In this potluck episode of Syntax, Wes and CJ answer your questions about OpenAI’s $3B Windsurf acquisition, the evolving role of UI in an AI-driven world, why good design still matters, React vs. Svelte, and more!

• 00:00 Welcome to Syntax!
  • Devs Night Out
• 02:35 OpenAI acquires Windsurf for $3B
  • Windsurf
  • Ep 870: Windsurf forked VS Code to compete with Cursor. Talking the future of AI + Coding
• 05:20 What is the future of UI now that AI is such a heavy hitter?
• 08:45 Handling spam submissions on websites
  • Cloudflare Turnstile
• 14:18 Duplicating HTML for desktop and mobile websites?
• 17:03 Is it okay to use a JSON file for simple website data?
• 19:04 How to handle anonymous and duplicate users
  • Better-Auth
• 21:55 Working with TypeScript Object.keys() and “any” vs “@ts-ignore”
• 25:51 Brought to you by Sentry.io
• 26:38 What is the difference between React and Svelte?
• 30:24 How should you name your readme file?
• 31:55 How do you find time to refactor code?
• 35:20 Best practices for testing responsiveness
  • Polypane
• 39:19 Avoiding layout shift with progressive enhancement
• 46:56 Sick Picks + Shameless Plugs

• CJ: Portable Chainsaw
• Wes: White Lotus

• CJ: Nuxt
• Wes: Full Stack App Build | Travel Log w/ Nuxt, Vue, Better Auth, Drizzle, Tailwind, DaisyUI, MapLibre

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Scott and Wes are joined by Erich Gamma, creator of VS Code, and Kai Maetzel, Copilot Lead, to share some big news about the future of VS Code and Copilot. They discuss what it means for developers, how AI is shaping the future of coding, and why staying open to the community is key.

• 00:00 Welcome to Syntax!
• 01:00 The inception of VS Code.
• 02:49 VS Code adoption.
• 04:31 Brought to you by Sentry.io.
• 04:55 Syntax Denver Meetup!
• 05:19 The big announcement.
• 06:25 The current state of Copilot and VS Code.
• 08:31 The challenges with LLMs running outside of the codebase.
• 09:31 How to make a business case for AI.
• 10:47 The maturing of the AI landscape.
• 13:01 The limitations of extensions.
• 14:06 Open source vs closed source.
• 14:49 Copilot’s context is public.
• 19:23 Is context language-specific?
• 21:23 How does this affect paid Copilot features?
• 23:27 Secrets of Copilot’s server-side.
• 28:36 What will be open and what will not?
• 29:03 Is Copilot’s UI influenced by VS Code forks?
• 31:31 Maintaining VS Code identity in forks.
• 33:07 What does open-sourcing GitHub Copilot mean for Cursor and Windsurf?
• 38:42 Were you surprised to see VS Code forks?
• 40:03 Are other extensions able to tap into the AI offerings?
• 43:20 There’s work to be done.
• 44:13 The timeline.
• 45:39 Simulation Tests (S Tests).
• 48:07 How to test LLMs.
• 49:10 The future of software development with AI.
• 52:47 What’s your favorite model?

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Wes talks with Peter Pistorius about RedwoodSDK, a new React framework built natively for Cloudflare. They dive into real-time React, server components, zero-cost infrastructure, and why RedwoodSDK empowers developers to ship faster with fewer tradeoffs and more control.

• 00:00 Welcome to Syntax!
• 00:52 What is RedwoodSDK?
• 04:49 Choosing openness over abstraction
• 08:46 More setup, more control
• 12:20 Why RedwoodSDK only runs on Cloudflare
• 14:25 What the database setup looks like
• 16:15 Durable Objects explained – Ep 879: Fullstack Cloudflare
• 18:14 Middleware and request flow
• 23:14 No built-in client-side router?
• 24:07 Integrating routers with defineApp
• 26:04 React Server Components and real-time updates
• 29:53 What happened to RedwoodJS?
• 31:14 Why do opinionated frameworks struggle to catch on?
• 34:35 The problem with Lambdas
• 36:16 Cloudflare’s JavaScript runtime compatibility
• 40:04 Brought to you by Sentry.io
• 41:44 The vision behind RedwoodSDK

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Scott and Wes break down the latest in JavaScript news, including new async patterns in Svelte, React Server Component tooling with Parcel, and Redwood’s push into Cloudflare with its new SDK. They also cover what’s new in Storybook 9 Beta, from visual testing to a sleeker, lighter build.

• 00:00 Welcome to Syntax!
• 02:50 Brought to you by Sentry.io.
• 03:37 Syntax Meetup!
• 04:09 React View Transitions.
• 08:58 addTransitionType.
• 11:18 Activity API.
  • Offscreen Renamed to Activity.
• 14:22 Maintaining state in search queries.
• 16:29 Asynchronous Svelte.
  • Playground.
• 19:04 Svelte Boundary.
• 25:13 Parcel RSC.
• 27:15 Redwood SDK.
• 30:55 Storybook 9 Beta.

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Scott and Wes sit down with Cassie Evans of GSAP to talk all things animation—from SVGs and scroll timelines to GSAP’s new rebrand and exciting features. They also dig into performance, plugins, and what makes GSAP such a powerful tool for web developers.

