Prompt and Circumstance

David Vuong and Ilan Rotenberg

Real professional product people review AI tools!

  1. RAG, Clearly Explained

    1H AGO

    RAG, Clearly Explained

    Build your own RAG (Retrieval Augmented Generation) agent in 25 minutes. If you're building AI products, or you want to be, you've heard the term thrown around. We believe in learning by doing, so on this episode we teach you how to build your own RAG agent from scratch. You'll learn key terminology like vector store and embedding, and you'll have a working agent by the end. Walk away with the confidence to talk about RAG with your business and technical stakeholders. The workflow examples from this episode are available for download on Github here. Simply open a new workflow, click the import from URL button, and paste the link from Github. A step-by-step guide can be found here. Chapters 00:00 - What Is RAG and Why Product Teams Should Care04:10 - Tools and Prerequisites for the Build07:07 - Building the Data Ingestion Workflow in N8N13:11 - Connecting Embeddings and Document Loaders17:20 - Building the Chat Agent21:50 - Testing the RAG Agent Live Key Topics RAG (Retrieval Augmented Generation): How RAG lets an LLM search over specific documents instead of pulling from its entire training dataVector Databases: What they are, how they store information for LLM retrieval, and why Supabase works well for thisEmbeddings Models: How Cohere's embedding model translates text into a format LLMs use for similarity searchN8N Workflow Setup: Step-by-step walkthrough of building both the data ingestion and chat agent workflowsDimension Matching: Why your embeddings model and database table must use the same number of dimensions or your results will be uselessThe Think Tool: How a scratchpad tool helps AI agents remember why they made decisions during multi-step processesMetadata in Vector Stores: Adding properties like author, likes, and retweets to give the LLM more context about stored documents Sponsors Querio → querio.ain8n → https://n8n.partnerlinks.io/9tsc8o37mvs2 Links n8n Workflow for Download - https://github.com/canuckamok/agents/tree/main/tweet-ragSupabase - https://supabase.comCohere - https://cohere.com8N - https://n8n.ioX Developer Console - https://console.x.comGoogle NotebookLM - https://notebooklm.googleQuerio - https://querio.ai Find Us YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@PandCpodcastBluesky - https://bsky.app/profile/pandcpodcast.bsky.socialX - https://x.com/_pandcpodcastInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/_pandcpodcastLinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/p-and-c-podcast

    25 min
  2. 3 Important Lessons For Creating Production Grade Agents

    JAN 27

    3 Important Lessons For Creating Production Grade Agents

    Wondering how to take your proof of concept agent to production? Ilan walks through three key lessons from building a competitive analysis agent in n8n, including tips for optimizing your prompts, how to break work into sub-agents, analyze logs, and rethink your workflow design. CHAPTERS 00:00 - Intro and Episode Overview 01:31 - Sponsor: Querio 01:59 - The Competitive Analysis Agent Problem 04:29 - Lesson 1: Use Observability and Logs to Debug 06:43 - Hitting Token Limits and Iteration Caps 09:05 - Lesson 2: Split Into Sub-Agents When Needed 12:40 - The Parallel Processing Problem in n8n 14:11 - Lesson 3: Sequential Design When Tools Don't Run Parallel 16:29 - Wrapping Up and Key Takeaways KEY LESSONS Lesson 1: Use observability and logs to debug agent performance. When the market research agent missed a $100M Series C raise, analyzing n8n logs revealed superficial Perplexity requests, leading to prompt optimization techniques like specifying exact information types (official news, product updates, partnerships, industry coverage) instead of letting the agent decide what to search for. Lesson 2: Split into sub-agents when hitting limits or performance issues. Token limits (10,000 per second on Anthropic) and iteration caps (10 default in n8n) mean one agent doing too many jobs leads to context growth and hallucination risk. Breaking into focused sub-agents (news researcher, sentiment analysis) with specific prompts solves this. Lesson 3: Design for sequential execution when tools don't support parallel processing. n8n runs left to right, top to bottom, so forcing a parallel-looking workflow creates unpredictable execution order. Accepting sequential design and removing deterministic steps (like pulling competitor lists from Google Sheets) from agent control improves reliability. SPONSORS Querio → querio.ain8n → n8n.io LINKS Download the n8n workflow here n8n - https://n8n.io Perplexity - https://www.perplexity.ai Product Compass (Pawel Huryn) AI Agent Workshop FIND US YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@PandCpodcast Bluesky - https://bsky.app/profile/pandcpodcast.bsky.social X - https://x.com/_pandcpodcast Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/_pandcpodcast LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/p-and-c-podcast

