Merge Conflict

Latest Episodes:

507: iCircuit UI Roast: Toolbar, Popovers, and Polish Mar 23, 2026

Show notes

In Episode 507 James grills Frank about UI choices in his iCircuit app—crowded toolbars, popover behavior on iPhone vs iPad, and flaky TestFlight/App Store review timing. They trace a nasty bug to Apple’s deprecated OpenURL behavior in iOS 26, debate in-app browsers vs Safari and multi-window docs, and remind developers that subtle platform changes and lack of polish can silently break UX—practical lessons for shipping mobile apps.

Frank: Twitter, Blog, GitHub
James: Twitter, Blog, GitHub
Merge Conflict: Twitter, Facebook, Website, Chat on Discord
Music : Amethyst Seer - Citrine by Adventureface

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Machine transcription available on http://mergeconflict.fm

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506: We have no skills Mar 16, 2026

Show notes

James and Frank unpack the exploding world of AI coding agents—covering instructions, MCP tools, custom agents, hooks, plugins and why “skills” matter. They walk through the new .NET Skills repo (P/Invoke, MSBuild, diagnostics, binlogs), show how skills act like practical, on‑demand tutorials for niche tasks, and sketch how tooling will soon auto-load the right skills so agents can just do the thing for you.

Frank: Twitter, Blog, GitHub
James: Twitter, Blog, GitHub
Merge Conflict: Twitter, Facebook, Website, Chat on Discord
Music : Amethyst Seer - Citrine by Adventureface

⭐⭐ Review Us ⭐⭐

Machine transcription available on http://mergeconflict.fm

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505: 8GB of RAM Isn't Good Enough #MacBookNeo Mar 09, 2026

Show notes

On this episode we wade through Apple’s drip‑fed “event week,” from the budget iPhone 17E to the new MacBook Neo/Air M5 and the pricey Studio Display, and argue who each device is really for. The big takeaway: 8GB of RAM is borderline unusable for modern web and dev workflows—buy up if you can—while the Air M5 looks like the sweet spot; plus a fun detour on using Copilot/Fleet to scaffold apps in minutes.

Frank: Twitter, Blog, GitHub
James: Twitter, Blog, GitHub
Merge Conflict: Twitter, Facebook, Website, Chat on Discord
Music : Amethyst Seer - Citrine by Adventureface

⭐⭐ Review Us ⭐⭐

Machine transcription available on http://mergeconflict.fm

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504: 15 Years of iCircuit Mar 02, 2026

Show notes

Frank Kruger celebrates iCircuit’s 15‑year journey—from an iPad‑era $20 launch and surprising overnight success to the present—unpacking the tradeoffs between maintaining a flagship app and chasing new side projects. He offers candid lessons on pricing, backporting legacy fixes, modernizing pipelines, and explains how AI agents have reshaped his workflow and will power the next wave of iCircuit features.

Frank: Twitter, Blog, GitHub
James: Twitter, Blog, GitHub
Merge Conflict: Twitter, Facebook, Website, Chat on Discord
Music : Amethyst Seer - Citrine by Adventureface

⭐⭐ Review Us ⭐⭐

Machine transcription available on http://mergeconflict.fm

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503: Welcome to Tiny Tool Town Feb 23, 2026

Show notes

On this episode we dive into Tiny Tool Town — a GeoCities‑style app hub for tiny developer utilities — and James walks us through building Tiny Clips, a Mac toolbar screen‑capture app he prototyped and shipped using Copilot, agentic workflows, and a plan‑implement‑review cycle. Expect practical takeaways on multi‑model AI pipelines (planning with 5.2, coding with Codex/Opus), CI/publishing tips, sandboxing/TestFlight pitfalls, and why tiny apps are booming.

