From open source hits to OpenAI (Interview)

This week I’m talking with Max Stoiber, currently working on ChatGPT’s plugin directory and app platform at OpenAI. We discuss the hundreds of open source projects nobody remembers alongside the big ones like react-boilerplate and styled-components, how Spectrum became part of GitHub and eventually helped shape GitHub Discussions, the founder growth that came from building Stellate, the GraphQL cache that turned into a dual acquisition by Shopify and The Guild, and why ChatGPT apps feel like a new surface for software.

Join the discussion

Changelog++ members save 9 minutes on this episode because they made the ads disappear. Join today!

Sponsors:

• Coder.com – Secure environments where devs and agents work in parallel. Open by design. Secure by default.
• WorkOS – Auth for CLI with AuthKit from WorkOS — Bring secure browser-based login to your terminal apps using the OAuth Device Flow, with the same polished AuthKit experience plus SSO, MFA, and passkeys. Learn more at WorkOS.com and AuthKit.com
• Notion – Custom Agents that automate the busywork so your team can focus on real work. Try them free at notion.com/changelog
• Fly.io – The home of Changelog.com — Deploy your apps close to your users — global Anycast load-balancing, zero-configuration private networking, hardware isolation, and instant WireGuard VPN connections. Push-button deployments that scale to thousands of instances. Check out the speedrun to get started in minutes.

Featuring:

• Max Stoiber – Website, GitHub, X
• Adam Stacoviak – Website, GitHub, LinkedIn, Mastodon, X

Show Notes:

Featured

• Max Stoiber
• Max Stoiber on GitHub
• OpenAI
• ChatGPT
• Developers can now submit apps to ChatGPT
• ChatGPT Developer mode
• OpenAI Apps SDK examples
• OpenAI Apps SDK UI
• Model Context Protocol

Max’s open source and community path

• styled-components
• styled-components on GitHub
• react-boilerplate
• Max’s open source projects
• Spec.fm
• GitHub acquires Spectrum
• GitHub Discussions
• Slack
• Circle

GraphQL and Stellate

• Stellate
• Announcing Stellate, the CDN for GraphQL APIs
• GraphCDN is now Stellate and we’ve raised $30M
• The Guild acquires Stellate
• GraphQL
• GraphQL Hive
• GraphQL Yoga
• GraphiQL
• Firebase
• Vercel
• RethinkDB
• Apollo Client
• urql
• DataLoader

Shopify and storefronts

• Shopify
• Shopify Liquid reference
• Shopify themes
• Horizon: 10 new free themes by Shopify
• Horizon documentation
• Shopify Agentic Storefronts

ChatGPT apps and MCP

• Building MCP servers for ChatGPT and API integrations
• Build with the Apps SDK
• Apps in ChatGPT
• MCP Apps overview
• Zillow
• Expedia

Leadership and founder references

• COIN feedback framework
• Gatsby
• GitHub
• The Guild
• Shopify Engineering

Tools, platforms, and companies mentioned

• Node.js
• TypeScript
• Bun
• Zed
• Ghostty
• Fly.io
• DX
• Incident.io
• Clerk
• Raycast

Something missing or broken? PRs welcome!