--- title: DHH Declares End of Hand-Writing Code at Rails World 2026 description: At Rails World 2026, David Heinemeier Hansson declared that 37signals would default to AI-generated code rather than hand-written code, calling it developers'... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/dhh-declares-end-of-hand-writing-code-at-rails-world-2026-8uiqjkszl twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: DHH Declares End of Hand-Writing Code at Rails World 2026 | daily.dev og:description: At Rails World 2026, David Heinemeier Hansson declared that 37signals would default to AI-generated code rather than hand-written code, calling it developers'... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/dhh-declares-end-of-hand-writing-code-at-rails-world-2026-8uiqjkszl og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/8uIqjkSzL.png og:image:alt: DHH Declares End of Hand-Writing Code at Rails World 2026 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # DHH Declares End of Hand-Writing Code at Rails World 2026 **[DevOps.com](https://daily.dev/sources/devops)** · 4 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary At Rails World 2026, David Heinemeier Hansson declared that 37signals would default to AI-generated code rather than hand-written code, calling it developers' "Brownie" moment akin to Kodak's camera democratizing photography. He said he wrote half as much code over 20 months compared to the prior 21 months, and only five audience members raised their hands when asked if they still wrote material amounts of code by hand. DHH discussed how AI's lack of "attachment" to code makes rewrites easier, referenced a rocky Basecamp 5 vibe-coding attempt that produced "Swiss cheese" architecture, and showcased a vibe-coded native version of the Hey email client built in weeks, plus a Windows app iterated in 20 minutes via prompt tweaks. He predicted a broader shift from web apps to native apps driven by AI efficiency. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### What did DHH announce about how 37signals writes code now? David Heinemeier Hansson announced that 37signals now uses AI agents as its default method for generating code, with developers writing code by hand only in exceptional cases to fix issues. He said he personally wrote half as much code over a recent 20-month period compared to the prior 21 months, citing this as evidence of the shift. _Developers weighing how much to lean on AI code generation can follow this debate on daily.dev._ ### What happened when 37signals let designers vibe-code parts of Basecamp 5? An early attempt at letting designers vibe-code certain Basecamp 5 features resulted in architecture DHH described as looking like "Swiss cheese." The team initially assumed the AI technology wasn't ready and reverted to manual coding, but this experience later shaped DHH's thinking about how to better harness AI for coding. _Teams navigating the risks of vibe-coding real production features can track lessons like this on daily.dev._ ### What is 37signals building with AI for its Hey email client? 37signals is building a new native version of its Hey email app instead of a web app, using AI-driven vibe-coding, with DHH calling the results "electrifying" after only a few weeks of work. He also demoed a vibe-coded Windows app that went from barely viable to a much improved version after twenty minutes of prompt tweaks. _Anyone deciding between web and native app strategies with AI tooling can follow updates like this on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Your codebase doesn't care how it got written](https://daily.dev/posts/your-codebase-doesn-t-care-how-it-got-written-do0usjgun) · RUBYLAND · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#ai-coding](https://daily.dev/tags/ai-coding), [#rails](https://daily.dev/tags/rails), [#vibe-coding](https://daily.dev/tags/vibe-coding) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/dhh-declares-end-of-hand-writing-code-at-rails-world-2026-8uiqjkszl) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"DHH Declares End of Hand-Writing Code at Rails World 2026","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/dhh-declares-end-of-hand-writing-code-at-rails-world-2026-8uiqjkszl","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/dhh-declares-end-of-hand-writing-code-at-rails-world-2026-8uiqjkszl"},"datePublished":"2026-09-28T17:56:57.252Z","dateModified":"2026-09-28T22:04:15.677Z","description":"At Rails World 2026, David Heinemeier Hansson declared that 37signals would default to AI-generated code rather than hand-written code, calling it developers'...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/5bf95909612561ff8100bdebbb141ea3?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/5bf95909612561ff8100bdebbb141ea3?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"DevOps.com","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"DevOps.com","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/db8f2265cff0416c878c6e7e92bb8715","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/devops"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/dhh-declares-end-of-hand-writing-code-at-rails-world-2026-8uiqjkszl","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"ai-coding,rails,vibe-coding","timeRequired":"PT4M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"DevOps.com","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/devops"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"DHH Declares End of Hand-Writing Code at Rails World 2026"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/dhh-declares-end-of-hand-writing-code-at-rails-world-2026-8uiqjkszl#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"What did DHH announce about how 37signals writes code now?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"David Heinemeier Hansson announced that 37signals now uses AI agents as its default method for generating code, with developers writing code by hand only in exceptional cases to fix issues. 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