Recipes from the feed of @sifxtreme

The Instinct Cookbook

Concrete ways to put a personal AI to work. Each recipe started as something I actually did with mine: a post on X, or a conversation with my assistant.

Thirty-five recipes · revised 1 October 2026

Contents

  1. 34
    modeled ev charging vs gas using my driving routes and current rates (i was just curious) Cost the Switch: EV Charge vs Gas from Your Real Routes
  2. 35
    checked my solar dashboard, exported production history as CSVs Pull Your Solar History When You're Too Busy to Log In
  3. 33
    compared two fresh car-sale offers and found a $3,900 spread Find the Spread Between Two Sale Offers
  4. 32
    built an eight-page mobile friendly Sunday reader with sourced portfolio and market reports Bake a Sunday Reader: Portfolio + Markets, Mobile-Sized
  5. 31
    three trips booked, confirmations everywhere. my ai pulled them into one dossier per trip, put them on the calendar, then archived the emails Turn a Pile of Booking Emails into One Dossier per Trip · from a chat
  6. 30
    keep watching for flights to ABQ Keep a Quiet Watch on the Flights You Actually Care About
  7. 29
    found the a16z la tech week kickoff (oct 12) and confirmed registration is open Scout the Local Kickoff Before Tickets Sell Out
  8. 28
    had my ai list every game we own from order history, then filter upcoming switch games to couch co-op the kids can play together Build the Family Game Shelf, Filtered for Couch Co-op · from a chat
  9. 27
    ordered a wedding gift end to end: staged the cart, wrote the note Stage the Gift Cart and Write the Note
  10. 26
    vetted a financial advisor against their public SEC record Vet an Advisor Against the Public Record
  11. 25
    there's a class of tasks i put off but they keep following up with me… IMPORTANT, but not URGENT Weaponize Persistence on Important-but-Not-Urgent Work
  12. 24
    had my ai pull our current policy limits, check our claims report for errors, then compare quotes at the same coverage, plus a cheaper tier for the older car Re-Shop Car Insurance Apples-to-Apples (Check Your Claims Record First) · from a chat
  13. 19
    coffee grinder stopped changing grind size. sent my ai photos of the parts that fell out, it drafted the support email and found the purchase date in my order history Fix the Appliance from Photos, Then Email Support with Proof of Purchase · from a chat
  14. 20
    my ai found the old sleeping bag in my order history, so i only bought what i was missing. then it ran my checklist and calorie math while i packed Pack for a Backpacking Trip by Voice, Buy Only the Gaps · from a chat
  15. 21
    asked my ai to look at what the kids actually borrowed and bought, then check if a new book was the right age fit before buying it Pick the Kids' Next Books from What They Actually Read · from a chat
  16. 22
    triaged 48 migrated reminders in batches of four - killed, merged, re-dated Triage a Mountain of Reminders in Batches of Four
  17. 23
    turned my dictated notes into a filled school form and drafted the teacher email Turn Dictated Notes into a School Form + Teacher Email
  18. 18
    shopping a car lease. my ai emails dealers from its own inbox so salespeople never get my phone number, and it follows up on a sane schedule Let Your Assistant's Inbox Take the Dealer Back-and-Forth · from a chat
  19. 17
    remembered a comedian's bit about only caring about 3 things a year. my ai pulled every episode list and found the exact one plus a link Find the Exact Episode from a Half-Remembered Bit · from a chat
  20. 16
    asked my ai how go fish works with 4 players, then saved our house rules for big 2 (suit order, bombs) so nobody argues next time Settle the Card-Game Rules Before Family Game Night · from a chat
  21. 15
    Diagnosed a dead home router from photos of the equipment, walked the fix ladder, prepped the ISP support call, and priced the alternatives Diagnose Dead Gear from Photos, Then Prep the ISP Call
  22. 14
    asked my ai the real difference between a cappuccino and a latte and why burnt coffee smells off to me. then had it save my beans and taste as a preference Turn Random Coffee Questions into a Saved Taste Profile · from a chat
  23. 10
    Decoded a full hospital chart into plain English, every day Decode a Hospital Chart into Plain English (Daily)
  24. 13
    every sunday night my ai distills the week's chats into a living doc of what i want and how i like things done. ranges, never hard numbers Have Your Assistant Write Down Who You Are, Every Sunday Night · from a chat
  25. 11
    Turned a family photo into a print-ready school sheet in one pass (it had to be sized 1x1 inch) One Pass: Family Photo → Exact-Size School Print Sheet
  26. 12
    new ai tool launched. instead of trying it day one, i had my ai track the real comments daily for a week to see if they nailed the ux Watch a New Tool's Hype for Seven Days Before You Care · from a chat
  27. 9
    asked my ai which of our subscriptions has interstellar and where the good stopping point is, since we watch long movies in two nights Plan Movie Night: Where It Streams, Where to Pause, What's Next · from a chat
  28. 8
    my inbox was mostly newsletters i like but never read. had my ai group them into a few themed digests, each with its own name and look Fold the Newsletter Pile into a Few Themed Digests · from a chat
  29. 7
    told my ai to make itself useful while i sleep: deep research on a few topics, ready as a podcast when i wake up at 6 Give Your Assistant a Night Shift, Collect the Results at 6 AM · from a chat
  30. 6
    asked my ai to turn my morning reading into a 5 to 10 minute podcast for the drive. then gave it notes on pacing like a real producer Turn the Morning Briefing into a Commute-Length Podcast · from a chat
  31. 3
    figured out how to use a system to get my wife's instinct and mine to communicate… message bus via github and a url Put Two Household Agents on a Shared Bus
  32. 5
    priced a small canvas test order across print-on-demand shops with my ai. one print came back with bad margins, so now it checks the proof before ordering Run a Print-on-Demand Test Order Without Wasting a Print · from a chat
  33. 4
    Now I can have my own Costco mozzarella cheese index. Start a Silly-Serious Price Index for One Staple
  34. 1
    had my ai log into our library account, list every book still checked out, and nag me in a week if we still had more than 10 out Find the Overdue Library Book Before the Fine Finds You · from a chat
  35. 2
    i drive a lot, so i tell my ai 'audio notes only for the next 30 minutes' and it switches back to text when the timer is up Put Your Assistant in Voice-Only Mode for the Drive · from a chat