During March 2025, Joe focused on stabilizing the MNIST build in the zml/zml repository by addressing persistent build errors. He upgraded the Bazel build system to version 8.1.1 and updated rules_cc to 0.1.1, resolving version conflicts that previously blocked successful builds. Joe’s work centered on build system management and dependency management, ensuring the MNIST example could be built reliably and reproducibly. By refining the workspace and dependency configuration, he improved CI reliability and reduced onboarding time for new contributors. This targeted bug fix enhanced the maintainability of the project, laying a foundation for future development and smoother releases.