Simon Willison — 2026-05-29#

Highlight#

Today’s most significant update is the release of Datasette 1.0a31, a massive paradigm shift for the project that introduces UI support for executing write queries directly against the database.

Posts#

datasette 1.0a31 Simon has released a major alpha for Datasette, bringing a highly-requested evolution: users with the right permissions can now execute write queries and save “stored queries” (formerly “canned queries”) directly in the UI. This allows developers to set up templated insert, update, and delete operations against their databases. This release also marks the third post on the recently launched Datasette blog, highlighting his ongoing push for better project documentation.

Anthropic’s run-rate revenue hits $47 billion Tracking the dizzying growth of Anthropic, Simon notes their $65 billion Series H announcement reveals an annualized run-rate revenue of $47 billion. He used Claude Opus 4.8 to generate a Matplotlib chart visualizing their rapid leap from $14 billion in February to today’s staggering figures. Defending the numbers against skeptics, Simon points out that faking financials to investors during a massive fundraise would constitute securities fraud, making the figures highly credible. He also highlights an incredible anecdote via Axios about an enterprise client accidentally burning $500 million in one month on Claude licenses due to a lack of usage limits.

Project Pulse#

Simon is making aggressive progress on the road to Datasette 1.0, crossing the bridge from a purely read-only tool to one that embraces secure data mutation through write queries. Meanwhile, his active tracking of LLM industry trends and hands-on use of Claude Opus 4.8 for quick data visualization reflects his continuous blend of open-source development and AI-assisted programming.