sqlite-utils 4.0rc2

Simon Willison announced the second release candidate of sqlite-utils 4.0, a command-line tool and Python library for working with SQLite databases. What makes this release notable is that the majority of the code was written by Anthropic's Claude Fable, an AI assistant, with Willison reporting a total cost of approximately $149.25 for the AI-generated contributions. This experiment highlights a growing trend among developers: using large language models as co-writers for production-grade software. sqlite-utils is widely used in data workflows for tasks like creating databases, inserting rows, and running queries, making it a staple in many developers' toolkits. The 4.0 release candidate introduces new features and improvements, though Willison has not yet published a detailed changelog. For builders of AI-powered applications, this release serves as both a practical tool update and a case study in AI-assisted software development, showing that even complex, utility-focused projects can benefit from generative AI when guided by an experienced developer.