Modern Web

• Building a TikTok-Style App with React Native & Expo: Interview w Skylight Social CTO, Reed Harmeyer

  In this episode of the Modern Web Podcast, Danny Thompson sits down with Reed Harmeyer, CTO of Skylight Social, and Brandon Mathis, React Native engineer at This Dot Labs. They unpack the technical and strategic decisions behind Skylight’s meteoric growth: why they built on the AT Protocol, how they tackled video discovery and scaling challenges, and how a fast-tracked in-app video editor gave them an edge.Keypoints from this episode:Skylight Social was built on the AT Protocol, allowing users to retain followers across platforms like Blue Sky and enabling creators to publish interoperable content in a decentralized social network.The team used React Native with Expo to achieve rapid development and cross-platform performance—launching a high-quality, TikTok-like video experience in just days.An in-app video editor was prioritized to reduce friction for creators, built using a native SDK wrapped with Expo Modules, enabling features like clip rearranging, overlays, voiceovers, and AI-generated captions.User behavior data—specifically watch time—drives content recommendations, not just likes or follows, helping Skylight offer a personalized experience while navigating scaling challenges from hypergrowth.Follow Reed Harmeyer on Social MediaBluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/reedharmeyer.bsky.socialLinkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/reed-harmeyer/

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• What’s New About Heroku in 2025? AI Platform as a Service + What are MCPs?

  In this episode of the Modern Web Podcast, Rob Ocel and Danny Thompson sit down with Julián Duque, Principal Developer Advocate at Heroku, to talk about Heroku’s evolution into an AI Platform-as-a-Service. Julián breaks down Heroku’s new Managed Inference and Agents (MIA) platform, how they’re supporting Claude, Cohere, and Stable Diffusion, and what makes their developer experience stand out.They also get into Model Context Protocols (MCPs)—what they are, why they matter, and how they’re quickly becoming the USB-C for AI. From internal tooling to agentic infrastructure and secure AI deployments, this episode explores how MCPs, trusted environments, and better AI dev tools are reshaping how we build modern software.Key Points from this episode:- Heroku is evolving into an AI Platform-as-a-Service with its new MIA (Managed Inference and Agents) platform, supporting models like Claude, Cohere, and Stable Diffusion while maintaining a strong developer experience.- MCPs (Model Context Protocols) are becoming a key standard for extending AI capabilities—offering a structured, secure way for LLMs to access tools, run code, and interact with resources.- Heroku's AI agents can perform advanced operations like scaling dynos, analyzing logs, and self-healing failed deployments using grounded MCP integrations tied to the Heroku CLI.- Despite rapid adoption, MCPs still have rough edges—developer experience, tooling, and security protocols are actively improving, and a centralized registry for MCPs is seen as a missing piece.Chapters0:00 – What is MCP and why it matters3:00 – Heroku’s pivot to AI Platform-as-a-Service6:45 – Agentic apps, model hosting, and tool execution10:50 – Why REST isn’t ideal for LLMs14:10 – Developer experience challenges with MCP18:00 – Hosting secure MCPs on Heroku23:00 – Real-world use cases: scaling, healing, recommendations30:00 – Common scaling challenges and hallucination risks34:30 – Testing, security, and architecture tips36:00 – Where to start and final advice on using AI tools effectivelyFollow Julián Duque on Social MediaTwitter/X: https://x.com/julian_duqueLinkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/juliandavidduque/Sponsored by This Dot: thisdotlabs.com

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• Building Roo Code: Agentic Coding, Boomerang Tasks, and Community

  In this episode of the Modern Web Podcast, Rob Ocel and Danny Thompson talk with Hannes Rudolph, Community Manager at RooCode, to explore how this fast-moving, community-driven code editor is rethinking what AI-assisted development looks like. Hannes breaks down Roo’s agentic coding model, explains how their “boomerang tasks” tackle LLM context limits, and shares lessons from working with contributors across experience levels.Keypoints from this episode:- RooCode's "boomerang" architecture breaks complex coding tasks into structured, recursive subtasks, helping AI agents stay focused while avoiding context bloat and hallucination chains.- Developers can build their own orchestrator and agent modes in Roo, tailoring persona and instructions to fit specific workflows—crucial for long-term productivity.- Unlike many tools, RooCode shows developers exactly how much each LLM call costs in real time, empowering teams to manage both quality and budget.- RooCode is deeply community-driven, with user-submitted PRs frequently reshaping priorities. The team emphasizes transparency, collaboration, and accessibility for contributors at all levels.Follow Hannes Rudolph on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hannes-rudolph-64738b3b/Sponsored by This Dot: thisdotlabs.com

