Show HN: Whiteboard (YC W26) – An open-source IDE for thoughtful software design
Whiteboard is an open-source desktop canvas that lets humans and coding agents architect software together and visualize changes.
summary is enough The summary covers the core features well, though developers building agent workflows may want to explore the repository directly.
summary
Whiteboard is a new open-source desktop application designed for humans and AI agents to collaborate on software architecture and code reviews. Built by forking Code-OSS, it features an AST-aware semantic diff viewer in Rust and allows coding agents to draw diagrams directly onto an in-app canvas. Although currently limited to reviewing rather than editing files, the project aims to reduce the cognitive load of managing agent-generated code.
key points
- Built on a vendored fork of Code-OSS to provide standard keybindings and LSP support for code navigation.
- Includes a semantic, AST-aware diff viewer written in Rust that collapses documentation changes and summarizes large additions.
- Provides an SDK allowing coding agents like Claude Code or Codex to draw and update diagrams on a shared workspace canvas.
who should read it
Software engineers and developers working with AI coding agents who need better visualization tools for code reviews.
discussion positive
consensus
Commenters generally praise the visual approach to agent code reviews and the semantic diff viewer, noting it solves a real cognitive load problem.
pushback
Several users strongly questioned calling the tool an IDE since it lacks file-editing capabilities, which prompted the author to clarify and adjust the terminology.
Oh WOW, cool to see a technique that'll be everywhere in 12 months (the fake pen drawing animations + streaming diagrams as they're produced) first be announced. Do we still do "First!" comments, y'all?
~~[EDIT: you need to put "only for macOS" in way more prominent places, all over -- that offends my soul greatly and may Linus frown upon you all]~~ [EDIT2: I was mistaken!]
This all looks really solid. That said, two remarks:
1. The integration with OS LSPs is quite fun and commendable. Is it possible that the diagrams might get their own LSP, someday? Or is better just staying as direct …
It constructively critiques the naming convention while highlighting standout features like the semantic diff and drawing animations.
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