AHK & AI News 2026-04-08 We are living in the age of AI today!

AutoHotkey Newsletter

Howdy %Name%,

I just realized something BIG about how we should be building with AI.

Think about how Claude Code got cloned in a couple of hours.

That shouldn’t be the exception

it should be the process!

Version A:

Move fast.

Throw everything in.

Don’t worry about structure, elegance, or doing it “right“

Just get it working.

Because now, more than ever, speed > perfection.

Then comes Version B:

Hand it to AI and say:

“Clean this up. Refactor it. Keep what matters. Improve the logic“

You’re no longer polishing your messy code

You’re rebuilding it intelligently.

This is the shift most people are missing.

We’re not in the era of “write it perfectly the first time”

We’re in the era of:

👉 Get the ugly first draft working

👉 Let AI turn it into something great

Perfect is still the enemy of done❗

If you’re still trying to architect everything upfront, you’re slowing yourself down.

Build messy..Then rebuild smart❗

Learn to Automate today!

Now on with the show…

Learn how to Master VSCode Make the switch to v2 Intro to AutoHotkey Intermediate AutoHotkey Intermediate ObjectsGUIs are Easy w/AutoHotkey Access all our Courses; Quit when you want

livecode


Saving Your own Claude Commands

Did you know you can save your own / Claude commands❓   And there are some very handy advanced tips to make things easier for you!   I created this post to walk through some of the cool features in creating your own Claude Code Commands.

If you’re still using AHK v1, you shouldn’t be❗

There are a lot of people out there still using AHK V1, but they really shouldn’t.

One reason is that it has not been updated in over two years.  And Lexikos, true to his word, has not made a change to it since his End of Life post mentioned here.

Now that AI is so good at developing V2 code, everyone should be switching to V2.

I even used it to convert several of my scripts that were thousands of lines long and Claude Code did an amazing job!

If you want to get leveled up on V2 quickly, check out our V1 to V2 course.

Don’t forget all of our courses come with a double your money back guarantee, so we’ve got you covered.

Adding Inflection to your Cloned Voice

 I’ve been using Eleven Labs to clone my voice for a while now.  It is okay for words but often comes across “flat” for entire sentences.   But now you can add emotions to words.  In this video I showed our Hero members how I’d updated our class to let me pass them along.

🚨 ElevenLabs Update: AI Voices Now Have EMOTIONS & Accents | AHK Hero Extract
🚨 ElevenLabs Update: AI Voices Now Have EMOTIONS & Accents | AHK Hero Extract


Reduce your Token usage by 94% for Documents

During last week’s Hero call we demonstrated our MarkItDown wrapper. 

This tool is super-cool!   It lets you convert many file formats (PDFs, Word docs, Excel files, etc.) to MarkDown.  This is better for AI to “digest” and greatly reduces the tokens you’ll need going forward.  Check it out in this video

🚀 This PDF to Markdown Tool Saves 94% of AI Tokens (Game Changer!) |AHK Hero Extract
🚀 This PDF to Markdown Tool Saves 94% of AI Tokens (Game Changer!) |AHK Hero Extract


Amazing Updates to our Window Snipping Tool

During a Hero call I showed some of the amazing functionality I added to our Window Snipping tool!  Things like: Drawing Arrows, Adding Text, Highlighting, Capturing after a delay, etc.

Check it out in this video.

Creating a V2 version of our Window Snipping Tool
Creating a V2 version of our Window Snipping Tool


Improving People’s Lives: Story #90

Sunday my wife said she wanted some help merging a dozen Excel files together.

I asked her to email me the files and come to my computer.

I then opened each Excel file and clicked the Claude Code Excel extension.

I then told her to use the foot pedal and talk to Claude just like she’d talk to me (I use Handy to transcribe what is said and auto-send it to Claude when the foot pedal is released)

In less than 7 minutes she’d gotten everything done that she needed❗ 

I mentioned to her she should Claude Excel plugin approved at her company.

If you have not added the Claude Excel plugin, you can check it out in this video.

Quick Demo how to add Claude to Excel | AHK Hero Extract
Quick Demo how to add Claude to Excel | AHK Hero Extract


📚 What we’re reading


🤖 AI News that you Need to Know


⚡️Productivity tips:  

Leave your phone in the other room.   You’ll be amazed at how much work you can get done!

If anyone complains.  Just tell them I was the one that told you to do it.


