Whiteboard (YC W26)
Dev tools
code review and design canvas
SHOW HN2026
How HN took it
24 positive, 36 neutral or asking, 3 mixed, 20 critical, out of 83 comments about the project. Thread score +0.06.
Idea: 12 for, 10 againstDesign: 4 for, 5 againstExecution: 2 for, 2 againstPrivacy: 2 for, 2 againstPerformance: 0 for, 1 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Semantic pseudocode diffs and diagram-to-code linking are a good idea.
From 2 comments
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…
bbor on HNOkay great timing because I was having the exact same idea, but mine was just a skill that was building a website with the flow mapped out and the relevant code, which seems that…
syl5x on HN
Objections
Called an IDE but cannot edit files.
From 3 comments
``` You cannot currently edit files in Whiteboard. If this is something that you find yourself wanting to do, please file an issue! ``` Do you still consider this an IDE? Curious
icar on HN"Known limitations You cannot currently edit files in Whiteboard. If this is something that you find yourself wanting to do, please file an issue!" Seems like a big limitation…
cjmcqueen on HNInteresting idea for sure. But as a software engineer, I’m struggling to map out what this would replace today. I use Cursor pretty heavily, but it’s not entirely clear what…
nmekala35 on HN
Electron app is large and heavy.
From 2 comments
So it's an electron app but you don't support editing or even viewing on the web? And no windows client?
fireant on HNyes, totally, this is a legitimate concern and i hate this too as a dev. we made the choice to build on top of vscode for the mvp so that the code navigation experience would be…
sidharthkmenon on HN
Diagrams may drift from code over time.
From 2 comments
I can see the value of having the agent and the human looking at the same design. The thing I'd worry about is the diagram becoming another thing that slowly diverges from the…
vladzoff on HNI think the issue with this type of product is it creates an N+1 source of truth for teams alongside their other tools. Inherently, this will get out of date as a project…
asdev on HN
Requests
Windows support.
From 2 comments
Echoing the wish for a Windows version. This is the first piece of software I've attempted to download in my ~2 years on this site. 90% of the software engineers I know are on…
gusmally on HNPlans for Windows version?
woggy on HN
Linux support.
From 1 comment
Looks cool :-)Linux wen plz so I can play with it?
igorkraw on HN
GitHub PR linking and commenting.
From 1 comment
make it possible to link to and comment on github PRs - this would be a sweet reviewing tool
anymoonus on HN
Questions
How does it make money?
From 1 comment
Looks interesting! Side question: how do you plan to make money out of it?
frabia on HN
Does it upload repository data to a server?
From 1 comment
Codex warns me - "Whiteboard requires uploading/exposing repository data to its authoring server". Is this expected? I had a different take on "local" and "works as a plugin with…
satwikhebbar on HN
Alternatives named
VSCode and Cursor
From 1 comment
Interesting idea for sure. But as a software engineer, I’m struggling to map out what this would replace today. I use Cursor pretty heavily, but it’s not entirely clear what…
nmekala35 on HN
Mermaid diagrams
From 1 comment
This is definitely getting at least some things right about how we work with agents today, specifically that we often work at the architecture level, and we need a better…
2001zhaozhao on HN
LikeC4 and Erode
From 1 comment
How do you compare to https://likec4.dev/ and https://erode.dev/ , which are currently fully open-source and community driven? C4 gives the text-based representation needed for…
solatic on HN