The explosion of software

This piece explores how AI agents are fundamentally changing the structure of software by interacting directly with components rather than finished products. Instead of adding another layer of abstraction like previous technology waves, agents pull the stack apart and reassemble APIs, databases, and protocols into personalized configurations that serve one person in one context. The shift makes well-documented APIs and open protocols the new product surface, while closed systems get routed around. Infrastructure platforms like Vercel and Cloudflare are winning not by building everything, but by making specific surfaces simple enough for agents to use. Standards and infrastructure become the governance layer, defining what's possible and what's allowed. The author shares practical examples of running an agent that manages calendar, email, home automation, and more using whatever interface works: CalDAV, IMAP, MQTT, SQLite, web scraping, and CLIs. None of this infrastructure was built for agents, but all of it works. The products that survive will be the ones that are reachable, open, and composable, because openness is how you get assembled into someone's personal software stack. Published on Subwave https://subwave.app/@paul/post/the-explosion-of-software