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• Battle of The AI Agents: RooCode, Claude, & Cursor

  In this episode of the Modern Web Podcast, Rob Ocel is joined by Danny Thompson, Adam Rackis, and special guest Coston Perkins for a lively discussion on the evolving role of AI in software development. The group swaps thoughts on everything from the rise of AI agents like RooCode and Claude, to what makes tools like Vercel’s v0 surprisingly powerful for frontend work. They debate Tailwind’s dominance as the styling output of choice for AI tools, unpack the implications of Shopify’s AI-mandate memo, and tackle the big question: will AI reshape team structures or just amplify developer productivity?Keypoints from this episode:- AI agents in everyday development – The hosts discuss how tools like RooCode, Claude, and Cursor are reshaping daily coding workflows, enabling everything from automated documentation to feature planning and refactoring.- Vercel's v0 is changing perceptions – Originally seen as a landing page generator, v0 is now appreciated for its live, code-focused interface, showing promise for serious frontend development with real-time editing and deployment.- Tailwind’s dominance in AI output – The conversation dives into why Tailwind has become the styling default for AI-generated components, and whether that’s a productivity boost or a future limitation.- AI’s impact on hiring and team structure – The group debates whether AI will reduce developer headcount or empower mid-level devs to produce senior-level output—suggesting AI may reshape team dynamics more than replace them.Follow Coston Perkins on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/costonperkins/Sponsored by This Dot: thisdot.co

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• Why Unkey Ditched TypeScript and Serverless for GO!

  In this episode of the Modern Web Podcast, host Danny Thompson and co-host Adam Rackis chat with James Perkins, CEO of Unkey, an open-source API management platform built for scale, security, and developer simplicity. James shares the challenges of building globally distributed infrastructure, and why his team ditched serverless and TypeScript in favor of Go and servers.They talk candidly about the realities of API management at scale, how Unkey balances open source transparency with enterprise-grade performance, and what it takes to build developer trust—both as a brand and as a product.Keypoints from this episodeUnkey simplifies API management by acting as middleware for authentication, rate limiting, and security—without requiring deep backend expertise. It's designed for developers to go from idea to production with minimal setup.Go over serverless – James and his team initially explored TypeScript and serverless architecture but ultimately returned to Go and servers for better performance, scalability, and developer experience at scale.Open-source transparency is core to Unkey’s philosophy – The entire codebase is public, and the team maintains a radically open company culture, where even investor updates and customer support emails are shared internally.Customer obsession drives every decision – Regardless of whether a user is paying $0 or $2,000/month, Unkey responds quickly, prioritizes community support, and encourages a culture of ownership and responsiveness across the team.Chapters00:00 – Intro + Why Unkey exists02:00 – James' background and API pain points03:50 – What Unkey actually does05:45 – Engineering challenges + scaling architecture07:30 – Tech stack changes: Go, TypeScript, Serverless08:45 – Unkey as middleware: auth, rate limiting, analytics10:40 – Future vision: making APIs as easy as deploying on Vercel11:45 – Why Go instead of Node or TypeScript13:30 – Go vs TypeScript: hiring, dependencies, developer experience15:00 – Why API management is hard at scale17:15 – Case study: Fireworks and Google Apigee performance issues19:00 – The complexity of modern API platforms20:00 – Sponsor break: This Dot Labs20:35 – Will Unkey expand into app hosting?22:00 – Unkey's focus on doing one thing really well23:45 – Content strategy: personal brand vs corporate marketing26:20 – Customer obsession: internal culture and open company model30:30 – Open source dynamics and being fully transparent33:45 – Advice for developer-entrepreneurs36:24 – Wrap up + where to find the speakersFollow James Perkins on Social MediaTwitter/X: https://x.com/james_r_perkinsBlue Sky: https://bsky.app/profile/jamesperkins.devUnkey: https://www.unkey.com/Sponsored by This Dot: thisdot.co

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