Syntax - Tasty Web Development Treats

In part 2 of this year’s Spooky Stories special, Wes and Scott discuss the most chilling developer horror stories—from six-month-old unprocessed donations and runaway dog-food orders to vanishing databases, DNS disasters, code that literally tore apart a mall’s ventilation system, and more! SHOW NOTES * 00:00 Welcome to Syntax! * 01:33 A Bug Beyond the Grave * 04:16 NHL SPOOKS * 06:36 White Space Ghost Faced * 10:54 Over Order Nightmare * 16:50 Alaskian * 21:16 Brought to you by Sentry.io [https://sentry.io/syntax] * 22:50 Rackspace’d Out * 25:02 Fired * 26:52 WordPress Woes * 33:21 What does the P in VPS stand for? * 34:18 Beyond the Grave II * 35:39 The Hottest Hot Fix * 37:54 Bad Redirect * 40:03 Instead of Making Money, You Spend Money! * 41:26 Certbot Certain Death * 43:55 It’s Always DNS * 50:02 Cache Ruins Everything Around Me * 51:52 Fiber F-Up * 56:18 More Spooky Stories * Don’t Drink and Deploy 😬 | Spooky Dev Stories Pt. 1 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aGMWH9ngEI] * Submit your Spooky Stories [https://syntax.fm/spooky] HIT US UP ON SOCIALS! Syntax: X [https://twitter.com/syntaxfm] Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/syntax_fm/] Tiktok [https://www.tiktok.com/@syntaxfm] LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/company/96077407/admin/feed/posts/] Threads [https://www.threads.net/@syntax_fm] Wes: X [https://twitter.com/wesbos] Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/wesbos/] Tiktok [https://www.tiktok.com/@wesbos] LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/wesbos/] Threads [https://www.threads.net/@wesbos] Scott: X [https://twitter.com/stolinski] Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/stolinski/] Tiktok [https://www.tiktok.com/@stolinski] LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/stolinski/] Threads [https://www.threads.net/@stolinski] Randy: X [https://twitter.com/randyrektor] Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/randyrektor/] YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@randyrektor] Threads [https://www.threads.net/@randyrektor]

It’s that time of year again, Scott (as Dracula) and Wes (as a big bad shark) return for their annual Spooky Stories special! They’re joined by a mysterious guest for a round of creepy coding trivia and chilling true tales of web dev gone wrong; dropped databases, haunted passwords, and more. Beware: these are real developer horror stories. SHOW NOTES * 00:00 Welcome to Syntax! * 00:05 Scott’s vampire costume. * 00:38 New to live-streaming. * 00:54 AWS Outage. * 01:50 What is Spooky Stories [https://syntax.fm/spooky]? * 02:01 (Wes is wearing a shark costume) * 02:34 Brought to you by Sentry.io [https://sentry.io/syntax]. * 03:30 PHP MyHeadache. * 06:23 A Browser Hack. * 08:30 Browser Hack Gameshow & Special Guest! * 17:01 Ghost Password. * 21:32 Just A Patch. * 24:12 Don’t drink and Deploy. * 34:47 Discount. HIT US UP ON SOCIALS! Syntax: X [https://twitter.com/syntaxfm] Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/syntax_fm/] Tiktok [https://www.tiktok.com/@syntaxfm] LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/company/96077407/admin/feed/posts/] Threads [https://www.threads.net/@syntax_fm] Wes: X [https://twitter.com/wesbos] Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/wesbos/] Tiktok [https://www.tiktok.com/@wesbos] LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/wesbos/] Threads [https://www.threads.net/@wesbos] Scott: X [https://twitter.com/stolinski] Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/stolinski/] Tiktok [https://www.tiktok.com/@stolinski] LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/stolinski/] Threads [https://www.threads.net/@stolinski] Randy: X [https://twitter.com/randyrektor] Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/randyrektor/] YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@randyrektor] Threads [https://www.threads.net/@randyrektor]

Wes and Scott talk about what makes Zed—the hot new editor built in Rust—fast, beautiful, and finally ready for primetime. From Git UI to extensions and AI tools, they break down what Zed gets right, what it still lacks, and whether it’s time to finally ditch VS Code. SHOW NOTES * 00:00 Welcome to Syntax! * Syntax San Francisco Meetup [https://syntax.fm/meetup] * We need your Spooky Stories [https://syntax.fm/spooky] * 02:37 Brought to you by Sentry.io [https://sentry.io/syntax/] * 04:07 What is Zed [https://zed.dev/]? * 06:46 Zed UI: fast and clean * 10:17 General editor experience * 11:44 Extensions marketplace * 17:53 Git UI * 22:03 Problems UI * 26:01 Real-time collaboration * Remote Development [https://zed.dev/docs/remote-development] * 27:39 Command prompt tricks and built-in tools * 31:03 Zed’s AI features * AI Coding Sucks [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZUkQF6boNg] * 37:08 What kept Scott away—and why he’s back * 40:33 What’s still missing * Text Manipulation Kung Fu for the Aspiring Black Belt [https://zed.dev/blog/text-manipulation] * 46:43 Sick Picks & Shameless Plugs SICK PICKS * Scott: Zojirushi 5.0 Liter Water Boiler [https://amzn.to/4nSmlhP] * Wes: Syntax Keycaps [https://checkout.sentry.shop/products/syntax-keycaps] HIT US UP ON SOCIALS! Syntax: X [https://twitter.com/syntaxfm] Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/syntax_fm/] Tiktok [https://www.tiktok.com/@syntaxfm] LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/company/96077407/admin/feed/posts/] Threads [https://www.threads.net/@syntax_fm] Wes: X [https://twitter.com/wesbos] Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/wesbos/] Tiktok [https://www.tiktok.com/@wesbos] LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/wesbos/] Threads [https://www.threads.net/@wesbos] Scott: X [https://twitter.com/stolinski] Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/stolinski/] Tiktok [https://www.tiktok.com/@stolinski] LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/stolinski/] Threads [https://www.threads.net/@stolinski] Randy: X [https://twitter.com/randyrektor] Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/randyrektor/] YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@randyrektor] Threads [https://www.threads.net/@randyrektor]

