SwiftSyntax is incredibly powerful, but it's also very challenging. The APIs are verbose, the compilation overhead is brutal, and most developers try to avoid it as much as they can.

That's why I decided to build SyntaxKit, a DSL that makes SwiftSyntax feel natural. To tackle this challenge, I used Cursor AI as my development partner.

This talk is two stories in one. First, I'll show you the technical magic behind SyntaxKit—how result builders and smart abstractions can turn SwiftSyntax from this massive verbose API into something that actually feels like Swift. You'll see exactly how to build type-safe DSLs that hide complexity without losing power.

But the other story is about coding with AI. Not the hype version where AI magically writes perfect code, but the messy reality where it's sometimes brilliant and sometimes completely wrong. I'll show you where Cursor saved me hours (avoid repetitive tasks) and where it led me down completely wrong paths (it loves outdated patterns).

AI can absolutely accelerate your work, but you need to know when to trust it and when to take the wheel. I'll give you the honest breakdown of what modern AI-assisted Swift development actually looks like.