump-to-plan — a straight Sequence. The simplest upgrade: idea in, plan.md out.
2. compound-build — a Loop with a quality gate. "Trust the plan" only works if something checks the work.
3. fan-out-tabs — Parallel. Six tabs become one cap'd fan-out.
4. meeting-to-tickets — fan-out driven by extracted data, not a fixed list.
5. knowledge-recall — adds memory, so runs compound across time.
6. errand-runner — adds Approval: the human is the signal on side effects.
7. inbox-agent — adds WaitForEvent: the run starts from an external event and costs zero while it waits.
8. skill-from-example — closes the loop: a workflow that writes new automation.

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Built with Smithers · source hack list by @mvanhorn. PRs welcome — turn the env hacks into Gateway recipes, or add your own.