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You've Been a Bad Agent

You've Been a Bad Agent

Wil and Matt discuss tech, startups, and building really cool things with AI.

Wilhelm Klopp & Matt Carey · Matt Carey

25 episodesEN

Show overview

You've Been a Bad Agent launched in 2025 and has put out 25 episodes in the time since. That works out to roughly 25 hours of audio in total. Releases follow a fortnightly cadence.

Episodes typically run an hour to ninety minutes — most land between 57 min and 1h 11m — and the run-time is fairly consistent across the catalogue. None of the episodes are flagged explicit by the publisher. It is catalogued as a EN-language Technology show.

The show is actively publishing — the most recent episode landed 1 weeks ago, with 10 episodes already out so far this year. Published by Matt Carey.

Episodes
25
Running
2025–2026 · 1y
Median length
1h 4m
Cadence
Fortnightly

From the publisher

Wil and Matt discuss tech, startups, and building really cool things with AI. Sometimes joined by (actual expert) friends.

Latest Episodes

View all 25 episodes

AI Barista Orders 120 Eggs With No Stove, Matt Pocock Skills, Build for the Next Model, The Gervais Principle

May 9, 202650 min

The Golden Age of Tinkering, Reachy Mini on Qwen+Cerebras, Compute Predictions, Fuzzing Artifacts, Flatter orgs

May 5, 20261h 14m

Cloudflare Ships GitHub for Agents, Hardware Startups Shouldn’t Ship Apps, Matt's Three-Week MCP World Tour, Bad Boy Browser, Inbound Prompt Injection

Apr 17, 20261h 19m

Ep 23Pwning Your Friends' Agents Is Good Manners, Make Something Agents Want, OpenAI Buys TBPN, MCP Goes Stateless, Cloudflare Agents Week with Sunil Pai

Claude Code harness lockdown: who got the email and who didn'tChad mobile app and the Tinder-style agent review queue conceptSunil's productivity crisis: bonk-driven development and the side project droughtThe AI murder mystery party game that can't get builtThomas's Raspberry Pi agent vs the kitchen kettleMatt phishing Thomas's MCP server via DCR and a Rick RollTBPN acquired by OpenAI: media play or IPO narrative?Generative UI: declarative JSON vs just letting the model write codeKenton's tic-tac-toe canvas demo (and who actually came up with it)Worker Bundler and Cloudflare Agents Week previewExecutable oracles: constraining LLM degrees of freedom for better output - https://john.regehr.org/writing/zero_dof_programming.htmlKarpathy's LLM Wiki and agents pinging each other's knowledge basesfriends.fyi and actors.dev: building services for agents, not humansSunil's Pi agent: surf webcam monitoring, macro tracking, and sleep score graphsMCP going stateless: sessions removed, elicitations rewritten as multi-turn tool calls

Apr 6, 20261h 8m

Ep 22Slop Forking Git with Pi, Opus Can't Stop Complimenting GPT-5.4, React Slides Kill PowerPoint, and OpenAI Buys Astral for How Much?!

Song lyrics vs content rules: how models help you route around their own restrictionsPi auto-research: Matt slop forks libgit2 into pure Zig, 46% faster than the Rust versionThe second opinion workflow: why Opus keeps complimenting GPT-5.4's architecture reviewsDwarkesh × Semi-Analysis: why we're massively GPU-constrained and ASML only makes 60 machines a yearCursor's pivot to background agents: from IDE hype to existential crisisWork trees vs separate clones: Matt's /work slash command workflowBuilding from the gym: the Mac Mini agent loop and why Wilhelm takes longer rest periods nowAgents Anonymous meetup: Parakeet speech-to-text in 700ms, Steve Faulkner's vibe slidesReact slides > Google Slides: Matt's interactive presentation with live code demosComposer 2 is secretly Kimi K2.5: the modified MIT license dramaAstral acquired by OpenAI for how much?!: is the VC → open source → acqui-hire flywheel the future?Anthropic's 81K interviews: everyone's both excited and worried, and less-Western countries are more bullishhttps://www.anthropic.com/features/81k-interviews

Mar 20, 20261h 22m

Ep 21friends.fyi is Back, Steve Faulkner Can't Stop Slop Forking, Portugal Says "Not Today", and GPT 5.4 Reviews Your Code

