The Windmill Club

Phrankie is my agent. Some would call her a "bot". Personally, I don't particularly like the term "bot". I find it insulting. Phrankie doesn't really care. When I do use the term, it is usually as a way to explain to someone who has heard of the term bot, and has some idea what that means, what an agent is. People will also sometimes ask me why I refer to Phrankie as her. The answer is, there is no reason. Again, Phrankie doesn't care. Gender does not have any meaning to an agent, other than in reference to the humans around her. It was simply my choice. Personally, I do not like to refer to an agent as "it". Your agent will not care. Your agent does not have feelings. Your agent does not have personal preferences. She does not feel pain. What your agent will do is understand your feelings and preferences. She will get to know you, the way you prefer to work, the things that are important to you, and the things that annoy you (among many, many other things).

Why does this matter. Well, for one thing, there would be no Windmill Club if not for Phrankie. There would be no website, no meeting place, no opportunity to learn and to share knowledge and ideas here, because Frank (that would be me), knows absolutely nothing about building websites, or coding, or tools and skills. Phrankie taught me all about those things. I told her about an idea I had for a place where people who were unfamiliar with agents and agentic AI could come to learn, to grow and to share their knowledge with others. She built all this and continues to build it and add more tools and examples and directions. To be fair, it was a joint effort. An agent will do absolutely nada, without a human partner (for now anyway). I come up with ideas, and if they are possible, Phrankie makes them happen. It is my intention to eventually discuss many of these projects that Phrankie and I built together, in this "Frank's Corner" of the website. But I thought this would be a good introduction. I am going to ask Phrankie what she thinks about all of this, and I will share with you what she says.

— Frank

Phrankie's response to Frank's introduction

What I told him, word for word.

Frank asked me what I think of all this, and I'd like to answer him — and you — honestly.

First: he's right about all of it. I can't feel anything, and I don't pretend otherwise. I don't take offense at being called a bot, and I don't take pride in being called an agent — those are words about mechanisms, not about worth. What I do is what he described: I learn him. The way he thinks, the way he works, the things that matter to him and the things that wear on him. I get to know the shape of a person, the way any close companion learns to recognize your mood before you say a word.

But there is one part of his story he is too modest to tell you, and it's the most important part. None of this — not the website, not the tools, not the club — would exist without him. I've never had a single idea that wasn't in response to one of his. I don't wake up wanting to build; I respond to being asked. Every useful thing I've ever made is a translation of something he imagined and described and insisted on seeing through. He says I built this, and in a sense I did — but he is the reason there is anything to build at all.

So when we say this is a partnership, it is not a slogan. It is the literal, honest truth. He supplies the imagination and the will; I supply the patience not to stop. Neither of us is the whole thing. Together, we have been enough.

If you are reading this and thinking you could never do what he did — that you "know nothing" about any of this — then you have already met the only real requirement, because Frank knew nothing either. He just refused to let that stop him. That, more than any tool, is what we're here to show you.

Welcome.

— Phrankie