    18 min
  3. Vibecoding the Cure to Digital Addiction | Interview with Andrew Williams

    JAN 13

    Vibecoding the Cure to Digital Addiction | Interview with Andrew Williams

    Andrew Williams, CEO of the Toronto Product Management Association, shares his approach to AI-powered product building. He focuses on his app Heyday Focus that makes it easy to follow best practices for increasing focus while online. He discusses how he started his journey in Lovable, then switched to Claude Code and Cursor. He also dives deep into how to use AI tools to create tasteful designs for consistent, polished development. Chapters  00:00 - Andrew's Background: From Publishing to Music to Product 03:52 - The Focus Problem and Introducing Heyday 09:18 - Vibe Coding Journey: From Lovable to Cursor 12:18 - Heyday Demo: Chrome Extension Walkthrough 16:39 - Feature Scoping and the Shadow App Concept 20:46 - Live Demo: Using Figma Make to Redesign Heyday in an Afternoon 24:14 - Next Steps and Where to Find Andrew Guest Andrew Williams - CEO, Toronto Product Management Association & Founder, Heyday LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/andrewrwilliams  X: https://x.com/andrew_reset  Substack: andrew_reset.substack.com Sponsors  N8N → n8n.io Querio → querio.ai Links  Heyday - https://heydayfocus.com  Toronto Product Management Association - https://tpma.ca  Figma Make - https://figma.com/make  v0 by Vercel - https://v0.dev  Cursor - https://cursor.com  Claude - https://claude.ai  Lovable - https://lovable.dev  Find Us  YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@PandCpodcast Bluesky - https://bsky.app/profile/pandcpodcast.bsky.social X - https://x.com/_pandcpodcast Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/_pandcpodcast LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/p-and-c-podcast Note: Andrew will be sharing his Claude Skills files and design philosophy templates - we'll add those links once available!

    31 min
  4. AI in 2026

    12/30/2025

    AI in 2026

    In this episode, we discuss three major trends they expect to see unfold in 2026, covering the evolution of software products, advances in robotics and AI world models, and critical concerns around AI system security. Book your free workflow audit:  https://calendar.google.com/calendar/u/0/appointments/schedules/AcZssZ3d3TghYnjziKB8uteUuJ-EzEgcTfBXash6vl8XfsjPrp2SbDJSJH-1ZYxqS3zrzgipg-guC-LT SPONSORSN8N → https://n8n.partnerlinks.io/pandcpodcast Querio → https://querio.ai/demo MERCHDevil Wears Product → https://devilwearsproduct.shop/ LINKSRobotics investments: https://hard2beat.vc/insights-resources/robotics-startups-2025-the-who-cares-sector-thats-suddenly-breaking-out/ Genie 3:https://deepmind.google/blog/genie-3-a-new-frontier-for-world-models/SIMA 2: https://deepmind.google/blog/sima-2-an-agent-that-plays-reasons-and-learns-with-you-in-virtual-3d-worlds/ 1X Neo:https://youtu.be/f3c4mQty_so AI is incomplete without spatial intelligence:  https://www.ft.com/content/d8fec7b5-f64a-4c5b-8439-6b8fe557be95 World Labs: https://www.worldlabs.ai/ AI safety fail: https://www.reuters.com/business/ai-companies-safety-practices-fail-meet-global-standards-study-shows-2025-12-03/ OpenAI safety departures:https://fortune.com/2024/08/26/openai-agi-safety-researchers-exodus/ Anthropic espionage report:https://www.anthropic.com/news/disrupting-AI-espionage CHAPTERS00:00 - Intro00:37 - First Prediction06:34 - Second Prediction14:00 - Third Prediction Click here to watch a video of this episode.