Scott and Wes break down the top-tier MCP servers developers are using right now. From browser automation to debugging superpowers, they explore how these servers are changing what’s possible in modern dev workflows. SHOW NOTES * 00:00 Welcome to Syntax! * 01:52 Brought to you by Sentry.io [https://sentry.io/syntax]. * 02:46 Submit your Spooky Stories [https://syntax.fm/spooky]! * 03:37 Syntax San Francisco Meetup [https://syntax.fm/meetup]. * 04:11 S-Tier MCP Servers. * 04:17 Sentry MCP Server [https://docs.sentry.io/product/sentry-mcp/] (not sponsored). * 05:01 Pause, what the heck is an MCP server. * 05:45 Back to the Sentry MCP. * 07:07 Spotlight JS. * 09:08 ElevenLabs MCP hack. * 11:19 Docs Tools. * 11:29 Context7 [https://github.com/upstash/context7]. * 15:55 GitHub MCP Registry [https://github.com/mcp?utm_source=vscode-website&utm_campaign=mcp-registry-server-launch-2025]. * 16:10 Nuxt MCP Server [https://ui.nuxt.com/docs/getting-started/ai/mcp]. * 16:25 Svelte MCP Server [https://svelte.dev/docs/mcp/overview]. * 20:35 Cloudflare MCP Servers [https://developers.cloudflare.com/agents/model-context-protocol/mcp-servers-for-cloudflare/]. * 22:34 Chrome Dev Tools (Playwright) MCP Server. * 25:17 Stripe MCP Server [https://docs.stripe.com/mcp]. * 27:55 Mastra [https://mastra.ai/en/docs/tools-mcp/mcp-overview]. HIT US UP ON SOCIALS! Syntax: X [https://twitter.com/syntaxfm] Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/syntax_fm/] Tiktok [https://www.tiktok.com/@syntaxfm] LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/company/96077407/admin/feed/posts/] Threads [https://www.threads.net/@syntax_fm] Wes: X [https://twitter.com/wesbos] Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/wesbos/] Tiktok [https://www.tiktok.com/@wesbos] LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/wesbos/] Threads [https://www.threads.net/@wesbos] Scott: X [https://twitter.com/stolinski] Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/stolinski/] Tiktok [https://www.tiktok.com/@stolinski] LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/stolinski/] Threads [https://www.threads.net/@stolinski] Randy: X [https://twitter.com/randyrektor] Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/randyrektor/] YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@randyrektor] Threads [https://www.threads.net/@randyrektor]

In this potluck episode of Syntax, Wes and Scott answer your questions about why devs neglect their own websites, hosting shady projects (hypothetically), AI rules in version control, balancing side projects and family life, and more! SHOW NOTES * 00:00 Welcome to Syntax! * 01:43 Why devs neglect their own websites (and how to convince your parents coding is a real job) * 07:04 AirPods [https://www.apple.com/airpods/], Nothing Ear [https://us.nothing.tech/products/ear], and the ANC struggle * 10:22 Shipping Syntax merch from Canada * 12:43 Scott’s update on Omarchy [https://omarchy.org/] and Linux laptop life * 18:05 What to do when a user account gets hacked (and how to prevent it) * 21:33 Should you commit LLM context files and AI-generated docs to Git? * 25:27 How to balance career, side projects, and family life * 29:25 Building and hosting a “legally dubious” website * 33:27 Best practices for dealing with images * 42:46 Where to find Wes’ awesome wallpapers * 44:19 Can you trust services with a generous free tier? * ServerlessHorrors [https://serverlesshorrors.com/] * 50:32 Do we still use GIFs? * 52:23 Sick Picks + Shameless Plugs * 55:59 Brought to you by Sentry.io [https://sentry.io/syntax/] SICK PICKS * Scott: Mkv-Quicklook [https://github.com/Oil3/Mkv-Quicklook] * Wes: Momofuku Sweet & Savory Korean BBQ Sauce [https://canadashop.momofuku.com/products/sweet-savory-bbq-sauce] HIT US UP ON SOCIALS! Syntax: X [https://twitter.com/syntaxfm] Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/syntax_fm/] Tiktok [https://www.tiktok.com/@syntaxfm] LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/company/96077407/admin/feed/posts/] Threads [https://www.threads.net/@syntax_fm] Wes: X [https://twitter.com/wesbos] Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/wesbos/] Tiktok [https://www.tiktok.com/@wesbos] LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/wesbos/] Threads [https://www.threads.net/@wesbos] Scott: X [https://twitter.com/stolinski] Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/stolinski/] Tiktok [https://www.tiktok.com/@stolinski] LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/stolinski/] Threads [https://www.threads.net/@stolinski] Randy: X [https://twitter.com/randyrektor] Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/randyrektor/] YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@randyrektor] Threads [https://www.threads.net/@randyrektor]