980: AI Coding Explained

February 18 · 52 min

0:00-52:13

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Wes and Scott talk about the state of AI coding in 2026—from editors and models to agents, skills, slash commands, MCPs, and more. They unpack what these things actually do, how they overlap, and how to use them effectively without overcomplicating your setup.

Show Notes

00:00 Welcome to Syntax!
01:39 The tools: editors, terminals, GUIs
05:27 Wes’ and Scott’s current AI setups
13:17 Picking the right model
18:58 How exactly do agents work?
22:32 Subagents and parallel workflows
24:29 Brought to you by Sentry.io
24:54 What goes in agents.md (and what doesn’t)
26:47 Skills vs agents
- Skills
- Superpowers
34:03 Slash commands as reusable prompts
36:02 Hooks and keeping your code from going off the rails
38:00 Plugins and bundling your setup
39:24 What MCP is and why it’s powerful
40:54 Cloud agents and running jobs remotely
43:47 Choosing the right AI tool
47:41 Sick Picks + Shameless Plugs

980: AI Coding Explained

Show Notes

Sick Picks

Shameless Plugs

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