Conferences, AI Trends, and Sleepless Nights

Chris, Andrew, and David catch up on health, sleep deprivation, and the new Invincible season and Fallout. David shares some RubyConf CFP submissions news and this year’s broad conference themes. They discuss Andrew finishing difficult authentication work, touching on OAuth/SSO complexity and pricing, the idea of products built more for bots than humans, and where AI is proving useful, especially for debugging and research. The conversation eventually widens into a more skeptical look at the AI industry itself, touching on scraped code, deepfakes, surveillance, lobbying, and whether the promised productivity gains really match reality. Hit download now!LinksJudoscale- Remote Ruby listener giftInvincibleFalloutRobby Russell XSam Altman XGhosttyRuby 4.0.2 Released RubyConf: July 14-16, 2026, Las Vegas, NVRails World 2026- September 23-24, Austin, TX (Update)HoneybadgerHoneybadger is an application health monitoring tool built by developers for developers.JudoscaleMake your deployments bulletproof with autoscaling that just works.Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Chris Oliver X/TwitterAndrew Mason X/TwitterJason Charnes X/Twitter

On this episode, Andrew’s buried in messy authentication work spread across legacy code, Chris recounts a frustrating GitHub Actions debugging session, and David explains the mental drain of working across both Vue 2 and Vue 3 in the same application. They talk about using workflow run triggers, scheduled builds, and GitHub’s new Agentic Copilot workflows such as CI Doctor, Automatic Code Simplifier, and issue/PR management, while lamenting low-quality AI-generated PRs and paid AI code review tools. Andrew makes a special announcement about Blastoff Rails, they compare LazyVim, lazy.nvim, and Kickstart Neovim, we hear about Ruby 3.4.9 and its bug-fix release, and Marco Roth’s Herb improvements for ERB tooling. Hit download now to hear more! LinksJudoscale- Remote Ruby listener giftUpload-artifact v7.0.0 (GitHub)Download-artifact v8.0.0 (GitHub)GitHub Agentic WorkflowsBringing Code Review to Claude CodeScott’s Pizza ToursBlastoff Rails-June 11-12, 2026, Albuquerque, New MexicoLearn Enough Bridgetown to be Dangerous (Andrew’s talk)lazy.nvimLazyVimkickstart.nvimkickstart-modular.nvimTree-sitterHerbMarco Roth X (Herb)HoneybadgerHoneybadger is an application health monitoring tool built by developers for developers.JudoscaleMake your deployments bulletproof with autoscaling that just works.Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Chris Oliver X/TwitterAndrew Mason X/TwitterJason Charnes X/Twitter

Chris and David welcome back Adam McCrea from Judoscale, to discuss the uncertainty around Heroku after Salesforce’s announcement that it would stop taking new enterprise customers. Adam shares how the news landed in real time during a founder’s retreat, and the conversation expands into what Heroku’s apparent “maintenance mode” means for developers, pricing, autoscaling, platform alternatives, and the broader challenge of building durable developer businesses in the AI era. They also touch on Judoscale’s upcoming “platform tour” and the value of smaller Ruby conferences. Hit download now to hear more! Sponsors:HoneybadgerJudoscaleLinks:Chris Oliver XAndrew Mason BlueskyDavid Hill LinkedInJudoscale- Remote Ruby listener giftAdam McCrea XAdam McCrea LinkedInJudoscaleRemote Ruby-Episode 163: Autoscaling Rails with Adam McCreaHeroku: What’s Next by Jon Sully (Judoscale Blog)An update on Heroku by Nitin T BhatRenderLaravel CloudRBQ Conf, March 26-27, 2026, Austin, TXBlue Ridge Ruby, April 30-May 1, 2026, Asheville, NCRubyConf, July14-16, 2026, Las Vegas, NVRails World 2026, September 23-24, 2026, Austin, TXRuby Events 2026HoneybadgerHoneybadger is an application health monitoring tool built by developers for developers.JudoscaleMake your deployments bulletproof with autoscaling that just works.Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you. Chris Oliver X/Twitter Andrew Mason X/Twitter Jason Charnes X/Twitter

Chris, Andrew, and David welcome special guest Jeff Dickey (jdx), creator of mise, discussing his background rewriting the Heroku CLI from Ruby to Node due to Ruby distribution/sandboxing issues.  The conversation digs into why language CLIs are hard to distribute, the tradeoffs between shims vs PATH-based version switching, why tasks can be the “clean” solution, and Jeff’s Rust-first tooling philosophy. They also dive into his other projects: usage (CLI docs/completions), Pitchfork (dev daemon runner that starts/stops services by directory), and fnox/Fort Knox (secrets management with encrypted files or remote stores like 1Password), and a big upcoming shift: pre-compiled (portable) Rubies becoming the default in mise. Press download now!LinksJudoscale- Remote Ruby listener giftJeff Dickey XJeff Dickey (jdx) Blueskymisefnox--usagePitchforkcommuniquéCasey Neistat: NYC’s Worst Blizzard in a Decade, hour by hour (YouTube)HoneybadgerHoneybadger is an application health monitoring tool built by developers for developers.JudoscaleMake your deployments bulletproof with autoscaling that just works.Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Chris Oliver X/TwitterAndrew Mason X/TwitterJason Charnes X/Twitter

