Twelve Months Building the Zap Desktop Wallet

The Context

After the initial launch, Zap became a real project. Contributors showed up. Users showed up. Problems showed up.

This post is a retrospective on that first full year - the architecture decisions that worked, the ones that didn't, and the surprising challenges of maintaining open source software with actual users.

Why This Matters

Building in public teaches you things private development never will. You learn to prioritize ruthlessly, communicate clearly, and ship constantly.

These patterns - small iterations, tight feedback loops, relentless focus - are exactly what I apply to building agentic infrastructure today.