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The Ruby AI Podcast

The Ruby AI Podcast

By: Valentino Stoll Joe Leo
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The Ruby AI Podcast explores the intersection of Ruby programming and artificial intelligence, featuring expert discussions, innovative projects, and practical insights. Join us as we interview industry leaders and developers to uncover how Ruby is shaping the future of AI.

© 2026 The Ruby AI Podcast
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Episodes
  • Innovating Development: The Future of GitHub Agents and AI in Rails
    Feb 24 2026

    In this episode of the Ruby AI Podcast, hosts Joe and Valentino welcome special guest, Kinsey Durham Grace, a prominent figure in the Ruby community and member of the GitHub team. The discussion covers a range of topics including the use of AI for generating episode artwork, the application of AI agents in coding tasks, and the recent developments at GitHub like the Agent HQ. Kinsey shares insights into her day-to-day work on the coding agent core team at GitHub, including the use of custom agents to enhance coding efficiency. They also delve into the impact of AI on software development, the importance of well-rounded developer skills, and Kinsey’s perspective on the future of Ruby in the AI landscape.

    00:00 Introduction and Guest Welcome
    00:30 AI-Generated Images and Their Drawbacks
    03:07 Kinsey's Role at GitHub
    06:33 Using AI Tools in Development
    11:26 Challenges in Large Monolith Apps
    18:23 Modular and Maintainable Agents
    24:47 AI's Role in Software Development
    25:29 Challenges with Current AI Tools
    26:50 Observational Memory in AI
    27:42 Open Claw and Heartbeat Concepts
    28:22 Collaborative AI and Future Prospects
    29:22 In-House vs. Third-Party Observability Tools
    29:54 New AI Products and Intent Capture
    31:08 Persisting Context in Software Development
    37:42 Custom Agents and Knowledge Management
    46:13 The Human Element in AI Collaboration
    47:20 Skills for the Future of AI in Engineering
    48:54 Ruby and AI: Staying Relevant
    50:50 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

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    51 mins
  • From Writing Code To Orchestrating It, Agentic Development with Ben Scofield
    Feb 10 2026

    In this episode of the Ruby AI Podcast, hosts Valentino Stoll and Joe Leo are joined by Ben Schofield, an accomplished author, open source contributor, and Ruby enthusiast. The discussion starts with thoughts on the upcoming RubyConf and the unique experience of conferences hosted in Las Vegas. Ben shares his recent experiences with Bento and the impact of layoffs. The conversation delves deep into the nature of expertise, exploring questions around achieving world-class performance and domain-specific skills. The hosts explore the goals of software development, the role of AI in coding, and the importance of intentionality in using agents. They also touch on the concept of default settings in development, the nuances of staff engineering, and strategies for training future staff engineers. The discussion concludes with ideas for improving the onboarding and training of engineers in the evolving landscape of AI tools.

    Mentioned in this episode:

    • RubyConf 2026 (Las Vegas)
    • RailsConf (context/history)
    • O’Reilly (RailsConf partner mentioned historically)
    • Bento (Ben’s recent company)
    • Gusto (host context)
    • Artificial Ruby / Ruby x AI NYC meetups
    • Agentic coding & tooling
      • Claude Code docs
      • Claude Code + MCP
    • Books, papers, and ideas
      • C. Thi Nguyen (background)
      • Games: Agency as Art (Oxford)
      • Ezra Klein Show episode (Nguyen)
      • Malcolm Gladwell, Outliers
      • Andy Hunt, Pragmatic Thinking and Learning (Refactor Your Wetware)
      • Ericsson et al. (1993) deliberate practice (DOI)
      • Macnamara & Maitra replication (2019) (DOI)
      • David Epstein, Range
      • Will Larson, Staff Engineer
      • Robert Cialdini, Influence resources
      • DHH on conceptual compression
      • Chad Fowler, The Phoenix Architecture (Leaflet)
      • Quote referenced (“How can I know what I think till I see what I say?”)
    • Ruby/Rails primitives referenced in Valentino's experiments
      • Ruby method_missing
      • Ruby define_method
      • Rails rescue_from
      • Valentino's experimental Ruby project (“Chaos to the Rescue”) that uses LLMs + runtime method definition
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    53 mins
  • New Year, New Ruby: Agents, Wishes, and a Calm Ruby 4
    Jan 27 2026

    Ruby turns 30, Ruby 4 quietly ships, and the AI tooling arms race shows signs of maturity. Valentino and Joe unpack what stability really means for a language in its third decade, debate agent-driven development, AI “slop,” binary distribution, and whether open source incentives are breaking down—or simply evolving.

    Mentioned In The Show

    A grab-bag of tools, projects, and references Valentino & Joe brought up.

    Ruby & Core Ecosystem

    • Ruby Gets A Fresh Look — Official Ruby programming language site (news, downloads, docs) now with a great new look.
    • Ruby Kaigi — Ruby’s flagship conference (talks, schedules, archives).
    • Bundler — Ruby dependency manager used across the ecosystem.

    AI Coding Tools

    • Claude Code — Anthropic’s CLI coding assistant workflow discussed heavily in the episode.
    • OpenAI Codex — OpenAI’s coding agent/tooling referenced as an alternative workflow.


    Ruby Web Frameworks & Architecture

    • Rails Framework — Ruby on Rails, referenced as the default baseline for many apps.
    • Jumpstart Rails — Rails starter kits/templates mentioned as a “pick a Rails” approach.
    • Roda Framework — Jeremy Evans’ web toolkit (lighter than Rails, bigger than Sinatra).
    • dry-rb Suite — Ruby gems for functional-ish architecture and explicit business logic.
    • Trailblazer — High-level architecture for operations, workflows, and domain logic.

    Quality, Testing, and Practice

    • Better Specs — Community-curated RSpec guidelines mentioned as a spec style target.
    • Datadog — Error monitoring referenced in the “well-defined bug + stack trace” workflow.

    Open Source Sustainability

    • GitHub Sponsors — Sponsorship mechanism discussed as one (partial) monetization path.

    People Mentioned

    • Sandi Metz — Referenced as the “code whisperer” ideal for idiomatic Ruby guidance.
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    51 mins
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