7 ms·

Show HN: Modo – I built an open-source alternative to Kiro, Cursor, and Windsurf

103 points by mohshomis 6mo ago

esafak 6mo ago
What did you learn?
- mohshomis 6mo ago
  a lot, most important is there is still to much to be added to the space of agentic coding
0gs 6mo ago
[dead]
darshil2023 6mo ago
[dead]
kelsolaar 6mo ago
Modo was a DCC software: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modo_(software) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modo_(software)
- VerifiedReports 6mo ago
  [flagged]
  - VerifiedReports 6mo ago
    See?
    - AlexeyBelov 6mo ago
      Their comment is literally #1 in this comment section. Please don't complain about downvotes, especially someone elses.
      - VerifiedReports 6mo ago
        "Literally" #1? As opposed to what? And why not?
- Duplicake 6mo ago
  wow that's a really nice looking icon
  - kelsolaar 6mo ago
    Modo was also really good, ahead of its time in many respects. Excellent UX, the material system was quite good, especially for rapid prototyping.
jv22222 6mo ago
How does modo help vs using a skill or claud.md that says to always do this? Not a critique just giving you a chance to sell it :)
- moropex 6mo ago
  yeah this is my question too. a good CLAUDE.md with some structure goes a long way already
simple10 6mo ago
Really cool. I've been building a mission control system (multi agent orchestration) that follows very similar patterns of spec driven development, steering, and task management. Having this baked into an IDE is a great idea. For observability, would be amazing to have session replay or at least session exploration built in. Kinda like git history but tied to tasks and tool use instead of file diffs.
xjtumj 6mo ago
[flagged]
gbro3n 6mo ago
This looks great. Building right into the editor looks like a solid way to go. I built "Agent Kanban" (anextension) for VS Code to enforce a similar "plan, tasks, implement" flow as you describe. That flow is really powerful for getting solid Agentic coding results. My tool went the route of encouraging the model via augmenting AGENTS.md and having the Kanban task file be markdown that the user and agent converse in (with some support for git worktrees which helps when running multiple sessions in parallel): https://www.appsoftware.com/blog/introducing-vs-code-agent-kanban-task-management-for-the-ai-assisted-developer https://www.appsoftware.com/blog/introducing-vs-code-agent-k...
- savolai 6mo ago
  I just posted something similar but with Obsidian Kanban plugin .md files: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47659511 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47659511
VerifiedReports 6mo ago
[flagged]
- moondowner 6mo ago
  was * https://www.foundry.com/news-and-awards/foundry-winds-down-modo-development https://www.foundry.com/news-and-awards/foundry-winds-down-m...
  - VerifiedReports 6mo ago
    for almost 20 years.
jeremie_strand 6mo ago
[dead]
digitaltrees 6mo ago
I have settled on the same approach as you except I have the agent create a roadmap.md in an /agile folder with numbered epics containing sprints, user stories and other context.
seifbenayed1992 6mo ago
[dead]
lightbulbish 6mo ago
A visual demo beyond entering an api key would be useful. A picture says a thousand words. I did not feel inclined to read all of the readme, but when i saw people here talking about mission control I went back one more time.
- lnenad 6mo ago
  Do you feel like you need a demo for yet another VSC vibecoded clone?
cfontes 6mo ago
Can subagents work on multiple branchs at the sametime (in a sandbox or some other way)? This is a major pain atm with any IDE, they all fight over the same git cmd instance and make a mess out of it. I have a custom setup for this but would like some more integrated way of solving this.
- xkbear89 6mo ago
  [flagged]
- ElFitz 6mo ago
  Should be doable with worktrees. Claude Code has a flag for that, others probably do too.
  - chrisweekly 6mo ago
    Yes, this; git worktree is a pretty standard solution, straightforward to leverage in any IDE or AI harness worth its salt.
- chappyasel 6mo ago
  [dead]
- mohshomis 6mo ago
  that can be definitely implemented, I've also similar idea in another repo in my GitHub called ckpt you can check if you are interested but definitely that's sth that can be added ofc
crefiz 6mo ago
Why? Like legit question, did you do it for the academy or are you genuinely trying to add yet another (agentic) IDE into the market?
- hahooh 6mo ago
  maybe for fun?
  - mohshomis 6mo ago
    for fun :)
neurworlds 6mo ago
curious how Modo handles multi-file edits across a monorepo, that's where most tools fall apart for me
- mohshomis 6mo ago
  really didn't work yet on that but might do if I get more time. there are a lot of ideas to be implemented
zhichuanxun 6mo ago
[dead]
rpdaiml 6mo ago
[dead]
zephyrwhimsy 6mo ago
[flagged]
agdexai 6mo ago
[dead]
Sriraman_K 6mo ago
Interesting approach building this into the editor directly. In my trials, I've noticed testing AI coding agents on real startup tasks - I stress tested an AI Co-Founder : the biggest failure mode isn't code quality — it's sycophancy. The agent agrees with your wrong assumptions instead of pushing back. Any plan to build guardrails against that into Modo's "plan, tasks, implement" flow? Seems like the planning stage would be the right place to catch it.

