2026 Meetings

February 2026 Meeting

The February 2026 meeting of LRUG will be on Monday the 9th of February, from 6:00pm to 8:00pm (meeting starts at 6:30pm).

This month we’re hosted by our friends at Carwow in their offices, around the corner from Buckingham Palace. Full venue and registration details are given below.

Agenda

Automating Feature Flag Cleanup with AI

Niall Mullally says:

At BBB, we use feature flags extensively in one of our Rails applications.

Removing fully rolled-out feature flags is always a chore that’s easy to ignore and eventually becomes a source of tech debt. In the talk, I’ll show how we use GitHub Actions and GitHub Copilot to automatically generate PRs that remove obsolete flags and their associated code paths.

Why you might like some Truffle with your Ruby

Lorenzo Barasti says:

An overview of TruffleRuby’s latest release and some of the perks of running on GraalVM

THE BLOB MUST DIE! – How we destroyed a 1400-line monster

Scott Matthewman says:

A lightning talk about how we are replacing an all-consuming User object with domain-specific roles, delegated types and a smattering of metaprogramming – presented with a 1950s B-movie vibe

Junior Developers need your help

David Smith says:

Raising awareness on how the junior/graduate developer market has collapsed. - not sure on this yet, will probably be more apparent as I write it.

Managing a job search efficiently

Jade Dickinson says:

How to manage a job search and interview prep

Shayk.online - anonymous chat with Sinatra and websockets

Eleanor McHugh says:

A quick peek at one of my research projects and why Sinatra is a great tool for prototyping.

Afterwards

Once all that is over, we will have plenty to talk about so we’ll head on out to a nearby pub for some food, some drinks and some chat with your fellow attendees.

Of course, even though this is the socialising part and seems more informal, please remember that still we consider it to be a part of the meeting and covered by our code of conduct.

Venue & Registration

Prior to attending you should familiarise yourself with our README paying close attention to the code of conduct which applies to all attendees.

Secure your place

Our hosts have limited space so you to be guaranteed entry you need to register for a free ticket via TicketTailor.

Venue

The address of the venue:

Carwow
2nd Floor
Verde Building
10 Bressenden Place
London
SW1E 5DH

See on a map

The venue has a hard limit of 100 people. If you register and realise you can’t come, please use let us know via TickeTailor so we can give your place to someone in your place. We might be able to let in people on the night who haven’t registered, but we can’t guarantee it.

Accessibility info for the venue

There are lift and an accessible toilet.

Posted by Alessandro Proserpio on Jan 22, 2026

January 2026 Meeting

The January 2026 meeting of LRUG will be on Monday the 12th of January, from 6:00pm to 8:00pm (meeting starts at 6:30pm).

This month we’re hosted by our friends at Opus Recruitment Solutions in their offices, on Old Jewry. Full venue and registration details are given below.

Agenda

Rails Was Off the Rails - But It’s Back!

Stephen Creedon says:

Rails lost its way during versions 4, 5, and 6 - becoming overly complex and slow as it leaned heavily into JavaScript. But the story doesn’t end there. With Rails 8.1 introducing features like Stimulus, Action Cable, and Solid Cable, the framework is returning to its roots: simplicity, speed, and developer joy.

Join us for a deep dive into why Rails has its mojo back and what this means for the future of Ruby developmen

  1. LRUG January 2026 - Stephen Creedon - Rails Was Off the Rails But It’s Back!

RSpec Craftsmanship and Refactoring with Junie

Sebastian Siemianowski says:

In this talk, Sebastian will dive into RSpec as a craft — showing how thoughtful test design can make refactoring less terrifying. You’ll see real-world examples of transforming low-signal specs into readable, behaviour-driven tests, and learn how Junie, an IDE-native AI assistant, can act as a second pair of eyes to improve naming, structure, and guarantees.

This is a practical, opinionated look at using AI to support test quality—while keeping human judgment firmly in control.

Why join?

  • Many test suites pass—and still make refactoring terrifying. Why?
  • Explore clarity, intent, and refactor safety in RSpec.
  • See how AI can enhance craftsmanship without replacing developers.

Afterwards

Once all that is over, we will have plenty to talk about so we’ll head on out to a nearby pub for some food, some drinks and some chat with your fellow attendees.

Of course, even though this is the socialising part and seems more informal, please remember that still we consider it to be a part of the meeting and covered by our code of conduct.

Venue & Registration

Prior to attending you should familiarise yourself with our README paying close attention to the code of conduct which applies to all attendees.

Secure your place

Our hosts have limited space so you to be guaranteed entry you need to register for a free ticket via TicketTailor.

Venue

The address of the venue:

Opus Recruitment Solutions
5th Floor
Becket House
36 Old Jewry
London
EC2R 8DD

See on a map

The venue has a hard limit of 80 people. If you register and realise you can’t come, please use let us know via TickeTailor so we can give your place to someone in your place. We might be able to let in people on the night who haven’t registered, but we can’t guarantee it.

Posted by Murray Steele on Dec 22, 2025