npmx.dev, Chrome 145 Devtools, and K'nipping Yaks | News | Ep 56

News for the week of Feb 16, 2026: npmx.dev is a better frontend for npm, Chrome 145 includes some cool new toys, and we figure out that Knip is pronounced with a hard-K. From the community: fun with generics, Next.js adds an MCP server, and why OSS maintainers need to breaks (as should we all).

Chapters

• (00:00) - Welcome to the Show
• (07:10) - News: We Made Our First Video Podcast Episode
• (09:02) - News: TS Native Gets Remote AST Speed-up of 6.4X
• (09:59) - News: npmx.dev is a New Frontend for npm Registry
• (14:13) - News: Chrome 145 Brings Some Cool New Devtools
• (18:41) - News: Safari 26.4 Looks to Improve CSS Grid Support
• (19:35) - Library Watch: Knip 5.85.0 Cleans Up Codebase Cruft
• (22:30) - Library Watch: @wasmground/emit Builds WASM with TS
• (23:58) - Library Watch: Tempest Generates Types from PHP
• (25:33) - Library Watch: runner 5.5.0, an All-in-one TS Framework
• (28:02) - Community Highlight: Build a Game Series by Deno
• (30:02) - Community Highlight: Next.js MCP Server
• (33:29) - Community Highlight: What is TC39 by Shop Talk Show
• (34:32) - Community Highlight: Open Source Developers Need to Take Breaks
• (38:16) - Community Highlight: Fun with TS Generics by Adam Rackis
• (39:38) - Bleet of the Week
• (39:59) - Cool Link: 400 Car Batteries Wired Together
• (40:39) - Cool Link: FragCoord.xyz is a ShaderToy Alternative
• (41:37) - Cool Link: Recreating a BBC Micro Game in TypeScript
• (43:19) - Cool Link: YootTower, Open Source Code for SimTower
• (44:33) - The Minnesota Long Goodbye

• Homepage and Docs: https://excaliburjs.com
• Make Your First Game in 10 Minutes
• Join the Discord: https://discord.gg/9UemP985Uy

News

• Watch our TS 6.0 “Read Along” Vodcast!
• TS native preview got a 6.4X perf increase for “remote” AST materialization
• npmx.dev is not a package manager
• Chrome: What's new in DevTools (Chrome 145)
• Safari: 26.4 beta improves CSS grid support

Library Watch

• Knip includes monorepo memory optimizations
• @wasmgroundup/emit lets you build WASM with TypeScript for better learning
• Tempest can generate types from PHP files
• runner shaved the yak until it got bald  

From the Community

• Deno: https://deno.com/blog/build-a-game-with-deno-6 
• Next.js: Building Next.js for an agentic future 
• Shop Talk Show: TC39 and how it works (via Rob Palmer) 
• The Register: OSS Maintainers take a break (via Daniel Roe) 
• Frontend Masters: Fun with TypeScript Generics

Cool Links

• Cool Watch: 400 car batteries wired together!! 
• Cool Tool: FragCoord is a ShaderToy alternative
• Cool Game: TypeScript version of BBC Micro game
• Cool Code: YootTower is the OG SimTower source code

Music
Seahorse Dreams by Kubbi (Spotify)