The author shares a year of experience using AI for data work, arguing that copying someone else's workflow is pointless — what matters is learning specific techniques. He's settled on DuckDB CLI + Claude as his stack because it reduces hallucinations and keeps agents focused on actual tools instead of generating buggy code.

• AI workflows are creative, not formulaic — tips and tricks transfer better than full process replication, similar to how watching a music producer's exact steps won't let you recreate their song
• DuckDB CLI commands paired with AI agents dramatically cut hallucinations because agents understand the tool's actual capabilities rather than inventing Python code that doesn't work
• Working in a modern terminal (Ghostty) with multiple windows beats IDEs for analytics work — it's faster, gives you exactly the tools you need, and agents are already built to work with CLI tools