All Episodes
27 - Plan Mode Sucks
Dillon, Scott, and Matt dig into Matt's hot take that you shouldn't be using plan mode in your AI coding agents anymore. They land on a nuanced agreement — planning still matters, but plan mode in Claude Code and Codex has stopped pulling its weight, spinning for 30 minutes and dumping a markdown doc instead of asking the clarifying questions it used to. Plus grill-me skills, POC-first workflows, Scott's eighth powerlifting meet, and Matt accidentally reinventing Tanstack Query.
26 - Vibe-Coding Your Own Productivity Stack
Dillon walks Scott and Matt through the daily briefing dashboard he's been vibe-coding at work — a single page that aggregates his to-dos, PRs, JIRA tickets, Datadog alerts, and recent notes — and shares the custom Claude skills he's built around it. The conversation explores AI as a fast track to personal software, where AI agents struggle (keeping consistent UI), where they shine (generating visual diagrams to understand problems), and the trap of suddenly having 20 open PRs because you can ship faster than you can review.
25 - No(de.js) AI
Dillon, Scott, and Matt dig into the drama around Matteo Collina's 19,000-line Node.js PR — written largely with Claude Code over Christmas break — that's forced the Node.js community to confront how AI-assisted contributions fit into open source governance, the DCO, and the future of runtimes like Bun and Deno.
24 - Selling The Increment: PR Scope, Nitpicks, and Token Anxiety
Dillon, Scott, and Matt dig into what happens when PR feedback drifts from the plan the team thought they aligned on — scope creep, nitpick comments that block merges, and the eternal tension between shipping the incremental thing and building the "ideal" thing. They land on communication, lightweight design docs, and a healthier code review culture as the way through. Plus: Dillon discovers token anxiety after burning $300 of Opus in four hours, and Scott spoils Project Hail Mary for Matt.
23 - Retro & React - 3
Dillon, Scott, and Matt unpack the chaotic saga of ClawdBot → MoldBot → OpenClaw — the rapidly-rebranded autonomous agent platform that's exploded on GitHub — and dig into the marketplace malware scandal, the credentials-access risks, and what Anthropic cutting off subscription billing tells us about the economics of agentic AI.
22 - AI Adoption Reality Check
Matt, Scott, and Dillon push back on the AI hype cycle by digging into a Dax tweet about what AI adoption actually looks like inside larger tech companies — bloated LLM bills, unmotivated 9-to-5ers churning out slop, and the burned-out few left cleaning it all up. Plus thoughts on whether AI is really just a fancy search engine, and a hot take that the Super Bowl MVP should've gone to the kicker.
21 - Avoiding the Slop With AI Coding
Dillon, Scott, and Matt discuss how to avoid the 'slop pit' of AI-assisted development — the tendency to accept mediocre AI-generated code without proper scrutiny. They share practical strategies for maintaining code quality including upfront planning workflows, multi-layered code review with AI and human reviewers, TDD-inspired approaches to AI coding, and the role of linting and type safety as guardrails.
20 - 2026 Predictions
Scott, Dillon, and Matt share their boldest (and not-so-bold) predictions for 2026 — from autonomous coding agents replacing engineers, to the AI bubble bursting, to one of the hosts getting laid off. They rate each prediction on a Taco Bell spice scale and wrap up with standup updates on AI tool usage, honeymoon planning, and the eternal struggle of AI-generated code quality.
19 - Retro & React - 2
The bikeshed boys discuss two major tech industry developments: Anthropic's crackdown on third-party agent harnesses and Tailwind's recent layoffs. They explore how Anthropic is shifting focus from the model itself to their suite of tools to create stickiness, and how AI tools like Claude are disrupting the component library business model that Tailwind relied on.
