AI is changing how we build software. We can generate more code, faster, but we still have to live with the architecture, dependencies, and maintenance decisions that come with it. Open source still matters, and so does knowing when to use something that already works.
In this talk, we’ll explore why a few words like “use TanStack” can save you time, effort, tokens, and heartache. Good defaults and proven libraries give you and your AI tools a shared foundation, so you can spend less time rebuilding common infrastructure and more time on what makes your application useful. We’ll look at which decisions are still worth making deliberately, how open source helps agents make better choices, and why generating code faster makes choosing the right foundations more important than ever.
This talk has been presented at React Summit US 2026, check out the latest edition of this React Conference.





















