John is Head of AI & Developer Relations at Itential, a Google Developer Expert, former Cisco AI Technical Leader, former Senior Network Architect for the Parliament of Canada — and a fellow Canadian. He's the creator of NetClaw, an open-source AI agent that lets you talk to your network infrastructure in natural language, and the founder of VibeOps Forum, which grew from zero to 400+ members in weeks.

His thesis: after a decade of network automation evangelism, 70% of enterprise networks are still not meaningfully automated. But he no longer thinks they'll catch up the old way — because AI agents are changing the on-ramp entirely.

In this episode, Manav and John cover:

— Why VibeOps will eventually just become Ops (just like vibe coding became coding)

— How to build graduated trust with agents before giving them keys to your live network

— NetClaw: what it is, how it integrates with Cisco, Meraki, ACI, NetBox, Aruba and more

— How to generate a real-time 3D network topology using Blender via MCP

— What governed, enterprise-grade agentic ops actually looks like

— Spec-Driven Development: the next evolution after vibe coding

— John's bold prediction: by 2030, network engineers become HR managers for agents

If you lead infrastructure, run a network team, work in telco, or just want to understand what AI is about to do to IT operations — this episode is for you.

Find John: linkedin.com/in/johncapobianco | automateyournetwork.ca

NetClaw on GitHub: github.com/automateyournetwork/netclaw

Ship AI: https://manavgup.github.io/shipai/state-of-ai/