1011: tmux + Terminal Maxxing with Ben Vinegar

Scott and Wes sit down with Ben Vinegar, former Syntax GM and founder of Modem.dev, to geek out over terminal-maxxing, from SSH-based development and tmux workflows to AI-powered coding agents. Ben also demos two of his open source tools: Hunk, a slick terminal code reviewer with 4k+ GitHub stars, and TermDraw, a terminal-based diagramming tool that posts directly to your agent.

Show Notes

•
00:00 Welcome to Syntax!

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00:49 Introduction to Modem (modem.dev) and AI Project Management

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01:40 Exploring Terminal Usage and Productivity

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04:26 Setting Up Remote Development Environments

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08:38 The Power of TMUX (github.com/tmux/tmux) in Development

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11:20 What makes TMUX splitting different?

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12:46 Integrating AI with Terminal Workflows

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14:56 The Future of Terminal Applications

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17:31 Balancing GUIs and Terminal Interfaces

• getfresh.dev

• Ben’s talk at AI Engineer Miami (youtube.com/watch?v=6IxSbMhT7v4)

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24:39 Navigating Development Tools and Environments

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26:44 The Balance of Security and Convenience in Coding

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30:27 Cautionary Tales: The Risks of YOLO Mode

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33:53 Innovative Tools for Enhanced Coding Experience

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34:09 Hunk: Terminal code review (github.com/modem-dev/hunk).

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41:39 TermDraw: A New Way to Visualize Code and Ideas (github.com/benvinegar/termdraw)

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46:22 The Dynamics of Open Source Contributions

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48:31 Visualizing Code: Tools and Techniques

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50:54 Podcasting and Editing Processes

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State of Agentic Coding (youtube.com/watch?v=JM1sIVIZYRg).

• Podguy: Agent-driven post-production workflow for video podcasts (github.com/modem-dev/podguy)

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56:23 Introducing Modem: A Product Intelligence Platform

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01:01:39 Connecting Feedback to Product Development

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01:03:15 Sick Picks

Sick Picks

• Ben: Nirvanna: The Band - The Show - The Movie (imdb.com/title/tt35522483), Timecrimes (imdb.com/title/tt0480669)

Shameless Plugs

• Ben: modem.dev

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