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

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