# Field notes by Tanveer Riaz

Essays, build reports, and session notes from the overlap of enterprise systems, AI workflows, and Singapore life.

## [SideSpark started with a conversation](https://tanveerriaz.me/blog/sidespark-started-with-a-conversation)

At the ChatGPT Sites Hackathon in Singapore, Benny and I talked about workplace connections. That conversation became SideSpark: small shared breaks for meeting coworkers and exchanging skills.

Published: 2026-09

[Markdown](https://tanveerriaz.me/blog/sidespark-started-with-a-conversation/index.md) · [JSON](https://tanveerriaz.me/blog/sidespark-started-with-a-conversation/index.json)

## [Mentorship works both ways](https://tanveerriaz.me/blog/mentorship-works-both-ways)

Four months in Standard Chartered Singapore × Nanyang Technological University Singapore’s LevelUP! programme reminded me that mentoring is an exchange, not a handover.

Published: 2026-08-30

[Markdown](https://tanveerriaz.me/blog/mentorship-works-both-ways/index.md) · [JSON](https://tanveerriaz.me/blog/mentorship-works-both-ways/index.json)

## [Two lights and a thread](https://tanveerriaz.me/blog/87k-windows)

Building 87K Windows at the 65 Labs Gemini hackathon: local Gemma as a privacy layer, a deliberately boring matcher, and a Gemini that opens the door then gets out of the way.

Published: 2026-08-23

[Markdown](https://tanveerriaz.me/blog/87k-windows/index.md) · [JSON](https://tanveerriaz.me/blog/87k-windows/index.json)

## [Agents don't clock out](https://tanveerriaz.me/blog/agents-dont-clock-out)

The Claude community met in Singapore. Instead of a photo dump, the recap became a 15-second 8-bit story generated with fal.ai from real event photos - and then a reusable skill.

Published: 2026-08-08

[Markdown](https://tanveerriaz.me/blog/agents-dont-clock-out/index.md) · [JSON](https://tanveerriaz.me/blog/agents-dont-clock-out/index.json)

## [Codex gave developers pets. I gave the pets a leaderboard.](https://tanveerriaz.me/blog/dashboard-atlas)

The build story behind Codex Pet League: one wrong first image, authentic community pets, a live Vercel dashboard, four Chroa design experiments, and every prompt used.

Published: 2026-08-02

[Markdown](https://tanveerriaz.me/blog/dashboard-atlas/index.md) · [JSON](https://tanveerriaz.me/blog/dashboard-atlas/index.json)

## [Three doors into one local agent](https://tanveerriaz.me/blog/hermes-gbrain)

How terminal, Telegram, and WhatsApp sessions use one deliberately bounded local memory layer—with model routing, privacy boundaries, and a public-safe architecture.

Published: 2026-08-02

[Markdown](https://tanveerriaz.me/blog/hermes-gbrain/index.md) · [JSON](https://tanveerriaz.me/blog/hermes-gbrain/index.json)

## [A graph is not a guide: building Ishara](https://tanveerriaz.me/blog/ishara)

How Ishara became a meaning-first Qur’an study path through explicit node identity, human labels, contextual verses, and lighter first-click payloads.

Published: 2026-08-02

[Markdown](https://tanveerriaz.me/blog/ishara/index.md) · [JSON](https://tanveerriaz.me/blog/ishara/index.json)

## [What 20 years in banking taught me about shipping AI](https://tanveerriaz.me/blog/banking-shipping-ai)

The bridge between global banking delivery discipline and after-hours AI building - regulated instincts, sprint rigor, and why the harness matters more than the model.

Published: 2026-07-04

[Markdown](https://tanveerriaz.me/blog/banking-shipping-ai/index.md) · [JSON](https://tanveerriaz.me/blog/banking-shipping-ai/index.json)

## [You don't need a $240/year subscription to use AI](https://tanveerriaz.me/blog/local-ai)

Field notes from a live session on running capable AI on your own machine - private, offline, and free. Ollama, AnythingLLM, local agents, and a real business automation flow.

Published: 2026-07-04

[Markdown](https://tanveerriaz.me/blog/local-ai/index.md) · [JSON](https://tanveerriaz.me/blog/local-ai/index.json)

## [Same flight, two endings](https://tanveerriaz.me/blog/same-flight-two-endings)

Tracking an overnight family flight two ways - a polished native AI scheduler vs. my own agent over Telegram.

Published: 2026-06-27

[Markdown](https://tanveerriaz.me/blog/same-flight-two-endings/index.md) · [JSON](https://tanveerriaz.me/blog/same-flight-two-endings/index.json)

## [The harness matters](https://tanveerriaz.me/blog/harness-matters)

The model isn

Published: 2026-06-20

[Markdown](https://tanveerriaz.me/blog/harness-matters/index.md) · [JSON](https://tanveerriaz.me/blog/harness-matters/index.json)

## ["Which AI model is the best?"](https://tanveerriaz.me/blog/which-ai-model)

It

Published: 2026-05-31

[Markdown](https://tanveerriaz.me/blog/which-ai-model/index.md) · [JSON](https://tanveerriaz.me/blog/which-ai-model/index.json)