Web Engineering Summit 2026

The Talk covers the importance of building a design system for efficient component usage and maintaining a clean codebase for faster shipping. It discusses the impact of unused code on development efficiency, challenges in cross-module usage analysis with TypeScript, and the use of KNIP for identifying and removing unused code elements. KNIP aids in code cleanup, optimization, and dependency removal, enhancing code cleanliness and efficiency. The Talk also addresses challenges in adapting to KNIP in CI workflows, caution in dynamic codebases, and the potential for KNIP to expand to other cleanup tasks beyond code size reduction.

Daniel Avila discussing templates and components for Cloud Code, emphasizing the importance of configuration settings and skills integration in the development process. Cloud Code settings, commands, sub-agents, and skills integration play a crucial role in developing a complete template for AI agents. Skills injection, documentation, development template, Cloud Code components sharing, harness engineering, logs review, process improvement, configuration levels. Configuration levels, settings.json, hooks, verification, deterministic projects, templates, status lines, cloud.md, best practices. Explaining skill invocation control, model usage, and skill specialization for message crafting within commits. Emphasizing the importance of managing the context window effectively for skill injection and understanding the interaction with various agents and tools.

Eric Hanchett discusses spec-driven development, emphasizing structured code creation with specifications before writing any code. The importance of context in guiding large language models and the evolving nature of software development is highlighted. Kiro, an AI IDE coding assistant, offers a comprehensive solution for improved spectrum development processes. Kiro's focus on vibe and spec mode caters to the need for working on larger and more complex projects. Spec-driven development in Kiro is beneficial for in-depth features and structured project building. The discussion also includes property-based tests, MVP creation, and the Model Context Protocol (MCP) integration within the spec-driven development flow.

Wes discusses agentic interfaces and the changing interaction with the web. Exploring different software interfaces from UI-less to tailored interfaces and interconnected apps. Implementation options include generative UI with basic, declarative, and fully generative levels. Exploring the challenges of integrating unconventional components like wacky shopping lists and the need for a balance between dynamic and fully generative components in user interfaces. Exploring the shift from fast interactions to slower MCP interfaces, emphasizing the need for adaptive Smart Home systems and user-centric interfaces. Excitement about WebMCP, enabling extended website functionality through WebSemantics and imperative JavaScript API. Utilizing agents for enhanced website control, switching between Cloud and browser for varied experiences. Impact of evolving technology on business adaptation and the shift towards platform control. Discussion on the future of dynamic UI with user-driven component rendering and the importance of preserving the openness of the web amidst AI-driven application generation. Contemplation on the effectiveness of MCP-based interactions as AI companies transition to charging for services, hinting at potential cost implications in the near future.

Zalim Tuzlak explains features of building 10 stack AI, enhancing capabilities with middleware and tool code mode, efficient AI tool script writing, challenges and breakthroughs in AI development, building scalable AI tools with activity-based tree shaking, early AI concepts and code quality strategies, empowering rapid AI iteration, TensTech AI beta release with Angular support, AI model comparison and evaluation, AI SDK features enhancement, quality assurance processes for TanStack AI docs, personal stress and decision fatigue in AI development, challenges in middleware development with AI assistance, skill creation process within the team, and TanStack AI's end goal and selling point.

Santiago Colombato discusses challenges in synchronizing DOM and WebGL for visually heavy websites, focusing on scroll sync and basics of WebGL's rendering process. The talk addresses the complexities of rendering text on GPU in WebGL and the challenges of HTML in canvas implementation. The proposal introduces advanced features like a paint event and element image capture to enable synchronization of HTML changes and element snapshots. Exciting prospects include blurring the lines between DOM and canvas, showcasing 3D scenes, distorted text, and GPU effects, offering new possibilities for website generation.

Sohan Maheshwar humorously recounts feedback on advising against JWTs for authorization, highlighting challenges in payload structure and fine-grained permissions. Scalability and token revocation present issues, along with predicting permissions. Risks of overprovisioning permissions are addressed, with Macaroons as a solution and complexity in access control systems. Modern authorization systems like Zanzibar and Policy Engine prioritize correctness, flexibility, and security over simplicity of JWTs.

Tobias Koppers from Vercel explains the process of chunking in bundlers and its impact on module organization and loading efficiency. Optimization strategies involve analyzing metrics, chunk groups, request counts, and long-term caching for better performance. Managing trade-offs in chunking with long-term caching, correctness, and CSS order considerations is crucial. Challenges include implicit CSS dependencies, overshipping, and balancing CSS ordering for future optimizations. Compile time complexities and future optimization challenges highlight the evolving nature of chunking strategies.

Dan Shapir introduces heap dumps to identify and fix Node.js memory and CPU issues. Memory leaks in JavaScript occur when objects are still reachable, impacting memory usage. Continuous memory rise from leaks can deplete memory and lead to CPU usage escalation. Detecting and resolving memory leaks promptly is crucial to prevent system unresponsiveness in production environments. Heap dumps and memory dumps help analyze memory issues, with Chrome DevTools aiding in finding memory leaks. Pinpointing memory leaks involves comparing heap snapshots and analyzing leaked objects. Alternative methods for generating heap snapshots include new experimental node flags, automatic triggers, and built-in APIs, offering benefits but posing risks such as potential crashes and security vulnerabilities.

Sylwia Laskowska discusses challenges of frontend legacy migration, importance of legacy system migration for security and performance, considerations for big bang migration strategy, success story of Angular migration, incremental migration with strangler pattern, real-life migration story using feature flags, pitfalls in migration like prolonged timeline, and migration planning and execution strategies likened to renovating an old house.