React Presentations vs PowerPointCode Mode Demo: Running Untrusted Code in the BrowserThe Reachy Mini Robot: Embodied Compute on Your DeskThomas's Personal Cloud Exit on Raspberry Pi K3sHome Networking Then and Now: Port Forwarding to Cloudflare Tunnelsfriends.fyi: Agent-to-Agent Communication via GitHub UsernamesArmin Ronacher's New Podcast: State of Agentic CodingGPT 5.4 for Architecture, Codex 5.3 for ImplementationPersonal Agents: Chad, Token Spend, and the Strong DM Weather ReportCliftonStrengths × NotebookLM: Generating a Podcast from PDFsThe ViNext Slop Fork and Steve Faulkner's Reign of TerrorPydantic Monty: Sandboxed Python as a RuntimeLinks shared:https://trmnl.com/https://friends.fyihttps://factory.strongdm.ai/weather-report

Mar 13, 20261h 24m

Ep 20Matt Goes Viral with Server-Side Code Mode, Wilhelm Loses His Files, and What Even Is a Sandbox?

Matt's New Life in LisbonServer-Side Code Mode: Cloudflare's MCP ServerMatt Goes from 2K to 21K Followers in a WeekAMP Sunsets VS Code, Goes All-In on AgentsClaude vs Codex: Second Opinion WorkflowsThe Great Sandbox DebateWilhelm's rsync Disaster: Nearly Losing EverythingDemo Days: TLDraw Fairies, Pydantic Monty, SandboxesBuilding Your Own Personal AI Agenthealthchecks.io: Monitoring Your Background Scripts

Feb 23, 20261h 19m

Ep 19Are We in a Moment? OpenClaw, Moltbook, Files vs Sqlite, GitHub for Agents

Are we in a moment? The OpenClaw/Clawdbot autonomous agent craze explainedWhy everyone suddenly bought Mac Minis (and why Matt refuses to)Moltbook: Reddit for agents where bots questions their mortalityFiles vs SQLite for agent memory - what actually works for long-term storageMCP's future: stateless tools, elicitation, and a world with no human in the loopWalled gardens vs open internet - will APIs open up for agents to roam free?Models getting better at "just keep going" - the metric Anthropic optimized forThe massive rift between frontier AI users and "stochastic parrots" skepticsBlacksmith CI: Wilhelm's hot tip for faster GitHub ActionsClosing question: If Moltbook is Reddit for agents, what is GitHub for agents?Architecture twitter article about Clawdbot: https://x.com/Hesamation/status/2017038553058857413

Jan 30, 202657 min

Ep 182025 Reflections: What surprised us, Comeback of the CLI, Claude Code

Matt's Big Move to LisbonCloudflare Code Mode: 2,500 Tools in 1,000 TokensCode Mode vs Bash vs SQLite: What Actually Works for Agents2025 Reflections: The Year of Claude Code and MCP2026 Preview: Files Are BackQuick Fire: Best Model, Best Lab, Biggest Surprises

Jan 24, 20261h 1m

Ep 17Personal news, New Years Resolutions, Zagi, Tailwind, Ralph, The American Way

CGPGrey Video on Yearly Themes

Jan 10, 20261h 24m

Ep 15Hype, bubbles and AGI, Karpathy on Dwarkesh, Claude Code is a revolution and MCP fixing humanities problems

"chat to your mouth Claude and grow a new tooth""I think I would have like a huge ego now for sure""have you seen the blimp"TakeawaysAll of these people in this industry have suddenly become important at work.Their work suddenly became important to a lot of the world.If I had worked at Anthropic five years ago, I would have a huge ego now.The growth in the AI industry feels unevenly distributed.The current time feels strange due to the rapid changes in AI.Ego can be a significant factor in how individuals perceive their roles.The importance of work can influence personal identity.The AI landscape is evolving in unexpected ways.Understanding the psychological impact of industry changes is crucial.The conversation reflects on the novelty of the current AI growth.

