On the Incoming Slopocalypse and the Death(?) of Open Source

The author reflects on the evolving landscape of open-source software (OSS) in the face of the growing influence of coding agents and large language models (LLMs) over the past three years. While these technologies have democratized the ability to contribute to OSS by lowering the barriers to entry, they also challenge the traditional value of open-source projects, such as usability, knowledge sharing, community interaction, and personal skill growth. The author notes that coding agents can write simple packages, diminishing the demand for basic projects, and can lead to skill atrophy as they handle complex coding tasks. However, the author suggests that OSS can adapt by becoming more hackable, fostering community through shared knowledge and maintaining core implementations with human oversight. They emphasize the importance of restructuring OSS to accommodate agent-generated contributions while preserving the essence of community-driven development, ultimately seeing open-source as a tool for empowerment rather than an exclusive club.