Scott and Wes sit down with Ben Vinegar, former Syntax GM and founder of Modem.dev, to geek out over terminal-maxxing, from SSH-based development and tmux workflows to AI-powered coding agents. Ben also demos two of his open source tools: Hunk, a slick terminal code reviewer with 4k+ GitHub stars, and TermDraw, a terminal-based diagramming tool that posts directly to your agent.
Show Notes
00:00 Welcome to Syntax!
00:49 Introduction to Modem and AI Project Management
01:40 Exploring Terminal Usage and Productivity
04:26 Setting Up Remote Development Environments
08:38 The Power of TMUX in Development
11:20 What makes TMUX splitting different?
12:46 Integrating AI with Terminal Workflows
14:56 The Future of Terminal Applications
17:31 Balancing GUIs and Terminal Interfaces
getfresh.dev
Ben’s talk at AI Engineer Miami
24:39 Navigating Development Tools and Environments
26:44 The Balance of Security and Convenience in Coding
30:27 Cautionary Tales: The Risks of YOLO Mode
33:53 Innovative Tools for Enhanced Coding Experience
34:09 Hunk: Terminal code review.
41:39 TermDraw: A New Way to Visualize Code and Ideas
46:22 The Dynamics of Open Source Contributions
48:31 Visualizing Code: Tools and Techniques
50:54 Podcasting and Editing Processes
State of Agentic Coding.
Podguy: Agent-driven post-production workflow for video podcasts
56:23 Introducing Modem: A Product Intelligence Platform
01:01:39 Connecting Feedback to Product Development
01:03:15 Sick Picks
Sick Picks
Ben: Nirvanna: The Band - The Show - The Movie, Timecrimes
Shameless Plugs
Ben: https://modem.dev/
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