iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Joel Gascoigne @joel.is · 27/09/2026

After being a cmux user for months, I'm now a herdr convert (herdr in Ghostty). Shifted everything to run on my mac mini rather than laptop, it's amazing. Using moshi to access on iPhone. Spaces for projects and tabs for agents by repo (sometimes multiple) works super well.

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Joel Gascoigne @joel.is · 17/09/2026

Still very fond of Brum (and my hometown Sheffield!) we'll have to arrange a meetup next time I'm back in the UK.

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Joel Gascoigne @joel.is · 17/09/2026

Moved to Chicago with the family this summer. Who should I know here? I'm looking to get plugged into the community - especially founders, builders, and people who write online.

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Joel Gascoigne @joel.is · 16/09/2026

We don't do quarterly planning at Buffer. We've tried it in the past, and I always found it felt forced. These days, we revisit strategy in an area when it feels needed. It turns out to be about every six months, but never on a schedule.

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Joel Gascoigne @joel.is · 10/09/2026

Companies often take a lagging metric and make it the KPI they're shooting for. The problem is that lagging metrics by definition can only be observed after the fact, so you're kind of chasing your tail.

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Joel Gascoigne @joel.is · 08/09/2026

We all have a choice to make right now: build your own tooling around AI, or wait to adopt tooling someone else builds. I often discover and build a workflow that eventually someone does better (and then I upgrade to theirs). It can feel wasteful, but I'd rather be at the forefront than behind.

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Joel Gascoigne @joel.is · 09/08/2026

Many companies say they're mission-driven. I think most are actually growth-driven. During a growth season it's easy to tout a mission alongside a great trajectory and everyone's happy. Whether you stay mission-driven through a hard season comes down to who controls the company.

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Joel Gascoigne @joel.is · 31/07/2026

One of my favorite side effects of AI is that it's making the web much more open again. For over a decade we've seen platforms increasingly become walled gardens. AI has created pressure for interoperability and we're finally seeing open standards and APIs being embraced again.

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Joel Gascoigne @joel.is · 17/07/2026

Oh that's a great plan. Still feels a little far away, but it's probably also about picking the right show that has simple and slow Japanese. Thanks!

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Joel Gascoigne @joel.is · 16/07/2026

Wow, goals 👏🏻👏🏻 I just hit level 4 after about 9 weeks of daily study and feeling great about that! I have some existing background so there's still a lot of familiarity in what's coming up, but it's already helping me understand much more of what I'm watching which is super fun.

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Joel Gascoigne @joel.is · 13/07/2026

Haha yikes! That's my worry, the reviews seem to build up fast even if I just miss a single day. Not sure I could get motivated to crank through 2,000! That must mean you're pretty high level too though!

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Joel Gascoigne @joel.is · 13/07/2026

I've been practicing Japanese again (I lived there as a kid and picked it up again during university, but have lost a lot of it since). I've found out a formula I'm enjoying: daily flash cards (WaniKani is awesome) combined with a show in Japanese with English subtitles I watch a few nights a week.

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Joel Gascoigne @joel.is · 29/06/2026

We've recently shifted our AI strategy at Buffer. Rather than packing AI features into the product, our focus is making Buffer great to use with AI. It's about flexibility, interoperability and extensibility. We're making Buffer delightful to use and build upon.

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Joel Gascoigne @joel.is · 12/06/2026

The more comfortable you feel sharing your strategy openly, the stronger it likely is. If you feel worried about competitors knowing your strategy, it's probably weak.

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Joel Gascoigne @joel.is · 28/05/2026

Yep! Very smooth and quick to get posts out, love it. Slight issue trying to use emojis from Raycast (closes the menu bar app), and the image button doesn't seem to work for me. But I know this is early!

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Joel Gascoigne @joel.is · 28/05/2026

Testing out @j4ck.xyz’s Buffer menu bar app! Built with the new Buffer API 😄 github.com/j4ckxyz/Buff...

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Reposted by Joel Gascoigne

jack @j4ck.xyz · 27/05/2026

pushed the first version of Buffer Mac to GitHub :) - tangled coming soon 👀 github.com/j4ckxyz/Buff... working on a better app icon + versioning system right now! #bufferAPI

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Joel Gascoigne @joel.is · 28/05/2026

Eventually we'll add webhooks which could be useful here, but that would probably get quite complicated with a native app not utilizing OAuth. If you ended up offering a hosted backend where people connect via OAuth, could open up some possibilities for you.