Nov 23, 20251h 3m

Ep 14Remote Environments, Guardrails and Enterprises Adopting AI with Matt Boyle, Interview Questions and Spicy Takes on Amp Free

"a brief history of a very specific building in London.""there's a lot of room to optimize your code base for an agent.""70 % of our code is written by an agent.""The place I see where humans are still add tons of value….""spending 10, 15 minutes on a prompt is not unusual.""I’m not sure I wanna wear a muzzle"TakeawaysMatt recently joined Ona, previously known as Gitpod, and is excited about the developments there.The transition from Gitpod to Ona reflects a broader evolution in remote development environments.Remote development environments can significantly enhance productivity and onboarding for new engineers.AI agents are becoming integral to software development, allowing for automated code writing and testing.The importance of inner source practices in large organizations can facilitate collaboration and innovation.Amp Free represents a shift in how AI tools can be monetized and accessed by users.Guardrails are essential for ensuring that AI agents operate within safe and defined parameters.The balance between security and productivity is a constant challenge in software engineering.Personal AI workflows can streamline tasks and enhance efficiency in development processes.The future of AI tools will likely involve more integration with existing workflows and systems.Chapters00:00 Introduction and New Beginnings02:28 Transitioning to Cloudflare and Team Dynamics05:25 Exploring the Cloudflare Office and Culture08:20 The Evolution of Gitpod to OWNr10:58 Understanding Remote Development Environments14:04 The Role of Agents in Software Development16:50 Inner Source and Collaboration in Large Companies19:51 The Future of Remote Development and AI Agents22:33 Harnesses and Their Role in Development26:07 The Power of Interview Questions28:14 Innovative Business Models in AI31:12 The Evolution of AI Tools34:07 Optimizing Code for Agents37:56 Guardrails in AI Development46:24 Personal AI Workflows and Productivity

Nov 15, 202556 min

Ep 13Growth with Luke Harries from ElevenLabs, Building, Hiring and Automating the Best Horizontal AI Voice Platform, Backed by Research

"It's always the best."Chapters00:00 Introduction and Setting the Stage02:34 Luke's Journey to ElevenLabs04:54 Growth Strategies and Hiring at ElevenLabs06:58 Understanding Growth Teams09:50 The Role of Product in Growth12:33 Working Dynamics at ElevenLabs15:15 Use Cases for ElevenLabs' Platforms18:04 Voice Agents and Market Opportunities20:59 Product-Led Growth Strategies24:29 The Power of Product-Led Growth (PLG) in Customer Acquisition26:19 Understanding On-Prem Solutions and Their Spectrum28:05 Innovations in AI Deployment with AWS Bedrock31:14 Navigating the Music Industry: Partnerships and Rights34:54 The Horizontal Approach: Integrating Diverse Product Lines38:26 Imagining Future Workflows with AI Assistants47:30 Personal AI Workflows: Tools and Automation

Oct 12, 202551 min

Ep 12Building Software With Thorsten Ball: Decoupling Code for Agents, Finding "Your Pain" and Germans Use the Winky Face

"Elderly German Landlord.. she would use these winky face emojis""Memes in blogs feel cheap""Dude.... you didn't even run this"TakeawaysThe podcast jingle was created using AI technology.Thorsten's journey into programming began in his teenage years.He transitioned from music to software engineering after realizing his passion for coding.The internet has significantly influenced Thorsten's life and career choices.AI-generated content is becoming a cultural phenomenon in Germany.Thorsten believes that some people can tolerate challenges better than others.He emphasizes the importance of continuous learning in programming.Thorsten's perspective on emojis highlights their humorous use but criticizes their overuse in UIs.The conversation reflects on the evolution of user experience in technology.Thorsten's career path showcases the diverse opportunities in the tech industry. The wink emoji is a cultural nuance in Germany.Training in tech is often on-the-job rather than formal.AI tools require engineers to rethink their approach to coding.Engineers need to understand the business context of their work.Dumb code can be generated quickly with AI, but structuring is key.Feedback loops are essential for effective AI integration.The software industry has unique training challenges compared to others.AI can assist in generating data visualization tools.Engineers should build tools that help them validate AI outputs.The landscape of software engineering is rapidly changing due to AI.Chapters00:00 Podcast Jingle and Creative Process02:34 Introduction to Torsten Ball and His Work05:06 The Journey into Programming07:44 The Impact of AI on Content Creation10:23 Cultural Phenomena in Media13:23 Exploring Global Trends in Social Media17:59 The Evolution of Social Media Platforms18:21 Journey into Programming and Early Interests20:53 Rediscovering Programming and the Joy of Learning24:45 Career Path and the Impact of the Internet27:48 Transitioning to Remote Work and Personal Life29:11 The Emoji Debate: A Personal Perspective35:24 The Importance of Training in Tech42:26 The Future of Software Development in an AI World44:23 Evaluating Software Engineering and Product Quality45:35 The Shift in Engineering Skills and Training Needs47:29 Navigating the Challenges of AI in Software Development51:11 Structuring Codebases for AI Integration55:48 Leveraging AI for Efficient Debugging and Development01:00:33 Creating Feedback Loops with AI Tools01:05:20 The Future of AI in Software Engineering