Frank: Twitter, Blog, GitHub
James: Twitter, Blog, GitHub
Merge Conflict: Twitter, Facebook, Website, Chat on Discord
Music : Amethyst Seer - Citrine by Adventureface

⭐⭐ Review Us ⭐⭐

Machine transcription available on http://mergeconflict.fm

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502: Rectified Flow Revolution - AI Image Generation Gets Smarter Feb 16, 2026

Show notes

Discover the machine learning breakthrough changing everything: rectified flow. Frank breaks down how this revolutionary technique replaces 1,000-step diffusion with just 10, delivering faster and higher-quality image and video generation. Learn why major players are adopting it and how it's democratizing AI for everyday creators.

Frank: Twitter, Blog, GitHub
James: Twitter, Blog, GitHub
Merge Conflict: Twitter, Facebook, Website, Chat on Discord
Music : Amethyst Seer - Citrine by Adventureface

⭐⭐ Review Us ⭐⭐

Machine transcription available on http://mergeconflict.fm

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501: Autopilot, Fleets, and Parallel Agents Explained Feb 09, 2026

Show notes

In this episode James and Frank walk through the latest Copilot CLI power-ups—Autopilot loops, experimental Fleet/parallel agents, and Opus model/context updates—while demoing how they used plan mode to spin up a full MAUI pet‑insulin app end-to-end. Learn what Autopilot and Fleet actually do, how parallel agents orchestrate work, plus practical tips (watch your context window, use plan mode) for turning AI agents into fast prototypes.

Frank: Twitter, Blog, GitHub
James: Twitter, Blog, GitHub
Merge Conflict: Twitter, Facebook, Website, Chat on Discord
Music : Amethyst Seer - Citrine by Adventureface

⭐⭐ Review Us ⭐⭐

Machine transcription available on http://mergeconflict.fm

Support Merge Conflict

500: How Frank Builds Apps Has Changed Forever Feb 02, 2026

Show notes

On our 500th episode James and Frank celebrate the milestone, reminisce about their mobile‑dev roots, and dig into how AI, the Copilot CLI/SDK and the Model Context Protocol (MCP) are reshaping workflows. Frank demos an MCP‑powered tool that turns app reviews into prioritized GitHub issues and automations — a real example of AI-as-glue — with practical takeaways on prompt engineering, UI extensions, and when to automate versus curate manually.

Frank: Twitter, Blog, GitHub
James: Twitter, Blog, GitHub
Merge Conflict: Twitter, Facebook, Website, Chat on Discord
Music : Amethyst Seer - Citrine by Adventureface

⭐⭐ Review Us ⭐⭐

Machine transcription available on http://mergeconflict.fm

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App Review Fetch

499: Going Full Ralph, CLI, & GitHub Copilot SDK?!?! Jan 26, 2026

Show notes

In episode 499 James and Frank dive into the messy, exciting world of coding agents — from burning through Copilot credits and avoiding merge conflicts to practical workflows for letting agents run tasks while you sleep. They share real tips: break big features into bite-sized tasks, have agents ask clarifying questions, and use Copilot CLI or the new SDK to resolve conflicts, auto-fix lint/build failures, and automate mundane repo work.

The conversation then maps the evolution from simple completions to autonomous loops like Ralph — a structured, repeatable process that generates subtasks, runs until acceptance tests pass, and updates your workflow. If you’re curious how agents, MCPs and SDKs can elevate your dev flow or spark new automations, this episode gives pragmatic examples, trade-offs, and inspiration to start experimenting today.

Frank: Twitter, Blog, GitHub
James: Twitter, Blog, GitHub
Merge Conflict: Twitter, Facebook, Website, Chat on Discord
Music : Amethyst Seer - Citrine by Adventureface

⭐⭐ Review Us ⭐⭐

Machine transcription available on http://mergeconflict.fm

Support Merge Conflict

Links:

498: CI/CD fro Mac Apps: GitHub Actions to Notarize Jan 19, 2026

Show notes

This episode opens with mic and Nintendo banter before plunging into macOS release pain points: sandboxing, hardened runtime, notarization, Sparkle auto‑updates, and automating releases with GitHub Actions and tags. James and Frank offer practical tips—drag builds into /Applications to test signing—and unpack .NET 10 trimming/reflection pitfalls and CI/CD quirks for anyone shipping native apps outside the App Store.