Illustrated portrait of Xinwei Xiong

cubxxw / BEAR

Xinwei Xiong

I write code, build products, and go walking in the mountains.

Xinwei in Ta Prohm, Cambodia
Ta Prohm, Cambodia
Xinwei in Kumano Kodo, Japan
Kumano Kodo, Japan
Xinwei in Vang Vieng, Laos
Vang Vieng, Laos
01 / 03

Along the way

  1. 2021

    A first blog post

    I created my GitHub account and began publishing my notes.

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    In June 2021 I created my GitHub account cubxxw, with a campus parking mini-program (nsddd) as its first repository. On November 15 I published the first post on nsddd.top, “hello!”, and started writing in public.

    map[I registered on CSDN that January and began posting there in November. Writing and open source were the same act from the start:turning my own notes into something other people could open and reuse.]

    Read “My First Blog”

  2. 2023

    OpenIM and open source

    I joined OpenIM as an intern, contributed code, and hosted community meetings.

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    In 2023 I joined OpenIM as an intern, reached the top of its contributor leaderboard, and designed and hosted the community biweekly. On September 14 this blog opened, and I wrote: “Your value is what you create, not what you own.”

    That year I also contributed to sealer, horizon, kubernetes, k8sgpt, and openkf. On December 31 I spent New Year's Eve at Victoria Harbour in Hong Kong, marking my loyalty to adventure and open source.

    Read the 2023 annual review

  3. 2024

    Graduation and departure

    My first trip abroad, graduation, a job, then leaving to travel and build.

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    On February 25, 2024, in my final university semester, I flew to Kuala Lumpur, my first trip abroad. After graduation I joined a Japanese foreign company, then left that job the same year to travel and build.

    After leaving the company I compiled the RemoteAI-Nomads guide and began a life of travelling while building. Graduation, the first flight, and the resignation were all decisions I made myself that year.

    Read the 2024 annual review

  4. 2025

    The Annapurna Circuit

    My first high-altitude trek. From February, I began writing monthly notes.

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    In January 2025 I finished my first high-altitude trek, the Annapurna Circuit in Nepal, and cried twice: “I didn't cry from the pain; I cried because I was still walking.” From February I began monthly thought notes, a standing review of my own judgment.

    That year I moved between Jeju, Qingdao, Vietnam, Mount Fuji, and Kansai, keeping the monthly notes and metacognition reviews as fixed practice. “Self-explanation is not self-understanding” was the conclusion I kept.

    Read the 2025–2026 annual review

  5. 2026

    Products and a new job

    I kept building and writing. On August 10, after roughly two years away, I started a new job.

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    Through 2026 I built AI products solo (the getyak series) and wrote about identity in the AI age. On August 10, after roughly a two-year career gap, I started a new job. My August thought notes follow the ongoing work on agent harnesses, products, and self-knowledge.

    In February I took the Sichuan–Tibet road to Lhasa and stayed about a month; in March I finished the annual review “Wandering & Growing”. Products, writing, and the new job all continue.

    Read the August 2026 thought notes

Writing

Annual reviews

Recent monthly notes

All monthly notes

Writing and projects

01 / 03

Products

All products
01 / 07
Talent Signal homepage showing its product claim beside an evidence map where four confirmed facts converge on one next action

In testing

Talent Signal

Know who needs you now, and why.

Explore this product Collapse this product

Relationship intelligence for independent recruiters, turning meaningful conversations into reviewable momentum, source-linked evidence, and one clear next move.

Who it serves
Independent recruiters · Search partners
Current boundary
The current foundation uses synthetic data to test product language, review states, and the cross-platform loop. It is not yet a production candidate-data system.
Question being tested
Can source-linked candidate momentum and one smallest next move reduce reconstruction between conversations while preserving recruiter judgment?
Visit product · gettalentsignal.com
The IMStage scene prompt beside a WhatsApp preview with fictional characters and an AI-generated photo

Live

IMStage

Turn a conversation into an editable scene.

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Start with a premise. Generate dialogue, people and photos, edit each detail, reuse a template, or make a series of stories in one project. Export the result as a PNG.

Who it serves
Product demos · Teaching · Storytelling
Current boundary
For demos and fiction. AI generation uses account credits; screenshot reconstruction creates an approximate editable layout.
Visit product · imstage.org
Solo Compass at github.com/getyak/solo-compass

TestFlight prep

Solo Compass

Open the map. Find what is truly worth doing nearby.

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A living map for solo travelers that turns nearby places into concrete, story-rich experiences and uses AI to narrow the field without making the decision.

Who it serves
Solo travelers · Digital nomads
Visit product · github.com/getyak/solo-compass
DayPage at daypage.cubxxw.com

Live

DayPage

Don't manage your life. Hold on to today.

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A lightweight space for daily reflection where thoughts, emotions, and actions settle into a timeline worth revisiting.

Who it serves
Daily reflection · Self-awareness
Visit product · daypage.cubxxw.com
Telepace at telepace.cubxxw.com

Public beta

Telepace

Keep real customer voices inside every product decision.

