Fireship · 2026-09-28 · notable
Fireship — 'DHH has gone completely off the rails...'
Fireship reacts to DHH's Rails World 2026 keynote, where the Rails creator said 37signals has banned hand-written code as standard practice and handed the HEY backend to AI agents writing Rust.
Fireship's take on DHH declaring the end of hand-written code at Rails World 2026.
What is it?
'DHH has gone completely off the rails...' is a Fireship video uploaded on 28 September 2026. It covers David Heinemeier Hansson's Rails World 2026 keynote of 27 September, where he said 37signals has banned hand-written code as standard operating procedure and that he has retired from being a professional programmer.
How does it work?
The video follows Fireship's usual fast, satirical format, walking through the keynote's claims — including that the HEY backend is now written in Rust by AI agents and treated as a black box nobody reads.
Why does it matter?
DHH built Ruby on Rails and long argued for hand-crafted code, so his switch to agent-written code is one of the loudest signals yet of how AI coding is changing working practice at established software companies.
Who is it for?
developers following the AI coding debate