The end of the year creates a rare kind of quiet. It is the kind that makes it easier to reflect on how you have been building, what you have been learning, and what you want to do differently next year. It is also the perfect moment to catch up on the mountain of browser tabs you’ve kept open and podcast episodes you’ve bookmarked. Speaking of podcasts, we have one! (Wow, smooth transition, Cassidy).

If you’re looking to level-up your thinking around AI, open source software sustainability, and the future of software, we have some great conversations you can take on the road with you.

This year on the GitHub Podcast, we talked with maintainers, educators, data experts, and builders across the open source ecosystem. These conversations were not just about trends or tools. They offered practical ways to think more clearly about where software is headed and how to grow alongside it. If 2026 is about building with more intention, these five episodes are a great place to start.

Understand where AI tooling is actually heading

If this year left you feeling overwhelmed by the pace of change in AI tooling, you are not alone. New models, new agents, and new workflows seemed to appear every week, often without much clarity on how they fit together or which ones would actually last.

Our Unlocking the power of MCP episode slows things down. It introduces the Model Context Protocol (MCP) as a way to make sense of that chaos, explaining how an open standard can help AI systems interact with tools in consistent and transparent ways. Rather than adding to the noise, the conversation gives you a clearer mental model for how modern AI tools are being built and why open standards matter for trust, interoperability, and long-term flexibility. Most importantly, MCP makes building better for everyone. Learn about how the standard works (and you can check out GitHub’s open sourced MCP server, too).

Ship smaller, smarter software—faster

Not every meaningful piece of software needs a pitch deck or a product roadmap. **Building tools and the future of DIY development **explores a growing shift toward personal, purpose-built tools. These are tools created to solve one specific problem well, often by the people who feel that pain most acutely. Developers and non-developers alike are really empowered these days by open source and AI tools, because they’re enabled to build faster and with less mental overhead. It is a great reminder that modern tooling and AI have lowered the barrier to turning ideas into working software, without stripping away creativity or craftsmanship. After listening to this one, you might just pick up that unused domain name and make something! 😉

Understand what keeps open source sustainable

If you were around the tech scene in 2021, you probably remember the absolute chaos that came with the Log4Shell vulnerability that was exposed in November that year. That vulnerability (and others since then) put a spotlight on the world’s dependence on underfunded open source infrastructure. But, money can’t solve all of the world’s problems, unfortunately. From Log4Shell to the Sovereign Tech Fund is a really interesting conversation about why success is not just about funding, but also community health, processes, and communication. By the end, you come away with a deeper appreciation for the invisible labor behind the tools you rely on, and a clearer sense of how individuals, companies, and governments can show up more responsibly.

Align your skills with real-world trends

2025 really has been the year of growth and change across projects. The Octoverse report analyzes the state of open source across 1.12 billion open source contributions, 518 million merged pull requests, 180 million developers… you get the idea, a lot of numbers and a lot of data. TypeScript’s Takeover, AI’s Lift-Off: Inside the 2025 Octoverse Report grounds the conversation in data from GitHub’s Octoverse report, turning billions of contributions into meaningful signals. The discussion helps connect trends like TypeScript’s rise, AI-assisted workflows, and even COBOL’s unexpected resurgence to real decisions developers face: what to learn next, where to invest time, and how to stay adaptable. Rather than predicting the future, it offers something more useful: a clearer picture of the present and how to navigate what comes next.

Understand what privacy-first software looks like in practice

As more everyday devices become connected, it is getting harder to tell where convenience ends and control begins. This episode offers a refreshing counterpoint. Recorded live at GitHub Universe 2025, the conversation with Frank “Frenck” Nijhof explores how Home Assistant has grown into one of the most active open source projects in the world by prioritizing local control, privacy, and long-term sustainability.

Listening to Privacy-First Smart Homes with Frenck from Home Assistant shifts how you think about automation and ownership. You hear how millions of households run smart homes without relying on the cloud, why the Open Home Foundation exists to fight vendor lock-in and e-waste, and how a welcoming community scaled to more than 21,000 contributors. The discussion also opens up what contribution can look like beyond writing code, showing how documentation, testing, and community support play a critical role. It is a reminder that building better technology often starts with clearer values and more inclusive ways to participate. Plus, you get to hear about the weird and wonderful ways people use Home Assistant to power their lives.

Take this with you

As we look toward 2026, these episodes share a common thread. They encourage building with clarity, curiosity, and care for your tools, your community, and yourself. Whether you are listening while traveling, winding down for the year, or planning what you want to focus on next, we hope these conversations help you start the year feeling more grounded and inspired.

And if you speed through these episodes, don’t worry; we have so many more fantastic episodes from this season. You can listen to every episode of the GitHub Podcast wherever you get your podcasts, or watch them on YouTube. We are excited to see what you build in 2026.

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Written by

Cassidy is senior director for developer advocacy here at GitHub. She enjoys building software, advising startups, and teaching developers how to build better. She has a weekly newsletter at cassidoo.co/newsletter where you can get her updates, practice coding problems, and a joke in your inbox!