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Joel Gascoigne @joel.is · 28/05/2026

Interesting! Yeah, maybe there's a way to grab sent posts and/or the queue to check whether you've posted recently or have something coming up and nudge you towards adding to queue instead of post now. But it would definitely consume some rate limits.

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Joel Gascoigne @joel.is · 27/05/2026

Great stuff! I'm curious, what was it hitting that wasn't necessary?

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Joel Gascoigne @joel.is · 27/05/2026

Let me know if I can help with anything else - love what you're building!

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Joel Gascoigne @joel.is · 27/05/2026

We're generally reserving these raised limits for those creating OAuth-based 3rd party apps, but in this case it makes sense since you're creating an open source app for folks to bring their own keys. We're also evaluating rate limits overall for a few weeks now that we're at GA for the API.

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Joel Gascoigne @joel.is · 27/05/2026

Hey jack! I've just elevated your rate limits for the time being so you can be unblocked from building - love what you're creating here. We can check back in in a week or so and see where you're at.

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Reposted by Joel Gascoigne

jack @j4ck.xyz · 27/05/2026

WIP menu bar app for the Mac which lets you instantly post to your configured social profiles via @buffer.com with the new #BufferAPI! gonna fix some annoying last things, then i'll release it on GitHub + Tangled :)

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Joel Gascoigne @joel.is · 27/05/2026

We can't wait to see what you build with the Buffer API! Learn more about the Buffer API: buffer.com/api Jump into the docs: developers.buffer.com

buffer.com

Buffer API | Build with Buffer

Integrate Buffer's social media management into your own product with the Buffer API.

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Joel Gascoigne @joel.is · 27/05/2026

The Buffer API is available on all plans, including free, and includes MCP and a CLI. It's easy to get started, just head to your account (or create one for free) and go to API in your settings. You can create a personal token or OAuth app right away and make your first API call instantly.

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Joel Gascoigne @joel.is · 27/05/2026

When we chose to invest in a platform 1.5 years ago, we knew we wanted to get it right. We use the same GraphQL API to power our web and mobile apps, so you'll get the reliability benefits of our testing, monitoring, partner relations, and infrastructure, which already handles significant scale.

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Joel Gascoigne @joel.is · 27/05/2026

We're building the API to become the primary layer of the product rather than an afterthought. We believe that going forward, people want to work with Buffer through many interfaces: MCP, CLI, our official apps, and 3rd party apps. Our launch today is a major commitment to this direction.

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Joel Gascoigne @joel.is · 27/05/2026

Buffer's API is here. Whether you want to build workflows and agents for your social, build social sharing into your product, or a tool on top of the Buffer platform and userbase, we've got you covered.

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Joel Gascoigne @joel.is · 24/05/2026

Within 6 to 12 months, every software product will need an API, MCP, and CLI. More and more, people expect to be able to interact with your product through automation, AI and agents. Historically, platform was a later stage play. Going forward, you won't thrive in this new world without a platform.

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Joel Gascoigne @joel.is · 15/05/2026

We have a ton of good stuff coming to existing and new customers in the coming months. We're using our growth and success to make Buffer the most simple, powerful and generous product we can.

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Joel Gascoigne @joel.is · 15/05/2026

It's been a wild and at times very challenging journey, but I wouldn't change a thing, because we've never felt stronger as a company and this is reflected in our trajectory to $25M. If fact we only just crossed $24M two months ago.

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Joel Gascoigne @joel.is · 15/05/2026

Here's the journey we've been on: It took us 5.5 years to reach $10M Another 3 years to reach $20M Another 6 years to reach $20M.. again 🎢 😅 Just 15 months to reach $25M 🎉

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Joel Gascoigne @joel.is · 15/05/2026

You see, at Buffer we've had a very unconventional path to this $25M milestone. This isn't your typical up-and-to-the-right success story. Our path from $20M to $25M included a detour of declining back to $18M while we found ourselves and recommitted to our mission, customers, and values.

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Joel Gascoigne @joel.is · 15/05/2026

Today we crossed $25M in ARR at Buffer, a significant milestone for us 🎉 This one has extra meaning for me because now that we're above $25M we're closer to $30M than we are to $20M. This comes after spending literally ~8 years around that $20M number.