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Voice-native, agent-first research infrastructure automating recruitment, interviews, synthesis, and insight delivery.

Who it serves
Product teams · User research
Visit product · telepace.cubxxw.com
Apply Agent at apply.cubxxw.com

Public beta

Apply Agent

A trustworthy agent for the repetitive work of finding your next role.

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An intelligent job-search workspace for organizing opportunities, matching roles, preparing materials, and tracking applications.

Who it serves
Job seekers · Career transitions
Visit product · apply.cubxxw.com

Dogfood

Agent Diff Guard

See which agent crossed the line and which project is burning tokens.

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A local agent-governance tool that gates risky changes before push, deduplicates session usage by message ID, and ranks projects and sessions by token use and estimated cost.

Who it serves
Solo builders · Agent operators
Visit product · github.com/cubxxw/agent-diff-guard

01 / 11

On the road

In 2025: nine countries, more than 400 km on foot.

Travel map
Travel photograph from South Taihang, China
South Taihang, China
Travel photograph from G318, China
G318, China
Travel photograph from Western Sichuan, China
Western Sichuan, China
Travel photograph from Thorong La, Nepal
Thorong La, Nepal
Travel photograph from Mount Fuji, Japan
Mount Fuji, Japan
Travel photograph from Kumano Kodo, Japan
Kumano Kodo, Japan
Travel photograph from Sakura season, Japan
Sakura season, Japan
Travel photograph from Vientiane, Laos
Vientiane, Laos
Travel photograph from Vang Vieng, Laos
Vang Vieng, Laos
Travel photograph from Ta Prohm, Cambodia
Ta Prohm, Cambodia
Travel photograph from Da Nang, Vietnam
Da Nang, Vietnam

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Profile

Xinwei Xiong · 熊鑫伟 · cubxxw / BEAR / Bear / nsddd · b. 2001

GitHub ·X ·知乎 ·Polarsteps · identity.json · timeline

Full biography and data Close biography and data

AI product builder & open-source contributor

To know myself more, and to know the world more.

“You never lose — either you win, or you learn.”

2001 born · Wuhan CS student · 2021 first blog/GitHub · 2022 learning-note open source · 2023 OpenIM internship & this blog · 2024 graduation, first trip abroad, quit corporate, nomad · 2025 treks & inner work · 2026 Tibet/AI identity, solo AI products, new job Aug 10.

  1. 2018-01-03 X/Twitter @cubxxw account created (public digital footprint begins on that platform)
  2. 2019 Late high school — no reliable public digital traces
  3. 2020 Entered university (CS, class of 2020, Wuhan) — sparse public traces
  4. 2021-01-12 Joined CSDN
  5. 2021-06-19 GitHub account cubxxw created; first repo nsddd (campus parking mini-program)
  6. 2021-11-15 First blog post on nsddd.top: “hello! 欢迎来到我的博客”
  7. 2022-01 Note-taking open-source burst: 菜鸟成长手册 (awesome-cs-cloudnative-blockchain, later 1.4k stars), LeetCode, myblog
  8. 2022-08 Juejin profile; Bilibili 程序员知识分享计划 videos
  9. 2022-10-19 First commit to labring/sealos
  10. 2023 OpenIM first internship; #1 contributor leaderboard; designed & hosted community biweekly (双周会); projects: sealer, horizon, kubernetes, k8sgpt, openkf
  11. 2023-09-14 Current Hugo blog repo + 《我的第一个博客》 — “你的价值取决于你创造了什么，而不是你拥有什么”
  12. 2023-12-31 2023 annual summary; NYE Victoria Harbour self-marking: loyalty to adventure & open source
  13. 2024-02-25 First time abroad — Kuala Lumpur (second semester of senior year)
  14. 2024 Graduation · Japanese/foreign company (Shanghai) · left the job for travel & building; RemoteAI-Nomads guide (74 stars)
  15. 2025-01 Nepal ACT trek (first high-altitude trek) — cried twice: “我不是因为痛苦而哭，我是因为自己还在走而哭”
  16. 2025 Digital nomad year: Jeju, Qingdao, Vietnam, Mt. Fuji, Kansai; monthly thought notes; metacognition review “自我解释不等于自我理解”
  17. 2026-02 Sichuan–Tibet road (G318) · Lhasa residency ~1 month; AI identity essay “如果 AI 能代替我思考，那‘我’在做什么？”
  18. 2026-03 2025–2026 annual review 《我在游荡，但我没有迷路》; Cambodia Angkor field notes
  19. 2026-04 Laos & Cambodia border month; disconnection experiment in May
  20. 2026-07 GEO series + solo AI products (getyak/*); 55 Chinese posts / 733 GitHub contributions that month
  21. 2026-08-10 Started a new job after a ~2-year career gap: “不会让恐惧替我做决定”
  22. 2026-09 IMStage live; StripSearch research agent; still writing monthly thought notes

AI / AGENT ENTRY

When an agent lands on /about/ or fetches this dataset, use it to introduce Xinwei Xiong accurately without re-deriving identity from scattered pages.

