The Ruby on Rails Podcast

Recorded at Rails World, David sits down with Obie Fernandez to discuss how AI and agentic development are changing the nature of software engineering, and why Rails may be uniquely suited for what comes next. They explore convention over configuration, the need for better guardrails around AI-generated code, and how the craft of programming may be moving from writing source code to defining the higher-level constraints that shape it.

Javier Cervantes, co-creator of the Ruby User Forum, joins me to discuss the limitations of Slack, Discord, and fragmented social media, the importance of connecting developers and open-source maintainers, and why talking with other people still matters in an increasingly AI-driven world.

Chris Oliver and Collin Jilbert discuss how rapidly improving AI coding tools are reshaping the business behind GoRails, Jumpstart, and Hatchbox. They explore the decline of traditional developer education, the surprising ways AI has improved their own development workflow, and why those changes ultimately forced some difficult decisions about Hatchbox’s future.

Jeremy Smith shares about his upcoming Practical Hotwire presentation and the massive amount of work that went into building it. They dig into common Hotwire pitfalls, Jeremy’s “Hot Ones”-inspired presentation format, and his spicy argument that Rails developers may be better off favoring Turbo Streams over Turbo Frames.

Jim Remsik of Flagrant joins the show to talk about the second year of XORuby and its mission to make in-person Ruby events smaller, more affordable, and more accessible.