Kevin Swiber
@swiber.dev
🔎 programming + leadership + architecture + ops
🤖 Working at the intersection of AI and APIs (ex-Postman, ex-Apigee)
✨ enby (they/them)
🤖 Working at the intersection of AI and APIs (ex-Postman, ex-Apigee)
✨ enby (they/them)
I spent a lot of time in code designing abstractions that create boundaries around likelihood of change. I like to develop a solid core that I rarely ever touch again. Something well-tested and reliable. That enables me to go wild at the edges, run weird experiments, and not break anything.
August 28, 2025 at 4:57 PM
I spent a lot of time in code designing abstractions that create boundaries around likelihood of change. I like to develop a solid core that I rarely ever touch again. Something well-tested and reliable. That enables me to go wild at the edges, run weird experiments, and not break anything.
I know AI code assistants are controversial. But honestly, I'm spending my time: designing software architecture, planning work, reviewing code, documenting best practices, and only diving into deep code-writing sessions on the legitimately difficult problems. It's... kinda nice?
August 26, 2025 at 10:20 PM
I know AI code assistants are controversial. But honestly, I'm spending my time: designing software architecture, planning work, reviewing code, documenting best practices, and only diving into deep code-writing sessions on the legitimately difficult problems. It's... kinda nice?
Sometimes I don't mind the AI being a sycophant. I worked hard on this high performance, multi-protocol connection pool. 😅
> The pool is not just "good" - it's production-grade high-performance infrastructure that can handle enterprise-scale multi-tenant workloads without breaking a sweat! 🚀
> The pool is not just "good" - it's production-grade high-performance infrastructure that can handle enterprise-scale multi-tenant workloads without breaking a sweat! 🚀
August 25, 2025 at 9:48 PM
Sometimes I don't mind the AI being a sycophant. I worked hard on this high performance, multi-protocol connection pool. 😅
> The pool is not just "good" - it's production-grade high-performance infrastructure that can handle enterprise-scale multi-tenant workloads without breaking a sweat! 🚀
> The pool is not just "good" - it's production-grade high-performance infrastructure that can handle enterprise-scale multi-tenant workloads without breaking a sweat! 🚀
One cool thing about building developer tools is that I get to add all the nice little touches I like. For example, in a CLI, why can't I get JSON output on like... everything? If I want to wire up automation, parsing text is always fraught with peril. Just give me a data structure I can pipe to jq.
August 22, 2025 at 2:23 AM
One cool thing about building developer tools is that I get to add all the nice little touches I like. For example, in a CLI, why can't I get JSON output on like... everything? If I want to wire up automation, parsing text is always fraught with peril. Just give me a data structure I can pipe to jq.
One of my favorite uses of terminal-based AI code assistants is telling them my complex queries and letting them rg (or grep), sed, and awk their way through. We do need a reliable language server integration, though, which do a heck of a lot better at deterministic edits like symbol renames.
August 21, 2025 at 11:32 PM
One of my favorite uses of terminal-based AI code assistants is telling them my complex queries and letting them rg (or grep), sed, and awk their way through. We do need a reliable language server integration, though, which do a heck of a lot better at deterministic edits like symbol renames.
As I'm preparing to open source a project, I am suddenly so self-conscious about my code hygiene. I've been the only one looking at this code, so it's been fine. But I definitely need to clean the stacks of clothes off the chair before we have company.
August 21, 2025 at 5:09 PM
As I'm preparing to open source a project, I am suddenly so self-conscious about my code hygiene. I've been the only one looking at this code, so it's been fine. But I definitely need to clean the stacks of clothes off the chair before we have company.
I've been working on MCP developer tools. It has been fun. There are a few MCP gateways out there. They're fine. I've technically built a high-performance, resilient MCP gateway in this codebase, but I'm not currently planning to promote it that way. I think there's a lot of opportunity here.
August 20, 2025 at 7:55 PM
I've been working on MCP developer tools. It has been fun. There are a few MCP gateways out there. They're fine. I've technically built a high-performance, resilient MCP gateway in this codebase, but I'm not currently planning to promote it that way. I think there's a lot of opportunity here.
