Brooklyn’s Jonathan Butler builds house paperwork with AI

Jonathan Butler, a Brooklyn food-industry entrepreneur, turned to AI after realizing he couldn’t code 105 unused website domains—and used it to create Metalog, a construction-management site meant to centralize the documents for his “forever house” in Germanto

On paper, Jonathan Butler’s problem sounded simple: he owned 105 website domains that were “collecting dust.” In practice, it became a constant frustration—because he didn’t know how to code them to life.

The 56-year-old Brooklyn entrepreneur is known locally for cofounding Smorgasburg, a food festival, and Brooklyn Flea, a resale market. He also helped shape early New York blogging; in 2004, he launched Brownstoner.com.

Butler said that when he was building Brownstoner. he had support—“looking over the shoulder” of an employee programming the site’s back end. With no coding knowledge, he couldn’t do anything with the web domains himself. “It hasn’t really made sense to pay someone else a few thousand dollars to fiddle around with your idea. ” he said.

So he went looking for a way around the gap. He began reading about AI, calling it a “Google on steroids,” before a friend invited him over and taught him about “vibe coding.” The lesson happened on a Friday. By Monday, Butler was building.

He didn’t start with something abstract. His first vibe-coded project was a website for his REM cover band. After that came a site for tracking vintage tool collections—something he compared to how he uses Discogs for his vinyl records.

“I have so many records that, when I go to a record store, I can’t remember,” Butler said. “I’ve got like a dozen David Bowie albums.”

As he moved from small tools to larger needs. Butler became part of a wider wave of non-technical people using AI to build software for everyday life. They’re often called “vibe coders. ” and they can use platforms like Anthropic’s Claude Code and OpenAI’s Codex—by instructing an AI agent what to code instead of writing the code themselves.

Butler’s biggest project is where the stakes feel most personal: he’s building his own home in Germantown, New York, on top of a 15-acre ridge. “We’re thinking of it as our forever house,” Butler said. “It’s one story, so we will roll around in our wheelchairs and get carted into the showers.”

He expects the construction to take 18–24 months. The long timeline, he said, comes with a problem that hits almost immediately—documents. The build will require “lots of blueprints. contracts. drawings. and photographs.” Those materials can get scattered fast. and Butler described how often that turned into chasing older versions.

“Every time I wanted to see the most recent plans, I was digging through my old emails or having the architect resend it,” Butler said.

That’s how Metalog was born.

Butler named the app Metalog, describing it as a centralized platform for document-sharing with his architect and contractor. He said it’s “not too complicated,” comparing it to a combination of Dropbox and iPhoto.

The choices behind Metalog show how he built it step by step. Butler said he does his best work in Claude, which he pays $200 a month for—adding that on the free level of these tools “you use it up in a few minutes.” He started the project in ChatGPT, asking for an outline.

Then he and the chatbot moved through iterations. Butler wrote that he was building a house now and realizing “how scattered everything is. ” and he wondered whether there was an opportunity to “vibe-code a new product that unified everything but wasn’t too crazy.” He said the chatbot pointed out the opportunity and the core problems. They then went back and forth using spreadsheets and follow-ups until they had a plan.

Butler took that planning work into Claude Code. He uploaded a 79-page conversation to Claude Code, asked the system to review it, and prompted for “very explicit instructions” as he went.

After about 25 hours of vibe coding, Butler said he’s happy with Metalog. He loaded it with designs and insurance documents, then handed it to his architect. Metalog is also intended to support the day-to-day rhythm of the build: meeting notes from their weekly check-ins. and labeled progress photos.

Laura Trevino, Butler’s architect and sister-in-law, described a workflow shift that’s easy to feel even if you don’t know the technology. She said she usually keeps documents organized in her own systems, and then emails them to clients along the way.

“I have no idea how that information is organized on their end,” Trevino said. “With this, I can see what he’s seeing at the same time.”

One example they used is budget-setting. Trevino said contracts often have multiple rounds of pricing that can stack up in someone’s inbox, making it difficult to know which document is the most recent. In Metalog, she said it takes her “two minutes,” and there’s “no confusion about it.”

Even so, Butler isn’t treating the app as finished. He said he’ll continue to “noodle” on Metalog for three to four hours a day. adding that it doesn’t feel like a burden. “It’s like being in your wood shop making something,” he said. He remembered what it felt like when he couldn’t build his own websites—then contrasted it with what Metalog has given him now.

He also wants to share it. Butler’s next project is building an AI scraper for architects’ contact information, so he can send Metalog directly to them.

The arc is personal. but the broader theme is now familiar across tech and business: when someone has an idea but not the coding ability to execute it. AI becomes less like a novelty and more like infrastructure. In Butler’s case. the difference isn’t just about launching another website—it’s about keeping a “forever house” project on track without losing the documents that decide what happens next.

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