122: Snapchat Drops Valdi—A New Challenger to React Native?

In a surprise move, Snapchat open sources its cross-platform UI Valdi. Valdi lets devs write UI components in TypeScript then compiles them to native views on iOS, Android, and macOS, offers instant hot reload without recompiling, and integrates well into already existing native apps. 

GitHub Universe 2025 wrapped up just a few weeks ago, and it had a bunch of new AI agent updates to share. Think: a single source to manage agents across GitHub, Mobile, CLI, and VS Code, custom agents with tailored prompts and tools, new Copilot integrations and agentic code review, and Plan Mode. 

TanStack DB released v0.5 and Query-Driven Sync. With Query-Driven Sync, a component’s query is the API call and DB handles the fetching, caching, and updating, and provides different sync modes for different use cases. 

Chapter Markers:

• 0:47 - Snapchat open sources cross-platform tool Valdi
• 7:08 - GitHub Universe updates
• 15:45 - TanStack DB query-driven sync
• 19:54 - GitHub eliminates toasts
• 22:49 - Firefox has an updated mascot
• 24:09 - Vibe coding named word of the year
• 33:26 - What’s making us happy

News:

• Paige - Snapchat open sources cross-platform UI Valdi
• Jack - TanStack DB query-driven sync
• TJ - GitHub Universe recap

Lightning News:

• GitHub eliminates toasts from their designs
• Firefox has an updated mascot
• Vibe coding named word of the year

What Makes Us Happy this Week:

• Paige - Holiday light displays
• Jack - Cursor Composer
• TJ - Inflatable dragon yard decoration

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