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Ben Robertson

@ben.robertson.is
3.2K followers 1K following 560 posts

independent software developer and solopreneur building colorbliss.com and other fun projects writing about it at ben.robertson.is

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Ben Robertson @ben.robertson.is · 15/09/2026
this originally appeared at ben.robertson.is/jottles/my-... on September 14, 2026
ben.robertson.is
my new automated support agent surprised me today for context - I shipped a new "frame" feature f...
my new automated support agent surprised me today for context - I shipped a new "frame" feature for ColorBliss a few weeks ago. A power user replied to my changelog email with a few use cases where it could be made more useful. I put it in my backlog. I had a PR open for it for a while, and finally got around to merging it behind a feature flag this morning. I knew later I would have to go back and email the customer that it was good to go. When I logged into my help desk later - I found that my agent had already notified him! Here's what it did: - The help desk software I use has an automation that will re-open a closed ticket if an attached issue in Linear is marked done (this is super helpful for telling users their feature has shipped) - When I merged the PR, the issue itself was marked as done, and then the support ticket was re-opened. - When the support ticket was re-opened, my automated support agent checked the context of the ticket, reviewed updates in linear, and was ab
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Ben Robertson @ben.robertson.is · 15/09/2026
Anyway, I guess this is a long way of saying that I'm working on a new product - an AI support agent that is actually capable of resolving issues on your behalf.
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Ben Robertson @ben.robertson.is · 15/09/2026
What I love about this is that it followed the full process I normally follow. The only difference is that I added the automated support agent that was able to close the loop on my behalf, in exactly the way I would normally do it.
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Ben Robertson @ben.robertson.is · 15/09/2026
- The agent automatically sent a note to the customer letting him know his feature request had shipped
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Ben Robertson @ben.robertson.is · 15/09/2026
- When I merged the PR, the issue itself was marked as done, and then the support ticket was re-opened. - When the support ticket was re-opened, my automated support agent checked the context of the ticket, reviewed updates in linear, and was able to see that the feature had shipped.
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Ben Robertson @ben.robertson.is · 15/09/2026
Here's what it did: - The help desk software I use has an automation that will re-open a closed ticket if an attached issue in Linear is marked done (this is super helpful for telling users their feature has shipped)
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Ben Robertson @ben.robertson.is · 15/09/2026
I had a PR open for it for a while, and finally got around to merging it behind a feature flag this morning. I knew later I would have to go back and email the customer that it was good to go. When I logged into my help desk later - I found that my agent had already notified him!
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Ben Robertson @ben.robertson.is · 15/09/2026
my new automated support agent surprised me today for context - I shipped a new "frame" feature for ColorBliss a few weeks ago. A power user replied to my changelog email with a few use cases where it could be made more useful. I put it in my backlog.
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Ben Robertson @ben.robertson.is · 08/09/2026
this originally appeared at ben.robertson.is/jottles/its... on September 7, 2026
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Ben Robertson @ben.robertson.is · 08/09/2026
it’s that big bug time of year
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Ben Robertson @ben.robertson.is · 01/09/2026
this originally appeared at ben.robertson.is/jottles/nob... on September 1, 2026
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Ben Robertson @ben.robertson.is · 01/09/2026
Nobody can prepare you for the experience of holding your baby while you try to clean up poop from all over a wet pool bathroom while a four year olds screams are echoing off the walls repeating “I didn’t poop my pants, someone else’s poop was already on here”
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Ben Robertson @ben.robertson.is · 14/08/2026
this originally appeared at ben.robertson.is/jottles/who... on August 13, 2026
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Ben Robertson @ben.robertson.is · 14/08/2026
who else got a sneak peek of origin? i was able to enable it for a few codebases and click around a bit. it synced all the code / files very quickly
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Ben Robertson @ben.robertson.is · 11/08/2026
this originally appeared at ben.robertson.is/jottles/the... on August 10, 2026
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Ben Robertson @ben.robertson.is · 11/08/2026
The first proof came in from the new ColorBliss print product. It turned out really good I think, a few updates and I should be ready to handle printed and shipped custom coloring books later this month
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Ben Robertson @ben.robertson.is · 10/08/2026
it's also helped me on some things that i've historically neglected, like db health. once a week i get 5 or so issues for improvements to my database that I can review and ship as I have time
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Ben Robertson @ben.robertson.is · 10/08/2026
in support...to the point where i have almost all the context i need on every support ticket to make a decision / resolve it when I open it aiming to automate that in stages over the next month
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Ben Robertson @ben.robertson.is · 10/08/2026
one thing i've been working on over the past month is automating some of the more rote parts of my product/business stack, and putting myself into the reviewer/decider position instead of the investigator position as much as possible this has been going very well... ben.robertson.is/jottles/one...
A list displays project names, authors, creation dates, and statuses, all from Ben Robertson's database automation efforts.
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Ben Robertson @ben.robertson.is · 08/08/2026
this originally appeared at ben.robertson.is/jottles/pre... on August 7, 2026