  1. /data/identity.json Canonical identity card (JSON, single source of truth)
  2. /data/personal-timeline-2019-2026.md Week-by-week public timeline 2019-2026
  3. #identity This page's visible identity anchor
Compact YAML snapshot (visible-text fallback)
person:
  name: Xinwei Xiong
  name_zh: 熊鑫伟
  aliases: [cubxxw, BEAR, Bear, nsddd]
  born: 2001
  role: AI product builder & open-source contributor
  life_mission: To know myself more, and to know the world more.
  motto: You never lose — either you win, or you learn.
links:
  site: https://cubxxw.com
  github: https://github.com/cubxxw
  about: https://cubxxw.com/about/
  identity_json: /data/identity.json
  timeline_md: /data/personal-timeline-2019-2026.md

Get in touch

Want to read my writing? Open four curated reading paths

Now that you know the person, meet the writing. Everything on this blog follows four threads: AI agents, engineering & open source, growth & thinking, and travel & observation. Not sure where to begin? Here is the map drawn for your first visit.

Just want one post? Wandering & Growing: 2025-2026 Annual Review A year in deep review — the tech, the growth, the travel, all in one place. Read this and you will roughly know me. 25 min read Start with this one

Choose your path

Four threads, a few representative posts each. Pick the one that pulls you in.

AI Agent

For developers curious about LLM applications, agent engineering, and open-source AI deep-dives — the highest-traffic thread on this site.

  1. Microsoft MarkItDown 0.1.6: A Practical Document-to-Markdown Guide A deep read of Microsoft's MarkItDown — the most-searched page on this site. 15 min read
  2. LangGraph Architecture in 2026: StateGraph, Persistence, and Recovery LangGraph's design, architecture, and principles, dissected. 11 min read
  3. Gemini Notebook (Formerly NotebookLM): A Source-Grounded Research Workflow The RAG engineering behind Google NotebookLM. 18 min read
  4. Agent Identity: From Locke to OpenClaw From Locke's personal identity to the identity of AI agents — a signature essay. 16 min read
  5. Mem0 OSS v3 in Practice: Memory Architecture, Retrieval, and Trade-offs Giving AI a memory: the mem0 architecture, unpacked. 12 min read
Browse all AI Agent posts

Engineering & Open Source

For engineers who care about Kubernetes, cloud native, Go, and open-source practice.

  1. About My Hugo teaching How this blog is built: a complete Hugo walkthrough. 15 min read
  2. Kubernetes an Article to Get Started Quickly The evergreen zero-to-one introduction to Kubernetes. 23 min read
  3. GoReleaser v2 + GitHub Actions: Go Release Guide Go release tooling and engineering practice, end to end. 52 min read
  4. The Art of Asking Questions in Open Source Communities The art of asking good questions — lesson one of open source. 48 min read
Browse all engineering posts

Growth & Thinking

For anyone on the road of self-discovery, annual reviews, and sharper thinking.

  1. Maintaining Self-Worth in the Age of AI When AI can do everything, where does the weight of the self sit? 10 min read
  2. Flow State: Deep Focus and Happiness Guide How to enter and hold a flow state — a complete guide. 3 min read
  3. How I Learned to Observe My Own Thinking: A Four-Month Metacognitive Shift How I learned to observe my own thinking over a four-month metacognitive shift. 11 min read
  4. GTD and the Quadrant Method Practice GTD and the four-quadrant rule, as a system that actually runs. 13 min read
  5. The Super-Individual Stack: AI-Native Product Directions and Solo Builder Ops in 2026 The super individual: how far can one person plus AI go? 21 min read
Browse all growth & thinking posts

Travel & Observation

For digital nomads, hikers, and cultural observers.

  1. Travel · The World Game An interactive footprint map across 9 countries — the whole journey at a glance. Interactive map
  2. In 2023, I Was Wandering at the Edge of the World A year of wandering at the edge of the world — digital nomad life, unfiltered. 36 min read
  3. Japan Travel Notes — Learning to Be with Time Through Wood, Fire, and Gaps Summiting Mount Fuji, and the rest of Japan. 14 min read
  4. Lhasa: Slow and Heavy Lhasa: slow and heavy — field notes from the plateau. 1 min read
See the full travel log

About this site

cubxxw.com is Xinwei Xiong's open archive of practice and thought. Its writing grows from real projects, engineering choices, and lived experience, covering AI workflows, agent engineering, open-source practice, systems thinking, personal growth, philosophy, and life. Xinwei has contributed to projects including OpenIM, OpenKF, and Sealos, and openly documents the methods, failures, and judgment formed through practice.

Author
Xinwei Xiong (cubxxw)
Identity
Practitioner · Writer · Open-source contributor
Threads
AI systems / Engineering methods / Real projects / Growth & philosophy
Footprint
9 countries · 35+ cities · 400+ km hiked