AI code assistants *also* find it difficult to find and fix race conditions. Give me a model that can implement best-effort cleanup of a concurrent resource pool when things go haywire. Then you can start heralding the death of human-led software engineering. Until then, I think we'll be all right.
August 20, 2025 at 7:48 PM
AI code assistants *also* find it difficult to find and fix race conditions. Give me a model that can implement best-effort cleanup of a concurrent resource pool when things go haywire. Then you can start heralding the death of human-led software engineering. Until then, I think we'll be all right.
Spending my evening with a Rust project figuring out a Drop implementation on a ConnectionPool that can do a best-effort cleanup of active connections. If the caller forgets to do an explicit call to the close method, I'd like it to be as low-impact as possible. This is hard stuff. But fun!
August 19, 2025 at 2:17 AM
Spending my evening with a Rust project figuring out a Drop implementation on a ConnectionPool that can do a best-effort cleanup of active connections. If the caller forgets to do an explicit call to the close method, I'd like it to be as low-impact as possible. This is hard stuff. But fun!
Confession: I've been cheating on fixing my clippy errors in Rust projects by using Claude. 🫣
cargo clippy --all-targets -- -D warnings 2>&1 | claude -p "Please fix these clippy errors"
cargo clippy --all-targets -- -D warnings 2>&1 | claude -p "Please fix these clippy errors"
August 19, 2025 at 1:17 AM
Confession: I've been cheating on fixing my clippy errors in Rust projects by using Claude. 🫣
cargo clippy --all-targets -- -D warnings 2>&1 | claude -p "Please fix these clippy errors"
cargo clippy --all-targets -- -D warnings 2>&1 | claude -p "Please fix these clippy errors"
As a developer who's getting older, I spend a lot more time on module organization design in my codebase. It's natural for module organization to grow and evolve over time, but what we usually end up doing is trying to stick to older models that might not be as useful.
August 18, 2025 at 4:43 PM
As a developer who's getting older, I spend a lot more time on module organization design in my codebase. It's natural for module organization to grow and evolve over time, but what we usually end up doing is trying to stick to older models that might not be as useful.
Reading DC Comics for the first time since childhood. Tom King’s Wonder Woman series and Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow are really, really good.
July 31, 2025 at 12:50 AM
Reading DC Comics for the first time since childhood. Tom King’s Wonder Woman series and Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow are really, really good.
If your headline about AI is "no more ___" or "the end of ___", I'm probably going to roll my eyes. Here are the latest top 3 things going away because of AI, according to headlines:
- network APIs
- software developers
- the World Wide Web
Okay, maybe, but not in your lifetime, buddy. Calm down.
- network APIs
- software developers
- the World Wide Web
Okay, maybe, but not in your lifetime, buddy. Calm down.
July 27, 2025 at 10:31 PM
If your headline about AI is "no more ___" or "the end of ___", I'm probably going to roll my eyes. Here are the latest top 3 things going away because of AI, according to headlines:
- network APIs
- software developers
- the World Wide Web
Okay, maybe, but not in your lifetime, buddy. Calm down.
- network APIs
- software developers
- the World Wide Web
Okay, maybe, but not in your lifetime, buddy. Calm down.
Hey, folks! If you’re around at 9am EDT (6am PDT) on Friday, July 25th and are interested in the intersection of APIs and AI, feel free to tune in!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3gp...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3gp...
15+ Years of APIs (with Kevin Swiber, API Strategy Advisor)
YouTube video by WunderGraph — Stefan & Jens
www.youtube.com
July 25, 2025 at 3:58 AM
Hey, folks! If you’re around at 9am EDT (6am PDT) on Friday, July 25th and are interested in the intersection of APIs and AI, feel free to tune in!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3gp...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3gp...
I walked around the house showing this to every member of my family. We're definitely going to see this on the big screen. We make an AirBud reference at least once a week. I'm thrilled.
First poster for ‘Air Bud Returns’ 🏀
In theaters Summer 2026
In theaters Summer 2026
July 24, 2025 at 6:36 PM
I walked around the house showing this to every member of my family. We're definitely going to see this on the big screen. We make an AirBud reference at least once a week. I'm thrilled.
