The March 2026 meeting of LRUG will be on Monday the 9th of
March, from 6:00pm to 8:00pm (meeting starts at 6:30pm).
This month we’re hosted by our friends at Intercom
in their offices, on Old St. Full venue and
registration details are given below.
Agenda #
Food & Drink #
Our lovely hosts are providing some food and drink during the meeting.
Andy Walker says:
In this talk I’ll compare today’s AI moment to past tech S-curves, and argue it’s not only a toolset change that’s required (learning to code agentically) but a deeper change in how we work.
I’ll cover the mindset and capability shifts this demands: outcome ownership, faster feedback loops, more autonomy. I’ll cover what engineers can do to meet the moment.
I’ll also share how this is changing the way I think about hiring and scaling teams: what signals matter now, and how we’re adapting interview loops to find people who thrive in an agentic world
RAG on Rails #
Neil Cameron says:
A brief guide to building out a retrieval augmented generation system on Rails.
We’ll cover some of the basic (chunking, embeddings) and some not so basic things (why bother re-ranking). You’ll come away with an understanding of the different moving parts of a RAG system and some tactical recommendations of gems and services to use.
Afterwards #
When the talks come to an end we’ll move 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.
We’ll email you on the day of the event with a link to get a QR code to checkin when you arrive
Venue #
The address of the venue:
Intercom
9th Floor
The Warehouse
211 Old St
London
EC1V 9NR
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 Frederick Cheung on Feb 15, 2026
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.
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LRUG February 2026 - Niall Mullally - Automating Feaure Flag Cleanup with AI
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
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LRUG February 2026 - Lorenzo Barasti - Why you might like some Truffle with your Ruby
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
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LRUG February 2026 - Scott Matthewman - THE BLOB MUST DIE! - How we destroyed a 1400-line monster
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.
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LRUG February 2026 - David Smith - Junior Developeres need your help
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.
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LRUG February 2026 - Eleanor McHugh - Shayk.online - anonymous chat with Sinatra and websockets
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Slideshare - Shayk.online - anonymous chat with Sinatra and websockets
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
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
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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
