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Brendan McLoughlin

React and Remix Choose Different Futures

Bryan Cantrill's talk Platform as a Reflection of Values gave me a lens I didn't know I needed. When platforms diverge, he argued, it's rarely about technical merit. It's about values misalignment. The things that matter most to one community simply rank

The Last StaffPlus NYC: When the Role Outgrew Its Room

A Director walked up to our group in the hallway, our white StaffPlus lanyards clearly visible, and said something I'm still thinking about: "I came over because StaffPlus people have more interesting conversations than the LeadDev attendees." It was a compliment, but also a diagnosis. It

The Staff+ Canon: Tools for Leading Without Authority

Staff+ engineers aren't promoted so much as absorbed into the system. The system has its own logic, and once you're part of the machinery, you start to see how it really runs. At this level, the work is less about code and more about context. You’

`vi.mock` Is a Footgun: Why `vi.spyOn` Should Be Your Default

Which Vitest API is your favorite? There are so many great ones to choose from. test is a classic, vi.fn might have the best name, and expect is a great Swiss Army knife. Like a proud parent, I have trouble choosing my favorite. But I know which API I

Don't Mock Your Framework: Writing Tests You Won't Regret

I love a good test. No, scratch that, I love a laconic test! There's an art to it: the eloquent test name, the crisp setup that establishes context, the succinct action that triggers only what needs testing, and finally a few pithy assertions. A truly great test is

LLM Native Product Capabilities

Ben Thompson likes to point out that early websites were essentially static copies of physical world artifacts like newspapers and brochures. The web only reached its potential during the Web 2.0 era when developers discovered truly native capabilities that previous mediums couldn't match. For example, the feed&

The Secret to Maintainable Remix Apps: Hexagonal Architecture

Ever feel like updating your Remix app's UI is a circus act? One small change, and suddenly everything's breaking? You're not alone. This fragility often comes from tightly coupled components – a change in one place triggers a domino effect throughout your code. But there&

Spooky tales to scare your JavaScript developers

Welcome, brave souls, to a realm where the ordinary meets the supernatural, where lines of code transform into incantations. Today, I extend an invitation to journey with me into the depths of arcane knowledge, armed with a dusty tome retrieved from the restricted section of the Miskatonic University. This hallowed

A love letter to the Remix loader

This is an uncontroversial opinion for people using Remix, but it needs to be said: The loader API is the best thing about Remix. Some background: A loader is a custom defined function that is responsible for "loading" all of the data that is required to render a

Coming soon

This is Laconic Wit, a brand new site by Brendan McLoughlin that's just getting started. Things will be up and running here shortly, but you can subscribe in the meantime if you'd like to stay up to date and receive emails when new content is published!