Going to see the new Fantastic Four movie at 2PM, because I really don't want to see spoilers. I'm looking forward to it! Early critic reviews have at 88% on the Tomatometer. That's pretty good.
July 24, 2025 at 6:26 PM
Going to see the new Fantastic Four movie at 2PM, because I really don't want to see spoilers. I'm looking forward to it! Early critic reviews have at 88% on the Tomatometer. That's pretty good.
Product development is not product assembly. In a past life, I worked as an industrial engineering technician in the automotive industry. We were applying Lean Manufacturing practices. In development, you minimize waste and maximize value. In assembly, you optimize for speed and efficiency.
July 23, 2025 at 8:51 PM
Product development is not product assembly. In a past life, I worked as an industrial engineering technician in the automotive industry. We were applying Lean Manufacturing practices. In development, you minimize waste and maximize value. In assembly, you optimize for speed and efficiency.
I love that the door burst was practical and not CGI. I wouldn’t want to enter a room like this, though. I hate making a mess.
July 22, 2025 at 9:39 PM
I love that the door burst was practical and not CGI. I wouldn’t want to enter a room like this, though. I hate making a mess.
Possible hot take: AI code agents are actually more effectively used in large feature creation than in small bug fixes. Reasoning: It requires a lot of meticulous planning and design by the developer to get high quality work from LLMs. That time might not be worth it for small bug fixes.
July 19, 2025 at 7:05 PM
Possible hot take: AI code agents are actually more effectively used in large feature creation than in small bug fixes. Reasoning: It requires a lot of meticulous planning and design by the developer to get high quality work from LLMs. That time might not be worth it for small bug fixes.
“Agents” is a boring name. We had the right idea with “daemons”. Why don’t we go with “djinns” or “daevas”?
July 18, 2025 at 6:01 PM
“Agents” is a boring name. We had the right idea with “daemons”. Why don’t we go with “djinns” or “daevas”?
Y’all, the kids are protesting ICE on Roblox. This is amazing. youtu.be/s1RSD9-qHTI?...
The Surprising Way Kids Are Protesting ICE.
YouTube video by Parkrose Permaculture
youtu.be
June 19, 2025 at 4:57 PM
Y’all, the kids are protesting ICE on Roblox. This is amazing. youtu.be/s1RSD9-qHTI?...
The race is long, and your fortune can change.
June 19, 2025 at 3:40 AM
The race is long, and your fortune can change.
When people leave jobs, they’re often careful to not “burn the bridge”. However, it’s more often the employer who sets that bridge on fire, as that’s the power dynamic. So my advice to a lot of folks is… Be cautious when revisiting those ashes. Keep moving forward. It gets better.
June 15, 2025 at 8:11 PM
When people leave jobs, they’re often careful to not “burn the bridge”. However, it’s more often the employer who sets that bridge on fire, as that’s the power dynamic. So my advice to a lot of folks is… Be cautious when revisiting those ashes. Keep moving forward. It gets better.
I’m really sick right now. But I’m thinking about my love of comic books since childhood and my love of movies, too. Millennials were lucky to be around for the birth of comic book movie franchises.
June 13, 2025 at 9:20 PM
I’m really sick right now. But I’m thinking about my love of comic books since childhood and my love of movies, too. Millennials were lucky to be around for the birth of comic book movie franchises.
Reposted by Kevin Swiber
Always great to have @swiber.dev on for a chat!
🚀 It's MCP Week at Zuplo!
Day 1 kicks off TODAY with API strategist Kevin Swiber, who explores how MCP is reshaping APIs rather than posing a threat that would kill it completely, and what it means for developers building the next generation of AI-powered applications.
zuplo.link/mcpweek1
Day 1 kicks off TODAY with API strategist Kevin Swiber, who explores how MCP is reshaping APIs rather than posing a threat that would kill it completely, and what it means for developers building the next generation of AI-powered applications.
zuplo.link/mcpweek1
June 10, 2025 at 4:02 PM
Always great to have @swiber.dev on for a chat!