🤣 A spot of Humor:  

Thanks for sharing Todd❗

Three overlapping metal circles labeled TERMINATOR, MATRIX and IDIOCRACY, with WE ARE HERE in the center overlap


Clients say…

You guys are awesome — Allen Horn


Cartoon superhero mascot in green costume beside the bold text AHK Hero on a yellow background AHK Hero 🦸

Consider joining the 🦸Hero club! Members receive 25% off courses, consultations, tutoring, done for you project work, etc.    Currently we have over 545 hours of recordings teaching AutoHotkey that is exclusive to Hero members❗

You can watch 1 hour a day for a year and not repeat content! That’s a lot of Learning!

During this Friday’s call we’re planning to discuss:

They also have access to exclusive & pre-released content and 3 hours a week where we help people with their automation issues (the Saturday calls are geared towards people new to Automation with AI)


🗣️ 💭 Quotable quotes

  • Thought is the original source of all wealth, all success, all material, all great discoveries, and affections, and all achievements — Claude M. Bristol
  • You wouldn’t have won if we’d beaten you — Yogi Berra
  • Turn off the TV and go read — John Carlton

AHK Newsletter⏩SHARE WITH A FRIEND⏩

Do you know someone that would benefit from learning useful automation tips like the gems in today’s issue?  Take a second and forward this newsletter and bask in the glow of their undying gratitude.  Was this email forwarded to you?

Sign up for this Newsletter here.  We never share your email with anyone.  Ever!


the-Automator  Dedicated to Multiplying your Income

Joe, Isaias, Irfan and staff


P.S. If you’ve got an idea that you want to flesh out, check my calendar and book a call with me.

Creating a tool is more about having an original idea than it is having the skills to create it!

 

AHK News 2026-03-26 Why I’m not (currently) worried about AI

AutoHotkey Newsletter

Howdy %Name%,

Here are two graphs that are why I’m not worried about losing business to AI (yet)

I’m proud to say most Hero members fall between the red and yellow squares ❗

AIusage

Here is another interesting graph I researched and created.   Fiverr and UpWork revenue since 2019

FiverUpworkRevenue

I’m sure there are losers as well as winners in that chart but, if you’re embracing AI then I’m willing to bet you’re on the winning side!

How about you❓   Want to be one of the 3.2 million in that red square🟥❓  

If you’re serious about using AI + AutoHotkey like this, the Hero group is where we actually build this stuff together.

Now on with the show…

Learn how to Master VSCode Make the switch to v2 Intro to AutoHotkey Intermediate AutoHotkey Intermediate ObjectsGUIs are Easy w/AutoHotkey Access all our Courses; Quit when you want

ForAnyone

We finally launched AutomateMyTask  in v2

This is a phenomenal executable for writing Fuzzy matching image search v2 code❗

You can check out the fundamentals in this video or click here to learn more about AutomateMyTask .

I also have this AmT playlist which has very short, to-the-point videos!

🚀 AutoHotkey V2 Tool That Writes Code FOR YOU! (Game Changer)
🚀 AutoHotkey V2 Tool That Writes Code FOR YOU! (Game Changer)

If you’re new to working with Functions check out our Intro to AHK Course


Pros / Cons of various ways to use Claude Code

I’ve been using the Claude Desktop app to work with Claude but then switch to using VS Code.  Surprisingly there were big differences!  And then you have the Chrome Extension not to mention Cowork so I asked Notebook LM to help explain the Pros & Cons of each approach. 

AutomateMyTask  lets you visually capture elements and instantly generate working AutoHotkey v2 code—no guessing, no trial-and-error.

The video turned out great!

🚀 Claude Code: CLI vs VS Code Extension – Which One is right for you❓
🚀 Claude Code: CLI vs VS Code Extension - Which One is right for you❓


How much should you pay for AI

Obviously it is tough for me to say how much you should pay for AI however I can tell you this.  I was being overly stingy❗

In this video I explain how I finally realized that I was being an idiot and switched to the Max $100 a month plan.   My guess is you should upgrade too!

💸 From $20 to $200: My Claude AI Upgrade Journey | AHK Hero Extract
💸 From $20 to $200: My Claude AI Upgrade Journey | AHK Hero Extract


Make sure Goldilocks gets the right AI model

While we’re on the topic of paying for AI, in this video I walked through how you can make it easier to decide which model you should be using (depending on the task you’re asking AI to do for you.)

💸 From $20 to $200: My Claude AI Upgrade Journey | AHK Hero Extract
💸 From $20 to $200: My Claude AI Upgrade Journey | AHK Hero Extract


Improving People’s Lives: Story #88

I spent an hour the other day showing a friend of mine how easy it was to use Claude Code through VS code.   Now he’s leveled up and is creating tools that he never dreamed possible!


