5 Nov 2026
|
Mike Boland
AWE Talks: Building for Specs
AWE USA 2026
Welcome back to AWE Talks, our series that revisits the best AWE conference sessions. With AWE USA recently concluded, there's a fresh batch of stage footage to keep us occupied for weeks.
We continue the action and insights this week with a look at Snap Specs development possibilities. Deviating from common discussions around the gadgetry, what do the device's developer tools and new agentic engine offer?
See the summarized takeaways below, along with the full session video. Stay tuned for more video highlights each week and check out the full library of conference sessions on AWE's YouTube Channel.
Speakers
Bobby Murphy: Snap Inc. Co-Founder and CTO
Anu Sharma: Mapbox VP of Product
Terek Judi: Snap Product Lead, Specs
Key Takeaways & Analysis
- The vast majority of discussion on Specs has been about the hardware, as that's what we all see.
- But equally important and interesting is the software: the OS, dev tools, and vibe coding capabilities.
- Before getting into those software elements, what's the hardware foundation they're built on?
- Specs re-engineered optical system is 35 percent more transparent to ensure natural eye contact.
- Displays feature a 30 percent larger active area packed into a design that is 40 percent lighter.
- Motion-to-photon latency has been cut nearly in half to 7 milliseconds to anchor digital content naturally.
- On to the software, Specs run on Snap OS, which shipped 10 updates with 40 features and APIs in the past 18 months.
- Meanwhile, Lens Studio 5.0 introduces a modular, high-performance engine equipped with native TypeScript support.
- This enables enterprise-grade coding and precision hands-free tracking via the Spectacles Interaction Kit.
- For interactive and connected experiences that can be enjoyed together, Snap offers a built-in multiplayer infrastructure.
- Snap Cloud, powered by Supabase, meanwhile enables efficient delivery and load balancing of graphically rich content.
- Meanwhile, the new Native Development Kit (NDK) lets developers run native C and C++ libraries locally.
- Mapbox utilized this framework to port its entire Navigation Engine to SPECS in under two hours.
- Snap has also made moves to attract developers by making it easier to port and monetize Specs experiences.
- This includes its Migration Agent, which translates Unity-based structures and configurations directly into Lens Studio.
- And Commerce Kit lets devs and creators process native in-lens payments for digital goods.
- Last but not least, Snap has launched an agentic coding tool to streamline developer workflows.
- Known as Closed Loop Agentic Development (CLAD), it's built on all of the best practices of Snap's dev community.
- Altogether, there's a lot under the hood, which should propel Specs' market penetration and user appeal.
For more context and color, watch the full session below.
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