Joshua Hutt · Seattle, WA
I'm a full-stack engineer and team lead, with twelve years of experience. I work primarily with TypeScript, React, and Node, and prototype with Cloudflare and Claude. I work with clients through Hutt LLC and I build apps and experiments on the sideMy apps are mostly functional tools and utilities, often built to scratch an itch of my own.. I also talk and writeI host Podcast or Call (really just recorded calls with friends) and I write reflections, essays, and poems on my blog, Joshua's Words. about epistemics, attention, and working with AI.
Now: Building Causal Tools, consulting through Hutt LLC, and writing. updated September 2026
What I'm about
Most of what I build starts from the same challenge: as humans, most of our thinking is automatic, hidden behind assumptions, reactions, and unconscious beliefs. As a proponent of "open epistemics," I like software that shows the reasoning next to the conclusionFor example, every arrow on a Causal Tools describes the nature of the conntection and includes reasoning and citations to support it. (example), so people can engage with specific details, instead of reflexively tossing the baby out with the bathwater.
I came to engineering sideways. I studied international studies and mathUniversity of Washington, with minors in mathematics and applied mathematics. I also learned Mandarin and did environmental research in China., wrote a book about scientific writing in Word, and then spent a decade building and shipping for companies like LivePerson, Lowe's Innovation Labs, and Amazon. Since 2023 I've worked independently, which usually means joining a team partway through a project and getting it out the door.
I care about tools that don't stake a claim to your datamoots parses your Twitter archive in the browser and saves only the connections you see. Marginer has no server at all., about writing things down, and about how people articulate their beliefs and change their minds. I love taking photosI got a new camera and have gone on an extended photospree, split between selfies, flowers and mountains. A pile of them is further down., and I record long calls with friends and publish them as a podcast.
If you want to work together or just pick my brain, let's book a call or you can message me.
You can also highlight any text on this page and leave a note. That's Marginer in action! I read every note.
Things I've built
Maps for reality.
Build and share interactive timelines that answer the question, "how did we get here?" Each element includes detailed arguments, and claims are sourced and cited. It's not just about what happened—it's about how it all fits together.
The best question to get to the bottom of disagreements is "how do you know?" Causal Tools makes that question explicit.
A to-do list you can talk to.
Talk through everything you have to do. An agent files the todos, catches the feelings as journal entries, briefs you on your morning, and learns how you work. It's not therapist, but it is the next best thing.
Tap any word of a transcript to hear it played back. The audio is kept, and the text is searchable.
Comment everywhere, share anywhere.
Write in the margins of any site. Highlight any text, write a comment or react with an emoji, and get a comment you can paste into any comment input. On Substack, it loads the comments back into the page for in-context review.
Marginer is actually embedded in this site. Select any text to try it out—even this sentence right here!
Threaded video chat. Reply in the moment.
Record a video note and share with your friends. While they watch, they can hit record at any time, pausing playback. After they reply, their video is spliced in, at the exact moment they interrupted. The whole conversation plays back like the back and forth happened live.
You can share your screen and share your chats with anyone, including for public comment. Comments on public chats are 1:1 by default.
Version history for any whiteboard or wall.
Point your phone at a real whiteboard and get an cleaned, cropped, and indexed capture of everything you draw. Individual elements like tables, diagrams, and lists are all tracked, each with its own change history.
You can also mount your phone and have it track the whiteboard continuously. Never miss a drawing!
Your Twitter constellation.
Turn your Twitter/X archive into a zoomable constellation of everyone you've talked to. All data is parsed in your browser—only the calculated stats are uploaded.
You can step through the timeline of your interactions and see them grow and shrink over time.
Work
I've been a full-stack engineer and team lead, in twelve industries so farRetail, conversational AI, ecommerce, finance, marketing, IoT, research, civic tech, cloud consulting, travel, education, and crypto.. I've delivered three AI productsAgentic workflows at Gauge (2026), AI for fiscal research at Capital Group (2024), and conversational AI at LivePerson (2018)., a serverless GraphQL framework for AWS, a 3D asset pipeline for Lowe's, a data pipeline for Coinstar, and interactive research mapsI built a bunch of maps for the Adrianople Group, including Open Zone Map, which was acquired by the World Economic Forum for their TradeTech initiative. for a think tank.
Independent consulting for clients who need something shipped.
AI marketing platform.
Ecommerce checkout platform.
Emerging-technology lab for home improvement.
Conversational AI platform.
Words and faces
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Photos
Archive
Apps, maps, and scraps.
Turn an X thread into an argument graph or a tweet plot, with an LLM. Demoed at the Love Symposium.
Every special economic zone in the world on one map, for the Adrianople Group. Acquired by the World Economic Forum for their TradeTech initiative.
A tool for thinking and writing non-linearly. Like a mind map, but conversational, with AI elocutors built in as a first-class part of the interface.
My first map for the Adrianople Group, with search, an interactive timelapse, and dynamic legends. Launched at a live partner event to thousands.
Mapping the world's startup cities. A rebuild of an existing map for the Adrianople Group.
White-label vote-scoring platform for about 500,000 votes a year, with 13 partner organizations publishing their own scorecards.
Led a small team to finish a stalled Sanity, Gatsby, and React marketing site: 13 page templates and 25 reusable components, delivered ahead of schedule.
Consumer-ready NFT onboarding and creation flow, built in less than two months to test a mass-market idea.
Personal finance app in React that shows how much interest you save by paying loans according to a proprietary payback schedule, using a line of credit.
Travel planning for people who follow GSA and State Department travel policy: per diem rates, city-pair fares, offline-first. Built with PIRAAS.
An iOS app for logging meat grinds for supermarkets. A decade on and still going strong!
My first startup attempt: helping friends hang out more.
A book, with Microsoft Press, on the STREAM Tools method for writing papers in Word.
One of the first things I built for the web.