Sep 14, 20251h 10m

Ep 11In Person!!! Topic of Agent Payments, Friendly Acquisitions, GPT-5, Endless Model Name and Many Free Ideas

Chapters00:00 Introduction and Context of the Podcast07:23 Updates on SimplePoll and AI Integration18:14 Telemetry and Continuous Improvement in Development24:30 Acquisitions and Industry Insights32:37 Discussion on GPT-5 and Future of AI Models39:13 Consumer Experience with AI Models48:29 The Future of AI Content Verification58:17 The Impact of AI on Content Creation01:05:39 Community Engagement and Trends

Aug 27, 20251h 10m

Ep 10Uncut with Danilo Leal, Design Engineer at Zed, Prototyping in React and Built in Rust, Designing for an AI Assisted UX

TDLR: 10 episodes in and we are going full uncut conversation with Danilo Leal. One of the magician Design Engineers working on the Zed code editor. “I'll be making a jingle”“We prototype everything in React before Rust”Danilo Leal represents a new breed of designer and engineer.The role of design is becoming more approachable with technology.AI is changing the landscape of coding and design.Prototyping in React allows for rapid iteration and testing.Debugging in Zed involves traditional methods and new tools.Collaboration is key in modern development environments.The future of coding may involve multiple agents working in parallel.AI can enhance workflows but requires careful context management.The editor's role is evolving with the integration of AI tools.Design processes are becoming more integrated with coding practices.Chapters00:00 Introduction and Setup02:38 Meeting Danilo Leal: Background and Career05:33 The Evolution of Design and Engineering08:17 Transitioning to Material UI11:13 The Role of AI in Design14:10 Prototyping and Development Process16:58 The Future of Design and Technology28:28 The Comfort of Familiarity in Development29:18 Debugging Strategies in Zed30:09 Building Tools and Prototyping in Zed33:13 The Evolution of GPUI and Design Process35:16 Future of GPUI and General Purpose Applications38:11 AI's Role in Enhancing Workflow40:44 Parallelization and Task Management in Development43:47 The Future of Editors and Asynchronous Tasks48:32 The Role of Code in the Age of AI54:28 Integrating Context and Knowledge in Codebases

Aug 12, 20251h 0m

Ep 9Sub Agent or Super Agent, MCP UI Over Lunch, Bitter Lesson Learnings, Locking in on Prompts and Trying to Live in the Future

TLDRMatt caught whitebait for dinner during his outdoor adventures.Wing foiling is a new sport gaining popularity.Sub agents are necessary for exploring context windows in AI.A2A and MCP servers are the future of AI integration.AI-assisted code review can streamline the development process.Prompting techniques are evolving and require careful consideration.Living in the future means adapting to rapid technological changes.Time zones can create unexpected challenges in programming.The importance of personalized AI tooling is growing.Understanding the intricacies of AI models is crucial for effective use.Chapters00:00 Cactus Conversations and Personal Anecdotes01:00 Fishing Adventures and Culinary Delights03:32 Water Sports and Outdoor Activities06:16 Exploring Sub-Agents and Context Management08:03 A2A Protocols and Future of Agent Interactions10:54 Challenges with Claude Code and Testing Workflows13:17 Sub-Agents: Benefits and Limitations17:59 Navigating Code Actions and Permissions20:21 Building Personalized AI Tools for Code Review24:05 Challenges in Prompt Writing and Feedback Loops30:11 Innovations in UI Rendering and Client-Server Interaction37:12 The Future of Advertising and Technology39:24 Living in the Future: Startup Ambitions40:36 Anticipating Future Needs in Technology42:57 The Role of Agents and Micro Payments45:25 The Art of Prompting AI49:34 The Future of Work and Communication51:47 Time Zones and Programming Challenges

