How one operator shipped it with AI — with the receipts.
One operator, 133 days, the engineering output a normal team measures in years — and a promise to show the receipts, caveats included.
A better model made me 2.5× faster. Workflow made me 8×. The order matters more than people think.
My cost-per-commit went down as I shipped more. That's backwards from how software usually works — and it's the whole point.
Three independent estimation methods converged on an uncomfortable number — roughly 40 person-years of engineering, delivered in 4.4 months.
A multiplier like 8× is only honest if you say what it doesn't mean. Where my own numbers break, and where the research is blunt.
The leverage was never AI alone. It was one skilled operator plus flat-fee AI — and that distinction is everything.
Can we count this visit?
Say no and the site works exactly the same. What we collect.