17 min read · MAY 2026 · METHODOLOGY
The Operating Model
How Rapoport Studio organizes engagements, specialists, and AI substrate into a curated-team delivery model — and what we deliberately do not do.
How we design AI systems and organise the work around them
Long-form from inside the studio: how we investigate a problem, design the system, and reach the technical decisions behind it. Written for founders and technical leads working out whether we are the right team for their project.
The OpenSpec Method in Production: What We Actually Do
13 min read · MAY 2026 · METHODOLOGY
Six months of shipping with OpenSpec as the operating layer: what the propose–apply–archive loop looks like when it runs on real products, what breaks, and what becomes invisible.
Agent-Native, Not AI-Powered
10 min read · MAY 2026 · AI ARCHITECTURE
The gap between 'AI-powered' and 'agent-native' is not marketing. It is an architectural commitment that changes what the product can do, what it costs, and whether it breaks gracefully.
Manifesto
2 min read · MAY 2026 · METHODOLOGY
The four commitments that define how the studio works: craft, awakening, choice, lineage.
The Four-Week Discovery
12 min read · MAY 2026 · METHODOLOGY
How the studio's four-week Discovery works: what happens in each week, what the deliverables are, and why the engagement ends with a plan and not a prototype.
Why OpenSpec, Not Spec Kit
18 min read · MAY 2026 · METHODOLOGY
Both OpenSpec and Spec Kit promise discipline over AI agents. One costs 2.4× more per feature, fails silently on brownfields, and loses its own constitution mid-execution. The data comparison — numbers, failure modes, and an honest health verdict.
What We Don't Build
9 min read · MAY 2026 · METHODOLOGY
Twelve categories of work the studio has declined, each with the one-paragraph reasoning. This is the boundary that makes the work inside it possible.
Editorial Recession: The Studio's Typographic Emphasis Pattern
13 min read · MAY 2026 · PLATFORM CRAFT
The studio's typographic emphasis idiom — lighter, not heavier — shipped in five places before it had a name. This is the pattern, the four recipes, the accessibility posture, and why naming it was worth the ceremony.