Russ McKendrick - Page 2

Introducing Hosts Butler

Introducing Hosts Butler

A terminal-based hosts file manager built in Rust that I wrote to stop manually editing /etc/hosts with a text editor and hoping I didn't break anything.

6 min readTools 🧰

Creating Custom Skills for Copilot Cowork

Creating Custom Skills for Copilot Cowork

Copilot Cowork just landed in Microsoft's Frontier preview programme, and one of its most useful features is the ability to extend it with your own custom skills stored in OneDrive. Here's how to create one.

7 min readAI 🤖

Introducing ssl-toolkit

Introducing ssl-toolkit

A comprehensive SSL/TLS diagnostic tool built in Rust that I created to replace my ever-growing document of random certificate checking notes.

8 min readTools 🧰

OpenClaw: Giving Claude a Body (and a Telegram Bot)

OpenClaw: Giving Claude a Body (and a Telegram Bot)

A quick guide to installing OpenClaw, an open-source AI agent framework that gives LLMs persistence, tools, and messaging - turning a chatbot into an actual assistant.

7 min readAI 🤖

Day to Day Tools, the 2025 edition

Day to Day Tools, the 2025 edition

The 2025 edition of my day-to-day tools: Ghostty, Claude Code, Google's Antigravity IDE, and the AI services that have become central to how I work.

5 min readTools 🧰

Save money by pausing Microsoft Fabric Capacities with Azure Logic Apps

Save money by pausing Microsoft Fabric Capacities with Azure Logic Apps

Learn how to automatically pause Microsoft Fabric capacities outside of working hours using Azure Logic Apps. This step-by-step guide shows you how to deploy a cost-saving automation that can significantly reduce your Fabric spend.

7 min readAzure ☁️

Azure Soft Delete: Recovering Resources and Preventing Accidental Deletions

Azure Soft Delete: Recovering Resources and Preventing Accidental Deletions

A practical guide to recovering accidentally deleted Azure resources that support soft delete, covering API Management, Key Vault, Storage Accounts, and more. Plus, how to use delete locks to prevent these situations in the first place.

7 min readAzure ☁️

When the Sandworm Came for My Secrets: Lessons from Shai-Hulud 2.0

When the Sandworm Came for My Secrets: Lessons from Shai-Hulud 2.0

How a sophisticated npm supply chain attack via a trojanized kill-port package compromised my development environment, exposing API keys to attacker-controlled repositories - and what I'm doing differently now.

8 min readSecurity 🔐

Playing with Nano Banana Pro: AI-Powered Album Cover Collages

Playing with Nano Banana Pro: AI-Powered Album Cover Collages

Using Nano Banana Pro for generating stunning AI-powered album cover collages with intelligent image selection and content policy handling

14 min readAI 🤖