18 - AI Wrote My Performance Review
It's review season, and the bikeshed boys dive into the dreaded annual performance review process—and how AI is changing everything about it. They share strategies for writing effective self-reviews, debate whether managers already know where they'll rank you before reading a word, and explore the messy dynamics of team politics: fighting for interesting projects, dealing with too many senior engineers, and avoiding the "senior trap" of over-architecting instead of shipping. Plus: New Year's resolutions, Claude Max vs. Cursor debates, and why Arc Raiders lobbies are way sweatier in trios.
17 - Retro & React - 1
This week on The Bikeshed, Scott, Matt, and Dillon tackle two breaking stories that have the JavaScript community buzzing: React's severity 10 vulnerability in React Server Components and Anthropic's surprising acquisition of Bun.
16 - Clankers Can Review Code Now?!?
The bikeshed boys dive deep into the emerging world of AI-powered code reviews—exploring whether our robot overlords are ready to stamp your PRs, or if they're just glorified linters with delusions of grandeur.
15 - Why Internal Tooling Sucks
The bikeshed boys tackle one of software engineering's most contentious debates: should you build internal tools or adopt external solutions? With real examples from their companies—custom dependency managers, GitHub wrappers, and developer portals—they explore when it makes sense to roll your own versus when you're just creating expensive technical debt. Expect war stories, a framework for build-vs-buy decisions, and Dillon's first truly spicy take about Vercel.
14 - The Parking Lot - 1
The bikeshed boys ramble on about coffee, Cursor 2.0 and their new composer model, Claude Code tips and tricks, and pitfalls, as well as AI in coding interviews!
13 - The Downfall of React
The bikeshed boys talk about the new hottest web framework on the block: Remix 3, hopefully its third times the charm for the remix guys!
12 - Is The Web Screwed?!
AI crawlers killing ads, chatbots replacing browsers, and the slow death of human-centric content. The bikeshed boys debate whether we're heading for a hard fork of the web or just a really awkward transition.
11 - Deploy Fast, and Break Things?!
The bikeshed boys talk about whether chasing 5-minute deploys is worth it, debating the trade-offs between deployment speed and stability, and why moving fast might sometimes mask the real problems slowing your team down.
10 - Managing Dependencies: It Depends
The bikeshed boys share how FAANG-like companies manage their frontend dependencies without pain! Hint! They Don't!
9 - Are React Server Components Risky?!?
The bikeshed boys interview Matt on this episode, talking about all things React Server Components (RSCs), exploring their benefits, trade-offs, and adoption strategies. The hosts draw on their experiences at Wayfair, Fireworks, and Whoop to provide practical insights for learning and adopting RSCs.
8 - Monorepo Madness
The Bikeshed podcast returns after a brief hiatus with hosts Scott Kaye, Matt Hamlin, and Dillon Curry. Tune in to hear the bikeshed boys talk about keyboards, Scott's Italy trip, monorepos, and our hot takes on CSS!
7 - Ditch the Career Ladder
The bikeshed boys talk about engineering career levels, approaching promotions, building connections and leverage through time and effort, and why levels don’t really matter.
6 - Scratching the Surface on Design Systems
The bikeshed boys talk all about design systems, ranging from what they are, why you may (or may not) need one, and then share a few spicy takes on Storybook, modals, and Tailwind!
5 - Testing - Is It Worth It?!?
The bikeshed boys discuss all things software testing, from manual verification to automated tests and other things you can do to ensure stability!
4 - Perfecting The Pull Request
The guys discuss best practices for code review, with a focus on creating effective pull requests (PRs) and how to approach reviewing code.
3 - A Day In The Life: Coding, Coffee, and Commit Messages
The guys talk about their daily routines, how they remain productive, and then share spicy hot takes!
2 - Is The Web Getting Worse?!?!?
Scott and Matt talk about how things have been feeling worse on the internet in recent years, and how everything has focused on incremental optimizations over large innovations.
1 - Vibe Coding When The Vibes Are Off
Dillon, Matt & Scott dive into AI's impact on coding, discussing its role in daily work, how to use it effectively, and balancing creativity with automation in 2025.