Sam: You know the team that built Atom, the editor Microsoft bought and then killed? Well, they just open-sourced its spiritual successor.
Kai: And it is fast. I'm Kai.
Sam: We'll see about that. I'm Sam.
Kai: And this is Trending Repos for Monday, November 9th, 2026, where we dig into the most interesting projects in open-source and dev tools.
Kai: The original Atom creators are back. They've built a new code editor in Rust called Zed, and they're promising insane performance.
Sam: Cloudflare thinks your coding agent needs a new skill: automated security audits. I have... thoughts.
Kai: And Meta just open-sourced a new design system, Astryx, which they're calling 'agent-ready.'
Kai: Okay, let's dive into Zed. On GitHub, it's zed-industries/zed. This is a high-performance, multiplayer code editor from the folks who brought us Atom and Tree-sitter. I am so hyped for this.
Sam: This feels like déjà vu, Kai. We all loved Atom, then Microsoft swallowed it and gave us VS Code. Why should we believe this time is any different?
Kai: Because they learned! This is not an Electron app. It's built from scratch in Rust, with a custom, GPU-accelerated UI. We're talking sub-100-millisecond startup and keystroke latency that blows everything else away.
Sam: Okay, 'written in Rust' is the new 'gluten-free'—it doesn't automatically mean it's good. What about the actual features? Can it compete with the ecosystem VS Code spent a decade building?
Kai: Not yet, that's the whole point! It just hit open source. But it already has themes, keymaps from other editors, and built-in diagnostics. And Sam, the killer feature: multiplayer collaboration is baked in, not some janky plugin.
Sam: A Google Doc for code. I feel like I've heard that before. It's incredibly hard to pull off without adding lag, which would kinda kill your whole 'high-performance' thing.
Kai: They're using CRDTs, so it's all peer-to-peer and conflict-free. It's legit, Sam. I've been using it all morning and it just feels... crisp. Noticeably faster than anything else.
Sam: Okay, fine. What's the business model? Are they just going to get acquired again? Is this whole thing a play to sell a commercial version down the line?
Kai: They have a 'Channels' service for businesses, which seems fair. The core editor is MIT/Apache 2.0. Hey, they've gotta keep the lights on.
Sam: So what's the verdict? Should I be uninstalling VS Code right now?
Kai: Not today, no. But you should absolutely be watching it. If you care about speed and you've been wanting a modern, non-Electron editor, Zed is the most exciting thing I've seen in years. This time, I think it's the real deal.
Sam: Alright, next up: Cloudflare is jumping on the AI agent train. The repo is `cloudflare/security-audit-skill`, and the pitch is a 'skill' for your coding agent that runs security audits and gives you 'independently verified, machine-readable findings.'
Kai: That sounds amazing! You just plug this into an agent, point it at a repo, and it... finds security holes for you?
Sam: That's the marketing copy. Let's be real, Kai. This is probably a very smart static analysis tool wrapped up in a fancy 'agent skill' prompt. It's a linter on steroids.
Kai: But it's from Cloudflare! They practically are the internet; they know security. The README mentions a multi-phase audit, so it's not just running one command and calling it a day.
Sam: Multi-phase could mean 'phase one: run grep. Phase two: format as JSON.' The devil's always in the details. A real security audit needs context. It needs to understand business logic. Can this AI tell the difference between a user ID on an internal admin dashboard versus one exposed on a public API? I seriously doubt it.
Kai: Fair, but even if it just automates finding the OWASP Top 10, that's a huge win for most teams! It frees up human experts to focus on that complex, contextual stuff you're talking about.
Sam: Or it creates a false sense of security. A team runs this, gets a green checkmark, and assumes they're bulletproof. That's what worries me. These tools only know what they've been trained on.
Kai: But the output is in SARIF format. That's huge. You can pipe that right into GitHub's security dashboard or your CI/CD pipeline. It's built for automation.
Sam: And that's the useful part. So for developers listening, don't think of this as an AI pen-tester. Think of it as a super-powered security linter for your CI pipeline. It's a safety net, not a replacement for your security team.
Kai: And definitely don't tell your boss it replaces the security team.
Sam: Definitely not. [laughs]
Kai: Alright, our last one for today is `meta/astryx`. Meta just open-sourced a new design system that they claim is, get this, 'fully customizable and agent-ready.'
Sam: 'Agent-ready'... what does that even mean? Is the AI gonna start arguing with me about button placement?
Kai: [laughs] Maybe! The idea is that the components are so well-defined that an AI agent can reliably use them to build UIs. So you could prompt, 'Build a user settings page with a profile uploader and a form for name and email,' and it just spits out the React code using Astryx components.
Sam: Okay, that's a compelling vision. But Meta has a… let's say checkered history with open-source longevity. Is this the next React, or the next Parse?
Kai: I think it's more like their component libraries... like... well, Material-UI is Google. Anyway, it feels like their internal tooling, but for everyone. It's a design system first, but with these AI hooks built in. And you can customize everything with CSS variables, so you're not stuck with the Facebook look.
Sam: So it's a component library with a strong opinion on how AI should build UIs. I'm just wary of tying myself to one company's vision of an 'agentic' future that might never happen.
Kai: But someone has to build the building blocks for that future! Why not Meta? They have the resources to really tackle it.
Sam: And the resources to pull the plug when it doesn't serve their bottom line anymore. So, what's the advice for a frontend dev listening right now?
Kai: If you're already playing with generative UI or building anything with agents, you have to check out Astryx. It could be the foundation you've been looking for.
Sam: And if you're not? It's just another component library for now. Keep an eye on it, but don't rewrite your app tomorrow. That whole 'agent-ready' thing is still more promise than reality.
Kai: Alright, let's do a quick recap.
Sam: Zed is a new, Rust-based code editor from the original Atom team, promising a fresh start and incredible speed.
Kai: Cloudflare dropped an 'agent skill' for security analysis. Think of it as a super-linter for your CI pipeline.
Sam: And Meta's Astryx is a new design system that wants to be the building blocks for AI-generated UIs.
Kai: Sam, before we go, a little piece of computing history for you. Today is Admiral Grace Hopper's birthday.
Sam: The inventor of the first compiler! She's the one who taught computers to understand words, not just ones and zeros. Without her, there'd be no Rust for you to get so excited about, Kai.
Kai: [laughs] A very good point. A true pioneer. She was the original builder.
Kai: And that's our show! Thanks for listening to Trending Repos. We'll be back tomorrow with three more projects.
Sam: And maybe by then, you'll have actually found a bug in Zed. See you then.
This show is made with AI: the hosts’ voices are synthetic and the scripts are AI-assisted. Every story links to its original source.