• 00:00 Welcome to Syntax!
• 00:59 What is GSAP?
  • Cassie Codes.
• 01:53 GSAP Rebranding.
• 04:44 GSAP under the hood.
• 05:29 The big announcement!
• 07:19 GSAP Showcase.
• 11:01 Brought to you by Sentry.io.
• 11:26 Why is GSAP easier for animations?
  • GSAP Docs.
• 12:38 Animating with SVGs.
• 13:33 The love of SVG.
• 14:55 GSAP is performant.
• 16:06 Gotchas to watch out for.
• 18:12 Does GSAP work with canvas?
• 19:02 What GSAP projects are you most proud of?
• 20:30 Does it play nice with web frameworks?
  • GSAP with React.
• 22:32 What are you excited about in CSS right now?
  • Scroll Timeline.
• 24:27 Will any of these make their way into GSAP?
• 26:31 Timelines.
• 29:24 Building animations with timelines.
• 34:55 What are the best GSAP plugins?
  • Split Text
  • spanran-wrap.
  • Physics 2D Plugin.
• 38:44 GSAP docs and philosophy.
• 39:50 Scrubbing animations by frame.
• 41:09 GSAP Video Exporter.
• 41:45 Animating with JavaScript.
• 45:19 JavaScript in unconventional applications.
• 47:56 Is there anything missing in web tech?
• 50:53 What about AI in GSAP?
• 52:40 Sick Picks + Shameless Plugs.

• Cassie: Eyesy Video Synthesis.

• Cassie: Smashing Conf.

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Wes and Scott talk all things 3D printing—from fixing every day items to organizing tools, printing gadgets, and even teaching their kids entrepreneurship.

• 00:00 Welcome to Syntax!
• 03:34 Brought to you by Sentry.io
• 05:03 Practical uses of 3D printing
• 07:34 Creating tools for organization
  • Gridfinity
• 10:33 Improving and adapting everyday items
  • Underware
• 14:34 The benefits of printing something vs buying it
• 15:32 Choosing the right 3D printer
  • Bamboo Lab
  • Elegoo
  • Prusa
  • Flashorge
• 25:26 Projects and ideas
  • Multiboard
• 31:33 Filament types and their uses
• 40:05 Finding affordable filament
  • Deal Forager
• 46:07 Where to find 3D models
  • Maker World
  • yeggi
  • Printables
  • Thangs
  • Thingverse
• 48:08 Creating your own 3D models
  • Fusion
  • Shapr3D
  • Onshape
• 53:00 Modifying existing 3D models
• 54:30 Coding in 3D printing
  • Bento
  • shards
  • ManifoldCAD
  • Hunyuan3D-2mv-Turbo
  • Mecagent
• 01:01:25 Sick Picks + Shameless Plugs

• Scott: Alaska Bear Organic Silk Sleep Mask
• Wes: BLV - AMS Riser

• Syntax YouTube Channel

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Scott and Wes break down the tricks and techniques for making your app feel blazing fast—even when it’s not. From optimistic UI to preload-on-hover, it’s all about perception, not just performance.

• 00:00 Welcome to Syntax!
• 01:12 Brought to you by Sentry.io.
• 02:34 Mousedown or pointerdown events.
• 06:00 UI animations should be fast.
• 08:00 Animations should not block interaction.
• 08:20 Animations should be cancellable / reversible.
• 10:50 Optimistic UI.
• 12:37 Local Data.
• 13:36 Delay loading indicators.
• 14:40 Page loading indicators.
• 15:47 Preload on hover.
• 17:13 Calculate mouse trajectory.
• 18:51 Full page spinner on every change.
• 20:04 Pixelated spinners.
• 20:23 Skeleton loaders.
• 23:43 Photo frames.
• 25:52 Search on input instead of search on click.
• 26:46 Progress loaders than move in between steps.
• 27:31 Community submissions.

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Scott and Wes break down the current state of React Server Components — what they are, how they work, and why they’re so controversial. From framework support to bundling complexity, it’s everything you need to know about RSC in 2025.

• 00:00 Welcome to Syntax!
• 01:01 Brought to you by Sentry.io.
• 01:55 What exactly are React Server Components?
  • 02:18 Server components rendering.
  • 03:17 Server components are async.
  • 03:45 Server components can be suspended.
  • 05:05 Server components send RSC payloads to the browser.
    • 06:08 This feels like HTMX?
  • 06:54 Client components are still server rendered.
  • 07:58 Server Functions.
  • 08:52 useActionState.
• 09:12 Frameworks and React Platforms.
  • 09:16 NextJS.
  • 09:42 Waku.
    • 12:26 candycode.com
    • Daishi Kato
  • 14:23 React Router.
    • Michael Jackson Tweet.
  • 19:29 Vite.
    • vite-plugin-react-server
  • 20:54 Tanstack.
    • Syntax Ep 833.
  • 22:39 Bun.
  • 23:01 DIY.
• 23:39 Why so much hate?
• 25:28 I want it my way.
• 27:46 React Server Components lock-in.

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