Cameron Dutro returns to the show to introduce LiveComponent, a new library that adds client-side state and targeted re-rendering to Rails ViewComponent using Hotwire + Stimulus with minimal JavaScript. Chris, Andrew, and Cameron dig into why he built it, how it serializes component state and models, how updates flow from events to fast server-rendered HTML morphs, where it shines compared to plain Turbo/Stimulus, and how optional React support can help with migration and interoperability. Hit download now to hear more! LinksJudoscale- Remote Ruby listener giftCameron Dutro GitHubCameron Dutro XRemote Ruby-Episode 134: Kubernetes, JSX for Ruby, and more with Cameron DutroLiveComponentLiveComponent React IntegrationGlobal ID-RailsSNOO Smart Sleeper BassinetHoneybadgerHoneybadger is an application health monitoring tool built by developers for developers.JudoscaleMake your deployments bulletproof with autoscaling that just works.Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Chris Oliver X/TwitterAndrew Mason X/TwitterJason Charnes X/Twitter

Andrew and David hold down the fort without Chris and catch up on what they’ve been watching and reading, before welcoming back Joe Masilotti, the show’s most listened to guest from last year. They talk about Hotwire Native’s momentum, why “Bridge Components” are the unlock for truly native features, Joe’s push toward SwiftUI compatibility, the messy reality of in-app purchases, and how his “PurchaseKit” aims to simplify the whole Apple/Google webhook maze. We also hear about Joe’s new podcast with Colleen, the hosts’ AI tool usage (Claude, Augment, Codex), and Joe’s intent to submit a CFP to speak at RubyConf in Vegas.  Hit download now to hear more! LinksJudoscale- Remote Ruby listener giftJoe Masilotti WebsiteJoe Masilotti XBridge ComponentsPurchaseKitPermission Not Required Podcast Dungeon Crawler CarlGodfather of HarlemClaude CodeCodexmissing (APIdock)RubyConf 2026, July 14-16, Las Vegas, NVHoneybadgerHoneybadger is an application health monitoring tool built by developers for developers.JudoscaleMake your deployments bulletproof with autoscaling that just works.Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Chris Oliver X/TwitterAndrew Mason X/TwitterJason Charnes X/Twitter

On this episode of Remote Ruby, Chris, Andrew, and David dive into the newly released Claude Opus 4.6 and share their frustrations and solutions for debugging a turbo stream issue in Rails. They discuss a range of debugging challenges they've faced, including Rails credentials decryption errors and handling unexpected URL parameters in Pagy. The conversation shifts to the Ruby Gala, a fundraising event tied to RubyConf, highlighting its purpose, structure, and some notable people being honored. They reflect on their experiences with Hack Days at conferences, the challenges they pose, and suggest transforming them into structured workshops to maximize learning and engagement. Hit download now to hear more! LinksJudoscale- Remote Ruby listener giftIntroducing Claude Opus 4.6 (Anthropic)Raise a more descriptive error when file cannot be decrypted (PR #56735)RubyConf-July 14th-16th 2026, Red Rock Casino Resort, Las Vegas, NVKisses from Andrew shirtHoneybadgerHoneybadger is an application health monitoring tool built by developers for developers.JudoscaleMake your deployments bulletproof with autoscaling that just works.Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Chris Oliver X/TwitterAndrew Mason X/TwitterJason Charnes X/Twitter

In this episode, Chris, Andrew, and David kick off with humorous stories about coding experiences across different languages, and then they welcome back guest Kevin Newton who shares his journey from Shopify to Meta. Then, Kevin discusses the intricacies of Ruby and Python, particularly the challenges and trade-offs in their runtime implementations. The conversation then shifts to the development and adoption of the Prism parser in Ruby, highlighting its impact on various projects. Lastly, Kevin shares insights on his work with a pure Ruby YAML parser and a regex engine, emphasizing the complexities and joys of coding and parsing languages. Hit download now!LinksJudoscale- Remote Ruby listener giftKevin Newton XKevin Newton GitHubKevin Newton BlogPython support for free threading A Ruby Regular Expression Engine (Blog post by Kevin Newton)Prism: Ruby 3.3’s new error-tolerant parser (Blog post by Kevin Newton)A Ruby YAML parser (Blog post by Kevin Newton)ExregChris Oliver X/TwitterAndrew Mason X/TwitterJason Charnes X/Twitter

In this episode, Blue Ridge Ruby organizers Jeremy Smith and Joe Peck join Andrew, Chris, and David to talk about the conference returning in 2026. They explain why it’s different (single-track, long breaks, and memorable community activities), what they’ve learned from running it, and how folks can help (speaking, sponsoring, and attending). The discussion also highlights the importance of community and in-person interactions in the tech industry, offering insights into how these events support professional growth and long-term sustainability in software development. Hit download now to hear more! Chris Oliver X/TwitterAndrew Mason X/TwitterJason Charnes X/Twitter

In this episode, Chris, Andrew, and David dive into details about refactoring with SQL, updates on new Ruby versions, and share their views on various developer tools including Mise, Overmind, and Foreman. They also touch on standardizing tools within their teams, the benefits of using Mise for Postgres, and the efficiency of task scripts. The conversation also covers encoding issues, Basecamp Fizzy SSFR protection, and rich-text editors like Lexxy and its application in Basecamp. Additionally, there's a light-hearted discussion on the speculative future of AI and Neuralink.  Hit download now to hear more! LinksJudoscale- Remote Ruby listener giftRuby ReleasesForeman-GitHubOvermind-GitHubMise versionsUsage SpecificationA Ruby YAML parser (blog post by Kevin Newton)Lexxy-GitHubBasecamp Fizzy SSRF protection-GitHubNeuralinkAndrew Mason-The MatrixHoneybadgerHoneybadger is an application health monitoring tool built by developers for developers.JudoscaleMake your deployments bulletproof with autoscaling that just works.Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Chris Oliver X/TwitterAndrew Mason X/TwitterJason Charnes X/Twitter