10 technical talks I’m excited about at GitHub Universe 2026
GitHub Universe 2026 will feature technical talks on AI code verification, dependency security, and software reliability under limited connectivity, with sessions led by GitHub and external experts.
GitHub’s Karen Li and Leo Balter will examine the lifecycle of npm packages, focusing on security gaps that tools like npm audit may miss and the role of package provenance and OpenID Connect in mitigating risks. The session aims to clarify how dependencies are published, protected, and audited in real-world workflows, offering practical insights for developers managing supply chain vulnerabilities.
Researchers Cooper Nederhood and Alejandro Carderera from GitHub will present findings on how accumulated context in AI agents can degrade performance, based on benchmarks derived from real pull requests. Their work highlights the importance of selective context management in agent memory systems, with implications for optimizing AI-assisted development workflows.
Christopher Harrison from GitHub will discuss strategies for scaling team-specific context in AI tools, addressing the challenge of distributing consistent instructions across growing development setups. The session will explore how to maintain clarity and control when transitioning from individual to collaborative agent workflows.
Nick Taylor from Pomerium will demonstrate an identity-aware proxy designed to enforce granular permissions for hosted MCP servers without altering upstream code. The session will test the practical enforcement of access rules, such as preventing merges via pull requests, in real-world agent interactions.