📚 What we’re reading


🤖 AI News that you Need to Know


⚡️Productivity tips:  

Use Control+Shift+P to open the “Command Palette in VS Code


🤣 A spot of Humor:

This is, quite possibly, the worst movie ever made❗   Don’t’ say I didn’t warn you❗

After Last Season (2009) 

After Last Season (2009) Movie (2009) Watch whole movie to ender 1k giveway


What we 🅰utomated this week with AutoHotkey #127

In this week’s video I show you a ton of the tools we’ve been building lately

From a headline scoring tool inspired by legendary copywriters, to an icon finder that uses AI embeddings so you can search by concept instead of keywords (search “fly” and it finds airplanes!).

I also walk through some slick UIA Inspector upgrades that auto-generate your automation code and a bunch of other goodies like image converters, notification systems, and FFMPEG updates.

If you’re curious how AI is supercharging what’s possible with AutoHotkey, you’ll want to check this one out.

What we Automated with AutoHotkey #127
What we Automated with AutoHotkey #127


Clients say…

You guys are awesome — Allen Horn


Cartoon superhero mascot in green costume beside the bold text AHK Hero on a yellow background  Hero 🦸

Consider joining the 🦸Hero club! Members receive 25% off courses, consultations, tutoring, done for you project work, etc.    Currently we have over 539 hours of recordings teaching AutoHotkey that is exclusive to AHK Hero members❗

During this Friday’s call we’re planning to discuss:

  • Help Hero Members with their Questions & Code
  • AHK Script Maker: Check for update, Dash
  • Using Try/Catch in your code
  • AutomateMyTask – released in v2
  • Send/Post Message Syntax writer
  • UIA / Message Syntax writer hybrid
  • Using Peacock with VS Code
  • Setting default values in an ini file

They also have access to exclusive & pre-released content and 3 hours a week where we help people with their AHK issues (the Saturday calls are geared towards people new to AutoHotkey.)


🗣️ 💭 Quotable quotes

  • There are no secrets to success only things you don’t happen to know right now — Joe Glines
  • Learn how to calculate the future cost of your bad decisions — Joe Glines
  • Don’t sacrifice peace of mind for a piece of luxury — James Cleary

AHK Newsletter⏩SHARE WITH A FRIEND⏩

Do you know someone that would benefit from learning useful automation tips like the gems in today’s issue?  Take a second and forward this newsletter and bask in the glow of their undying gratitude.  Was this email forwarded to you?

Sign up for this Newsletter here.  We never share your email with anyone.  Ever!


the-Automator  Dedicated to Multiplying your Income

Joe, Isaias, Irfan and staff


P.S. I’ve had an insanely productive week using AI to write tools for us! 

If your struggling with AI then you really should consider joining our Hero club!  I guarantee you’ll level you up every meeting❗

 

AHK News 2026-03-19 Do you suffer from this Disorder❓

AutoHotkey Newsletter

Howdy %Name%,

There’s a common disease among Programmers and Entrepreneurs.

It shows up a lot in the AutoHotkey world.

It often disguises itself as “clean code” or “better architecture.”

(If you struggle with this, review the different roles you should be thinking in while coding)

But most of the time…

It’s just avoidance.

I call it:

Perpetual Optimization Disorder

Here’s how it usually shows up:

You don’t release the script because it’s “not quite ready”

You refactor the function… again.

You rewrite the GUI instead of testing it.

You spend hours reorganizing your libraries.

You tell yourself that one more improvement will make it “good enough” to share.

Meanwhile someone else — with a much messier script — has already posted theirs on GitHub or the AHK forum…

And people are using it❗

📌 TODAY’S TAKEAWAY

Perfect code that never ships helps no one  

Not you.
Not other programmers.
Not the people that could be saving time using it.  (This is exactly what we fix with our students—getting your scripts usable fast)

Six weeks of polishing = six weeks of zero feedback

Someone else shared their tool, learned what people actually needed, and improved theirs.

The standard for “good enough” is simple:

  • It solves a real problem
  • It is (mostly) reliable
  • Someone else can use it

Everything else is nice to have.

  1. Scripts get better after people use them.
    Real-world usage reveals problems you’ll never discover on your own.

Bottom Line

If your script isn’t shared, it isn’t improving.

And if it isn’t improving…

Someone else’s script is. ❗

If you want help working out those last little tweaks, book time on my calendar and we’ll get you launched in no-time!

Now on with the show…

Learn how to Master VSCode Make the switch to v2 Intro to AutoHotkey Intermediate AutoHotkey Intermediate ObjectsGUIs are Easy w/AutoHotkey Access all our Courses; Quit when you want

JustGoogledScript

Stop Hiring Einstein to do your laundry 👕

Are you burning through AI tokens faster than free samples at Costco on a Saturday?

