949: Web Dev HORROR Stories + Spooky Trivia! (Spooky Stories Pt. 1)
It’s that time of year again, Scott (as Dracula) and Wes (as a big bad shark) return for their annual Spooky Stories special! They’re joined by a mysterious guest for a round of creepy coding trivia and chilling true tales of web dev gone wrong; dropped databases, haunted passwords, and more. Beware: these are real developer horror stories.
Show Notes
00:00 Welcome to Syntax!
00:05 Scott’s vampire costume.
00:38 New to live-streaming.
00:54 AWS Outage.
01:50 What is Spooky Stories?
02:01 (Wes is wearing a shark costume)
02:34 Brought to you by Sentry.io.
03:30 PHP MyHeadache.
06:23 A Browser Hack.
08:30 Browser Hack Gameshow & Special Guest!
17:01 Ghost Password.
21:32 Just A Patch.
24:12 Don’t drink and Deploy.
34:47 Discount.
Hit us up on Socials!
Syntax: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads
Wes: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads
Scott: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads
Randy: X Instagram YouTube Threads
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948: Zed is Ready For Primetime
Wes and Scott talk about what makes Zed—the hot new editor built in Rust—fast, beautiful, and finally ready for primetime. From Git UI to extensions and AI tools, they break down what Zed gets right, what it still lacks, and whether it’s time to finally ditch VS Code.
Show Notes
00:00 Welcome to Syntax!
Syntax San Francisco Meetup
We need your Spooky Stories
02:37 Brought to you by Sentry.io
04:07 What is Zed?
06:46 Zed UI: fast and clean
10:17 General editor experience
11:44 Extensions marketplace
17:53 Git UI
22:03 Problems UI
26:01 Real-time collaboration
Remote Development
27:39 Command prompt tricks and built-in tools
31:03 Zed’s AI features
AI Coding Sucks
37:08 What kept Scott away—and why he’s back
40:33 What’s still missing
Text Manipulation Kung Fu for the Aspiring Black Belt
46:43 Sick Picks & Shameless Plugs
Sick Picks
Scott: Zojirushi 5.0 Liter Water Boiler
Wes: Syntax Keycaps
Hit us up on Socials!
Syntax: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads
Wes: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads
Scott: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads
Randy: X Instagram YouTube Threads
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947: S-Tier MCP Servers for Developers
Scott and Wes break down the top-tier MCP servers developers are using right now. From browser automation to debugging superpowers, they explore how these servers are changing what’s possible in modern dev workflows.
Show Notes
00:00 Welcome to Syntax!
01:52 Brought to you by Sentry.io.
02:46 Submit your Spooky Stories!
03:37 Syntax San Francisco Meetup.
04:11 S-Tier MCP Servers.
04:17 Sentry MCP Server (not sponsored).
05:01 Pause, what the heck is an MCP server.
05:45 Back to the Sentry MCP.
07:07 Spotlight JS.
09:08 ElevenLabs MCP hack.
11:19 Docs Tools.
11:29 Context7.
15:55 GitHub MCP Registry.
16:10 Nuxt MCP Server.
16:25 Svelte MCP Server.
20:35 Cloudflare MCP Servers.
22:34 Chrome Dev Tools (Playwright) MCP Server.
25:17 Stripe MCP Server.
27:55 Mastra.
Hit us up on Socials!
Syntax: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads
Wes: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads
Scott: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads
Randy: X Instagram YouTube Threads
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946: We Got Roasted for Our Websites — Fair
In this potluck episode of Syntax, Wes and Scott answer your questions about why devs neglect their own websites, hosting shady projects (hypothetically), AI rules in version control, balancing side projects and family life, and more!
Show Notes
00:00 Welcome to Syntax!
01:43 Why devs neglect their own websites (and how to convince your parents coding is a real job)
07:04 AirPods, Nothing Ear, and the ANC struggle
10:22 Shipping Syntax merch from Canada
12:43 Scott’s update on Omarchy and Linux laptop life
18:05 What to do when a user account gets hacked (and how to prevent it)
21:33 Should you commit LLM context files and AI-generated docs to Git?
25:27 How to balance career, side projects, and family life
29:25 Building and hosting a “legally dubious” website
33:27 Best practices for dealing with images
42:46 Where to find Wes’ awesome wallpapers
44:19 Can you trust services with a generous free tier?
ServerlessHorrors
50:32 Do we still use GIFs?
52:23 Sick Picks + Shameless Plugs
55:59 Brought to you by Sentry.io
Sick Picks
Scott: Mkv-Quicklook
Wes: Momofuku Sweet & Savory Korean BBQ Sauce
Hit us up on Socials!
Syntax: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads
Wes: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads
Scott: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads
Randy: X Instagram YouTube Threads
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945: Chrome Dev Tools MCP Server
Scott and Wes dive into Chrome’s new MCP server; a dev tools API powered by Puppeteer that gives your scripts, editors, and AI agents full access to Chrome. They break down how it works, what it can (and can’t) do, and how it might change debugging and automation for developers
Show Notes
00:00 Welcome to Syntax!
01:15 Syntax San Francisco Meetup.
01:55 We need your Spooky Stories!
02:42 What is an MCP Server?
04:28 MCP servers are not only for code editors.
06:43 Brought to you by Sentry.io.
07:49 Dev Tools MCP is similar to Puppeteer.
09:20 Setting up an MCP Server.
11:36 Example of MCP with Dominos Pizza.
13:23 Accessing Dev tools from your editor.
14:23 In VS Code, you can “Open Link”.
15:22 Using the MCP server.
16:26 Chrome has Debug insights inside of chrome’s dev tools.
18:38 Real world things the Chrome MCP server can do.
18:43 Analyzing performance.
19:55 Taking screenshots.
21:17 Performance fix feedback loop.
22:33 Remote connecting browsers.
24:54 Browser-use.
25:18 What are the limitations?
Hit us up on Socials!
Syntax: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads
Wes: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads
Scott: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads
Randy: X Instagram YouTube Threads
Full Stack Developers Wes Bos and Scott Tolinski dive deep into web development topics, explaining how they work and talking about their own experiences. They cover from JavaScript frameworks like React, to the latest advancements in CSS to simplifying web tooling.
France