Nate Berkopec

Nate Berkopec (Speedshop) returns to dig into what AI actually changes about Rails performance work — and it's not what the hype says. The through-line: stop conflating understanding code with verifying it, because the real leverage is building objective, tool-callable checks an agent can loop against — N+1s, characterization tests, jemalloc — instead of shipping more unreviewed slop. Nate makes the case that the future looks like Intercom's "software factory" (tiny, automatically-verified PRs, most merged with no human review) and asks why the rest of us are still hand-building 4,000-line monstrosities. Plus: why "intelligence" is the wrong word for what these models do, and a first look at Thread Pilot, his new automatic thread-pool tuner for Sidekiq and Puma. LINKS - Speedshop - Nate's X/Twitter - Threadpilot - The Complete Guide to Rails Performance Book - Sidekiq in Practice Book - On Rails Episode with Brian Scanlan from Intercom - Ryan's Website - Brendan's X/Twitter - Brendan's Bluesky Questions or comments, email us at railsbusinesspod@gmail.com Send us Fan Mail