20–22 October 2026 | Barcelona, Spain
A day of technical training, two days of conversations and plenty of reasons to think about where software delivery is heading: that was JFrog swampUP Europe 2026 in Barcelona for our knowmadmood team. Between our stand, the training rooms and selected keynotes, we found a mix of technical curiosity and opportunities to connect. Our schedule had room for sessions, but conversations had a habit of creating their own agenda.
Starting with the Bigger Picture and the Technical Details
Our first day began with the JFrog AI Masterclass: Governance & Security in the Agentic SDLC. The session explored how organisations can manage AI models, external model APIs and MCP servers through a central catalogue, with security checks and policies governing their use. One question stood out: do organisations actually know which AI assets their teams are using? AI assistants may be easy to introduce into a workflow; understanding what they access, download and depend on takes more work. Shadow AI detection and approved asset lists brought that challenge into focus. Even an AI assistant needs a proper onboarding process.
The afternoon’s JFrog Multi-Site Architecture for the Agentic SDLC Era brought us back to the infrastructure underneath it all. We explored high availability, federated repositories, consistent security policies, disaster recovery and distribution across restricted networks using JFrog Bridge. These topics connect directly with the practical challenges of enterprise deployments: keeping artifacts available across locations while maintaining control over how they move. Together, the sessions highlighted how closely AI governance depends on reliable infrastructure. The newest development tools still rely on the fundamentals being done well.
Our Stand, New Connections and a Few Detours into the Keynotes
During the following two days, the knowmadmood stand became our main meeting point. We spent much of our time talking with attendees, making connections and exchanging experiences. That personal exchange made the event special for us: alongside learning about the technology, we had the chance to meet people working with it and share perspectives face to face. We certainly spent more time in conversations than in auditorium seats and those conversations were a highlight in their own right.
We also caught selected keynotes, with the wider programme exploring AI-driven development, software supply chain security, governance and compliance. A particularly thought-provoking theme was what happens when AI agents start taking a more active role in producing software. Faster development makes it even more important to understand where dependencies come from, which checks have been performed and why a release can be trusted. There is excitement around what these tools make possible, but the responsibility behind delivering secure software remains serious. “The AI did it” is unlikely to make a satisfying audit trail.
What We Take Back from Barcelona
The connection between the training and the conference themes stayed with us: AI introduces new assets and workflows, while making familiar questions about trust, availability and accountability more urgent. For us, the value of swampUP was being able to explore those questions from several angles, through technical learning, selected keynotes and the conversations at our stand. We returned with new contacts, ideas to explore and useful perspectives for our work with customers.
Thank you to everyone who stopped by the knowmadmood stand, exchanged ideas or shared their expertise during the training sessions. Barcelona gave us plenty to discuss, and we look forward to continuing those conversations, this time without having to check when the next session starts.
Author: Kais Montassar (kmontassar@knowmadmood.de)