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Joel Gascoigne @joel.is · 09/05/2026

For transparency to be a genuine value of an organization, it cannot simply be something you join and benefit from. It requires active participation and contribution. This should stretch everyone. It should feel a little uncomfortable because transparency is not easy, but the benefits are real.

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Joel Gascoigne @joel.is · 18/04/2026

People see growth and profitability as a tradeoff: when you dial one up, you turn the dial down on the other. In my experience, the times we've grown the fastest have also been the times we've been the most profitable.

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Joel Gascoigne @joel.is · 10/04/2026

I agree with that - I think a mistake some folks make is wanting Freemium purely as a way to grow more, when all they really care about is pure revenue and paying customers. You need to care about free users getting value and a majority of them never paying (because most free users won't).

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Joel Gascoigne @joel.is · 10/04/2026

A healthy freemium base is a growth savings account. Every month a portion upgrades. Remove the free plan and you get a one-time cash-out that looks like growth, but you're really just stealing from your future.

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Joel Gascoigne @joel.is · 16/03/2026

I feel like there needs to be an iOS ssh client that has voice-first input. I'd love to keep my Claude Code sessions going via mobile just by talking. Does this exist yet?

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Joel Gascoigne @joel.is · 15/03/2026

I send a regular newsletter with my recent posts, links I've saved, highlights from what I'm reading, the latest Buffer news, and something that's been on my mind. I sent my latest edition a couple of days ago, take a read here and subscribe: joel.is/newsletter/m...

joel.is

Don't backfill by default

March 13, 2026

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Joel Gascoigne @joel.is · 07/03/2026

Let me know if you end up going in this direction! I personally love how seamlessly I can go from a journal entry to a social post with my setup. I have a Raycast command that can take any note and essentially copy it to a note in the 'posts' directory.

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Joel Gascoigne @joel.is · 07/03/2026

Michael Porter's productivity frontier concept is playing out in real-time. We have 1-2 years where the frontier is getting pushed out by AI before it settles. We get to decide: wait for best practices to emerge, or engage in rebuilding? At Buffer we're choosing to be in the mess of the frontier.

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Joel Gascoigne @joel.is · 06/03/2026

I have my personal website as a 'website' directory in Obsidian with pages, articles, posts, newsletters subdirectories. I have a python script that essentially plucks that folder out and based on any changes puts them into my Eleventy folder so only the changes show up to be deployed.

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Joel Gascoigne @joel.is · 06/03/2026

This is how I have my personal website set up. It's pretty incredible. If you use Eleventy, this is a wonderful plugin that can convert wikilinks to permalinks in your website: github.com/photogabble/....

github.com

GitHub - photogabble/eleventy-plugin-interlinker: Adds wikilink and wikilink embed support with tracking of backlinks.

Adds wikilink and wikilink embed support with tracking of backlinks. - photogabble/eleventy-plugin-interlinker

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Joel Gascoigne @joel.is · 24/02/2026

To play with the beta of the Buffer API: 1️⃣ Enable beta features for yourself: publish.buffer.com/settings/beta 2️⃣ Create an API key: publish.buffer.com/settings/api 3️⃣ View documentation: developers.buffer.com/guides/getti...

publish.buffer.com

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Joel Gascoigne @joel.is · 24/02/2026

I'm happy to share that the brand new Buffer API is in Public Beta 🎉 Use it for personal automations or to create enhancements to Buffer. It works via MCP, with n8n, or build with it using Claude Code / Codex. Note: this is a beta with limited functionality exposed. Much more to come!

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Joel Gascoigne @joel.is · 16/02/2026

This setup is helping me crank through tasks and be more clear minded, and it's been giving me so many ideas about ways I could extend this workflow.

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Joel Gascoigne @joel.is · 16/02/2026

This has streamlined the weekly review process and reduced friction for me in a way that is helping me get back to the core principle of GTD, which is to get things out of my head and into a system that I keep updated and can trust.

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Joel Gascoigne @joel.is · 16/02/2026

The agents can do some pretty powerful reasoning around rescheduling, my capacity, and even things I might miss. It asks me questions and based on my answers it makes all the changes in Todoist on my behalf. This has been helping me be consistent with the weekly review, which had been a struggle.

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