Matching the model to the task could be a great way to save you both time and money. 

In this video I showed Hero members how they can get help deciding which model is right for their task.

💰 Save Money on AI Models: The Smart Way to Choose the Right One | AHK Hero Extract
💰 Save Money on AI Models: The Smart Way to Choose the Right One | AHK Hero Extract


Reduce Token Usage by 97%

Alternatively you could also consider using Jcode Munch to reduce your token usage.

Irfan walks through using it in this video.  It’s a lot easier to use than you think!

It trims unnecessary tokens from your prompts before sending them to AI

🤖 AI Tool Cuts Token Usage by 97% – Save THOUSANDS on Claude! 💰|AHK Hero Extract
🤖 AI Tool Cuts Token Usage by 97% - Save THOUSANDS on Claude! 💰|AHK Hero Extract


Creating Mockups of GUIs

Speaking of making things easy; in this video I show how you can take a GUI created from AI, Moqups, or just a screen shot and break it down into “Layers” with Canvas Magic Layers.

Stop Coding GUIs by Hand – Use This Magic Layer Trick ✨
Stop Coding GUIs by Hand - Use This Magic Layer Trick ✨

Don’t forget if you want to build the GUI yourself, our Intro to GUIs course is a great place to start❗


Improving People’s Lives: Story #87

While in Las Vegas, I had lunch with my stepsister and niece.  Both were mentioning they wanted to learn more about how AI could help them.  

I introduced them to NotebookLM and showed them how they can quickly learn any topic through a Video, Podcast or Infographics.  

BTW- I noticed videos recently had an upgrade.  Check out this one that I created discussing how many businesses make huge mistakes when creating a Lead Magnet.

💸Companies Waste Millions on Content That Never Converts
💸Companies Waste Millions on Content That Never Converts

They were stoked!


📚 What we’re reading


🤖 AI News that you Need to Know

Build Self-Improving Claude Code Skills. The Results Are Crazy.

Build Self-Improving Claude Code Skills. The Results Are Crazy.


⚡️Productivity tips:  

Niek, an AHK Hero member mentioned how he gets some of his best ideas while showering. 

I told him that I’ve had the same experience for years!  

The point is not to “shower more” (well maybe it applies 😆) but find some “down time” when you can let your subconscious solve your problems for you!


🤣 A spot of Humor:

This was a show I watched on Saturday mornings when i was a kid. Wow they were hurting for content!

Run, Joe, Run
Run, Joe, Run - Season One

Today it has a different meaning for me


What we 🅰utomated this week with AutoHotkey #126

This week was packed!  😁

We updated AHK Script Maker with code folding and a slick right-click option to convert V1 scripts to V2.

We also leveled up Automate My Task, played with AI-powered MySQL queries in plain English, and automated OBS webcam positioning.

In this week’s video I walk you through all of it, including why I think AI tools are basically the best employees money can buy.

What we automated with AutoHotkey #126
What we automated with AutoHotkey #126


Clients say…

I’m astonished at what we’ve done! — Michael N. (Radiologist)


Cartoon superhero mascot in green costume beside the bold text AHK Hero on a yellow background AHK Hero 🦸

Consider joining the 🦸AHK Hero club! Members receive 25% off courses, consultations, tutoring, done for you project work, etc.    Currently we have over 536 hours of recordings teaching AutoHotkey that is exclusive to AHK Hero members❗

That’s a lot of AHK Learning!

During this Friday’s call we’re planning to discuss:

They also have access to exclusive & pre-released content and 3 hours a week where we help people with their AHK issues (the Saturday calls are geared towards people new to AutoHotkey.)


🗣️ 💭 Quotable quotes

  • Amazing things get done when you don’t care who gets the credit — Joe Glines
  • The thing most people like least is a mirror — Dan Kennedy
  • You’re like a dull knife that just ain’t cutting. You’re talking loud and saying nothing — James Brown

AHK Newsletter⏩SHARE WITH A FRIEND⏩

Do you know someone that would benefit from learning useful automation tips like the gems in today’s issue?  Take a second and forward this newsletter and bask in the glow of their undying gratitude.  Was this email forwarded to you?

Sign up for this Newsletter here.  We never share your email with anyone.  Ever!


the-Automator  Dedicated to Multiplying your Income

Joe, Isaias, Irfan and staff


P.S. One of my favorite sayings is

Version One is infinitely better than Version None

If you need help launching, or just a kick in the butt, by all means we can help!