103 points by mohshomis 6mo ago

esafak 6mo ago

What did you learn?

mohshomis 6mo ago
a lot, most important is there is still to much to be added to the space of agentic coding

0gs 6mo ago

[dead]

darshil2023 6mo ago

[dead]

kelsolaar 6mo ago

Modo was a DCC software: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modo_(software) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modo_(software)

VerifiedReports 6mo ago
[flagged]
- VerifiedReports 6mo ago
  See?
  - AlexeyBelov 6mo ago
    Their comment is literally #1 in this comment section. Please don't complain about downvotes, especially someone elses.
    - VerifiedReports 6mo ago
      "Literally" #1? As opposed to what? And why not?
Duplicake 6mo ago
wow that's a really nice looking icon
- kelsolaar 6mo ago
  Modo was also really good, ahead of its time in many respects. Excellent UX, the material system was quite good, especially for rapid prototyping.

jv22222 6mo ago

How does modo help vs using a skill or claud.md that says to always do this? Not a critique just giving you a chance to sell it :)

moropex 6mo ago
yeah this is my question too. a good CLAUDE.md with some structure goes a long way already

simple10 6mo ago

Really cool. I've been building a mission control system (multi agent orchestration) that follows very similar patterns of spec driven development, steering, and task management. Having this baked into an IDE is a great idea. For observability, would be amazing to have session replay or at least session exploration built in. Kinda like git history but tied to tasks and tool use instead of file diffs.

xjtumj 6mo ago

[flagged]

gbro3n 6mo ago

This looks great. Building right into the editor looks like a solid way to go. I built "Agent Kanban" (anextension) for VS Code to enforce a similar "plan, tasks, implement" flow as you describe. That flow is really powerful for getting solid Agentic coding results. My tool went the route of encouraging the model via augmenting AGENTS.md and having the Kanban task file be markdown that the user and agent converse in (with some support for git worktrees which helps when running multiple sessions in parallel): https://www.appsoftware.com/blog/introducing-vs-code-agent-kanban-task-management-for-the-ai-assisted-developer https://www.appsoftware.com/blog/introducing-vs-code-agent-k...

savolai 6mo ago
I just posted something similar but with Obsidian Kanban plugin .md files: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47659511 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47659511

VerifiedReports 6mo ago

[flagged]

moondowner 6mo ago
was * https://www.foundry.com/news-and-awards/foundry-winds-down-modo-development https://www.foundry.com/news-and-awards/foundry-winds-down-m...
- VerifiedReports 6mo ago
  for almost 20 years.

jeremie_strand 6mo ago

[dead]

digitaltrees 6mo ago

I have settled on the same approach as you except I have the agent create a roadmap.md in an /agile folder with numbered epics containing sprints, user stories and other context.

seifbenayed1992 6mo ago

[dead]

lightbulbish 6mo ago

A visual demo beyond entering an api key would be useful. A picture says a thousand words. I did not feel inclined to read all of the readme, but when i saw people here talking about mission control I went back one more time.

lnenad 6mo ago
Do you feel like you need a demo for yet another VSC vibecoded clone?

cfontes 6mo ago

Can subagents work on multiple branchs at the sametime (in a sandbox or some other way)? This is a major pain atm with any IDE, they all fight over the same git cmd instance and make a mess out of it. I have a custom setup for this but would like some more integrated way of solving this.

xkbear89 6mo ago
[flagged]
ElFitz 6mo ago
Should be doable with worktrees. Claude Code has a flag for that, others probably do too.
- chrisweekly 6mo ago
  Yes, this; git worktree is a pretty standard solution, straightforward to leverage in any IDE or AI harness worth its salt.
chappyasel 6mo ago
[dead]
mohshomis 6mo ago
that can be definitely implemented, I've also similar idea in another repo in my GitHub called ckpt you can check if you are interested but definitely that's sth that can be added ofc

crefiz 6mo ago

Why? Like legit question, did you do it for the academy or are you genuinely trying to add yet another (agentic) IDE into the market?

hahooh 6mo ago
maybe for fun?
- mohshomis 6mo ago
  for fun :)

neurworlds 6mo ago

curious how Modo handles multi-file edits across a monorepo, that's where most tools fall apart for me

mohshomis 6mo ago
really didn't work yet on that but might do if I get more time. there are a lot of ideas to be implemented

zhichuanxun 6mo ago

[dead]

rpdaiml 6mo ago

[dead]

zephyrwhimsy 6mo ago

[flagged]

agdexai 6mo ago

[dead]

Sriraman_K 6mo ago

Interesting approach building this into the editor directly. In my trials, I've noticed testing AI coding agents on real startup tasks - I stress tested an AI Co-Founder : the biggest failure mode isn't code quality — it's sycophancy. The agent agrees with your wrong assumptions instead of pushing back. Any plan to build guardrails against that into Modo's "plan, tasks, implement" flow? Seems like the planning stage would be the right place to catch it.