Overview

Simon Willison experiments with using AI to transform technical code diffs into webcomics as a tool for understanding software changes. He fed a Git diff from his Showboat project to Nano Banana Pro and asked it to create an entertaining comic explaining the new remote publishing feature.

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The Breakdown

  • Converting code diffs to visual explanations - Fed a Git diff between two versions of his software project into an AI tool to automatically generate a six-panel webcomic that explains what the new feature does
  • AI-generated technical communication - The tool transformed dense technical changes (environment variables, UUID generation, real-time streaming) into an accessible narrative about live document sharing
  • Addressing cognitive debt through creative formats - Uses alternative explanation methods beyond traditional documentation to help developers better understand what their rapidly-built AI-assisted code actually does
  • Personal tooling for feature comprehension - Explores using AI-generated creative assets not for public release but as a thinking tool to conceptualize novel ways to explain technical features