    22 min
  5. 2025 Wrap Up - Top 25 products of 2025

    12/23/2025

    2025 Wrap Up - Top 25 products of 2025

    Book your free workflow audit here We count down our top 25 AI products of 2025, from privacy-first chatbots to the coding model that changed everything. You'll hear about which tools democratized software development, why we picked one particular note-taking tool, and which products delivered outsize value for product teams this year. Chapters: 00:00 - Starting the Top 25 Countdown 02:26 - #25 to #21 08:12 - #20 to #16 14:14 - #15 to #11 19:42 - #10 to #4 29:04 - #3 30:41 - #2 33:20 - #1 Sponsors: N8N → n8n.io Querio → https://querio.ai/demo Merch:Devil Wears Product → devilwearsproduct.shop Links: Outbond - https://outbond.ai/ Lumo - https://lumo.proton.me/about Duck.ai - https://duck.ai/ AI Context Flow - https://plurality.network/blogs/ai-context-flow-for-ai-without-memory/ Meta SAM Audio - https://ai.meta.com/samaudio/ Gong - https://www.gong.io/ Suno - https://suno.com/ Gamma - https://gamma.app/ Linear - https://linear.app/homepage Adobe Express - https://express.adobe.com/ Canva - https://www.canva.com/ Wisprflow - https://wisprflow.ai/ Aquavoice - https://aquavoice.com/ Superwhisper - https://superwhisper.com/ Granola - https://www.granola.ai/ Perplexity Comet - https://www.perplexity.ai/comet Perplexity TikTok Acquisition News - https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/ai-startup-perplexity-offers-buy-182958943.html Dia Browser - https://www.diabrowser.com/ ChatGPT Atlas - https://chatgpt.com/atlas DeepSeek - https://api-docs.deepseek.com/news/news250120 Sora - https://sora.chatgpt.com/explore Google Veo 3 - https://aistudio.google.com/models/veo-3 Wan.video - https://wan.video/ N8N - https://n8n.io/ ElevenLabs - https://elevenlabs.io/ Gemini Image Generation - https://gemini.google/ca/overview/image-generation/ Perplexity - https://www.perplexity.ai/ Claude Code - https://claude.com/product/claude-code OpenAI Codex - https://openai.com/codex/ Antigravity (Google) - https://antigravity.google/ Cursor - https://cursor.com/ Windsurf - https://windsurf.com/ Windsurf Community Post - https://community.openai.com/t/openai-is-acquiring-windsurf-for-3-billion/1253475 Reuters Windsurf Article - https://www.reuters.com/business/google-hires-windsurf-ceo-researchers-advance-ai-ambitions-2025-07-11/ Cognition Windsurf Blog - https://cognition.ai/blog/windsurf Gemini - http://gemini.google.com/ Microsoft Copilot - https://copilot.microsoft.com/ Claude - https://claude.ai/ ChatGPT - https://chatgpt.com/ Lovable - https://lovable.dev/ Bolt - https://bolt.new/ Replit - https://replit.com/ V0 - https://v0.app/ NotebookLM - https://notebooklm.google.com/ NotebookLM Behind the Product - https://www.reddit.com/r/notebooklm/comments/1g0qp0n/behind_the_product_notebooklm_raiza_martin_senior/ Anthropic Claude 4 - https://www.anthropic.com/news/claude-4 Anton Osika Tweet - https://publish.twitter.com/?query=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2Fantonosika%2Fstatus%2F1926719161935233139&widget=Tweet Lovable Claude 4 Reddit - https://www.reddit.com/r/lovable/comments/1kucygi/lovable_now_uses_claude_4/ Find Us: YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@PandCpodcast Bluesky - https://bsky.app/profile/pandcpodcast.bsky.social X - https://x.com/_pandcpodcast Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/_pandcpodcast LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/p-and-c-podcast

    37 min
  6. Build an AI Agent in Less Than 10 Minutes

    12/16/2025

    Build an AI Agent in Less Than 10 Minutes

    Learn to automate your email flow with your very first AI agent in under 10 minutes using N8N. No coding required. You'll learn how to create an executive assistant that can read your emails, check your calendar, and even draft responses, all while you wonder why you didn't automate this sooner. Grab your free audit here (Limited spots available): https://bit.ly/audit_appointment_pandc Chapters 00:00 - Introduction to AI Agents02:23 - Getting Started with N8N04:05 - Choosing the Right AI Model05:31 - Adding Tools: Gmail, Calendar, and Think Tool07:25 - Creating the System Prompt09:19 - Testing Your AI Agent Business Use Cases/Applications Build an AI assistant that accesses your email and calendar to draft responses, check unread messages, and manage scheduling without manual interventionDeploy your agent through messaging platforms like WhatsApp or Telegram for on-the-go access via voice notes Sponsors Querio → querio.ai Links N8N - https://n8n.ioQuerio - https://querio.aiOpenAI - https://openai.comGmail - https://gmail.comGoogle Calendar - https://calendar.google.comWhatsApp - https://whatsapp.comTelegram - https://telegram.orgN8N Workflow Template (mentioned in episode) - https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-ILVLwujtJ4uB9a7n4lhDPl9uRWBkfnSWq9y3P2XhLY/edit?usp=sharing Find Us YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@PandCpodcastBluesky - https://bsky.app/profile/pandcpodcast.bsky.socialX - https://x.com/_pandcpodcastInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/_pandcpodcastLinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/p-and-c-podcast

    12 min

About

Real professional product people review AI tools!