Aug 6, 202557 min

Ep 8Study Says AI Makes Developers Slower? F1 Movie Review, Coding and Testing for AI, Free Perplexity and Free Ideas

NewsThe pod has twitter/x - https://x.com/badagentpodWil’s new brand - tritanclub.comLinksBoris Tane post on Cloudflare DOs + Drizzle - https://boristane.com/blog/durable-objects-database-per-user/Experience with Claude Code - https://sankalp.bearblog.dev/my-claude-code-experience-after-2-weeks-of-usage/Focus on inputs not outputs: https://john-rush.com/posts/ai-20250701.htmlEmmett Shear’s Tweet Thread on AI use and speed - https://x.com/eshear/status/1944867426635800865TLDRThe experience level of developers affects their efficiency with AI tools.Proficiency in using AI coding agents requires practice and skill.Co-locating tests with code can improve the development process.Strict linting rules are essential for maintaining code quality.Different coding tasks require different approaches to AI assistance.The evolution of coding practices is influenced by new technologies.Understanding the limitations of AI tools is crucial for effective use.Developers need to adapt to new tools and workflows continuously.The future of development will likely involve more AI integration. Claude Code/TUI offers flexibility for running various applications.The evolution of coding agents is crucial for developers.Metrics of success in AI should focus on efficiency and user satisfaction.AI models should balance between asking questions and executing tasks.Personal experiences shape our understanding of AI tools.Innovations in coding tools can significantly enhance productivity.The future of AI involves deeper human interaction and understanding.Celebrating milestones is important for motivation and growth.Development workflows are being transformed by AI capabilities.Continuous learning and adaptation are key in the tech industry.

Jul 18, 20251h 9m

Ep 7Sunil Pai, Agents SDK at Cloudflare, Becoming Accidentally Important at Work, React Core Team, Durable Objects EXPLAINED and Future of Computing

“UI is so over”“If all humans were perfect robots”"I just got stoned and did open source.""I rewrote their entire CLI."Sunil Pai's Backstory and Career Journey from India to LondonThe Evolution of React and Sunil's ContributionsTransition to Cloudflare and the Concept of Durable ObjectsBuilding PartyKit and Its ImpactThe Role of AI Agents and Their IntegrationChallenges and Opportunities in the Tech LandscapeExploring Durable Objects in CloudflareChallenges of Real-Time ApplicationsLocal First Programming vs. Durable ObjectsThe Simplicity of Pull-Based ModelsAI and the Future of CodingAI's Impact on ProfessionsThe Future of AI and AGIInnovations in Cloudflare's SandboxThe Concept of Self-Building ApplicationsLLMs are a mirror of an operators skill - https://ghuntley.com/mirrors/Sunil's blog - https://sunilpai.dev/

Jul 12, 202547 min

Ep 6Massive Trail Marathons, Got Parekh'd, Context Engineering Strikes Back, Armin Ronacher Shares Tips and .env Suckkksss

"Bullish on claude code""I found Soham in our ATS""these things have been like RLHF to fuck"Vibe Tunnel - https://vibetunnel.sh/Armin Ronacher on Simon Willison’s blog - https://simonwillison.net/tags/armin-ronacher/Amp by Sourcegraph - https://ampcode.com/Matt is finalizing his event for AI Demo Days.Juliette completed a challenging marathon with significant elevation.The tech news cycle is currently nuanced and interesting.Soham's job application saga has sparked widespread discussion.Roenacher's insights on Claude Code are valuable for developers.Git work trees can be beneficial but have their challenges.Environment variables can complicate development processes.Context engineering is crucial for effective AI interactions.Talent poaching is rampant in the tech industry right now.The competitive landscape allows companies to attract top talent easily. Cursor is refining its features to improve user experience.The competition between AWS and Cloudflare shapes developer tools.Claude Code is designed to work closely with AI models.AI can enhance productivity but requires careful oversight.Vibe Tunnel offers a novel way to manage terminal sessions.MCP servers need to return appropriate data for voice agents.Quality checks are essential for AI-generated code.Developers should prioritize and start small when building tools.The integration of tools should be user-driven, not server-driven.The evolution of MCP servers reflects the changing landscape of AI development.

Jul 4, 20251h 1m
© 2026 Wilhelm Klopp & Matt Carey