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Ben Robertson @ben.robertson.is · 08/08/2026
pretty excited to introduce this new product into the ColorBliss fold - this is the prototype of the new "mosaic mystery" coloring page recommended by a ColorBliss user this week! my home team product tester really likes it
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Ben Robertson @ben.robertson.is · 07/08/2026
got really good feedback from them and it should be ready for larger testing next week :)
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Ben Robertson @ben.robertson.is · 07/08/2026
It's been a while since I've had something for my home team product testers to try out for ColorBliss - but made some progress on two long-awaited feature requests! the team stayed busy yesterday afternoon with the first batch of color by number coloring pages ben.robertson.is/jottles/its...
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Ben Robertson @ben.robertson.is · 07/07/2026
this originally appeared at ben.robertson.is/jottles/tim... on July 6, 2026
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Ben Robertson @ben.robertson.is · 07/07/2026
time to add "email automation expert" to my resume
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Ben Robertson @ben.robertson.is · 02/06/2026
Which one? What for?
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Ben Robertson @ben.robertson.is · 02/06/2026
top tier joke imo
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Ben Robertson @ben.robertson.is · 12/05/2026
this is what customer support looks like when you run an image generation company this originally appeared at ben.robertson.is/jottles/thi... on May 11, 2026
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Ben Robertson @ben.robertson.is · 08/05/2026
something has gone horribly wrong this originally appeared at ben.robertson.is/jottles/som... on May 8, 2026
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Ben Robertson @ben.robertson.is · 05/05/2026
this originally appeared at ben.robertson.is/jottles/cel... on May 5, 2026
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Ben Robertson @ben.robertson.is · 05/05/2026
celebrated my 37th birthday over the weekend, surrounded by some little ones who love me unconditionally life is good
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Ben Robertson @ben.robertson.is · 01/05/2026
Great callout on the wording - thanks!
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Ben Robertson @ben.robertson.is · 30/04/2026
should i add this to the colorbliss landing page? after seeing the savannah bananas sign up, i had my ai scan signup domains and found some legit companies in our database. not sure customers will care, but i think it’s pretty cool. ben.robertson.is/jottles/sho...
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Ben Robertson @ben.robertson.is · 20/04/2026
this originally appeared at ben.robertson.is/jottles/i-h... on April 18, 2026
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Ben Robertson @ben.robertson.is · 20/04/2026
I had the great privilege to take this past week off, spend all day in quiet and prayer, and answer support tickets from this nice little bench for 30 minutes or so each evening huge thanks to my wife for holding down the fort while I was gone. coming back super recharged and ready to work clean
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Ben Robertson @ben.robertson.is · 14/04/2026
this originally appeared at ben.robertson.is/jottles/i-f... on April 13, 2026
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Ben Robertson @ben.robertson.is · 14/04/2026
i found out about this clone of ColorBliss because someone submitted a responsible disclosure not only did this clone forget to change the brand name from ColorBliss to their name on most of the pages of the site, the contact email is my email 🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡
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Ben Robertson @ben.robertson.is · 11/04/2026
testing out a new image model for colorbliss photo conversion it works really well with text! this originally appeared at ben.robertson.is/jottles/tes... on April 10, 2026
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Ben Robertson @ben.robertson.is · 09/04/2026
adding a bit of fun to the colorbliss home page or rather, a bit MORE fun, since there is already plenty of fun on the page 🖼️👨‍🎨 (this originally appeared at ben.robertson.is/jottles/add... on April 8, 2026)
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Ben Robertson @ben.robertson.is · 12/03/2026
this originally appeared at ben.robertson.is/jottles/def... on March 11, 2026
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Ben Robertson @ben.robertson.is · 12/03/2026
Default queued jottle
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Ben Robertson @ben.robertson.is · 11/03/2026
i'm sure it juices the engagement numbers but i find it highly annoying
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Ben Robertson @ben.robertson.is · 11/03/2026
and then afterwards say something like, there's actually one secret thing that i'm not telling you about this, do you want to know? do i want to know the secret? yes. do i now doubt everything it just told me? also yes.
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Ben Robertson @ben.robertson.is · 11/03/2026
the engagement baiting on chatgpt has gotten really bad in the past few days. first noticed it over the weekend. i'll ask it a question, and it will give me an answer and a long rationale for that answer example: ben.robertson.is/jottles/the...
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Ben Robertson @ben.robertson.is · 11/03/2026
this originally appeared at ben.robertson.is/jottles/fir... on March 10, 2026
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Ben Robertson @ben.robertson.is · 11/03/2026
First pizza from the new oven 🍕
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Ben Robertson @ben.robertson.is · 06/03/2026
this originally appeared at ben.robertson.is/jottles/hap... on March 6, 2026
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Ben Robertson @ben.robertson.is · 06/03/2026
happy friday
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Ben Robertson @ben.robertson.is · 03/03/2026
this originally appeared at ben.robertson.is/jottles/a-t... on March 2, 2026
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Ben Robertson @ben.robertson.is · 03/03/2026
a trial user just let me know that the ColorBliss pricing plans are more expensive than a company that has $45 million in funding with a team across 25 countries (pictured below) that's my competition. pretty wild that a 1 person operation can even be on the same field!
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