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Show HN: Axe – A 12MB binary that replaces your AI framework

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Re: Show HN: Axe – A 12MB binary that replaces your AI framework

#31

Post by jrswab »

jedbrooke wrote: post #13

looks interesting, I agree that chat is not always the right interface for agents, and a LLM boosted cli sometimes feels like the right paradigm (especially for dev related tasks). how would you say this compares to similar tools like google’s dotprompt? https://google.github.io/dotprompt/getting-started/

I've not heard of that before but after looking into it I think they are solving different problems.

Dotprompt is a promt template that lives inside app code to standardize how we write prompts.

Axe is an execution runtime you run from the shell. There's no code to write (unless you want the LLM to run a script). You define the agent in TOML and run with `axe run and pipe data into it.

Re: Show HN: Axe – A 12MB binary that replaces your AI framework

#34

Post by jrswab »

punkpeye wrote: post #7

What are some things you've automated using Axe?

I have a few flows I'm using it for and have a growing list of things I want to automate. Basically, if there is a process that takes a human to do (like creating drafts or running scripts with variable data) I make axe do it.

1. I have a flow where I pass in a youtube video and the first agent calls an api to get the transcript, the second converts that transcript into a blog-like post, and the third uploads that blog-like post to instapaper.

2. Blog post drafting: I talk into my phone's notes app which gets synced via syncthing. The first agent takes that text and looks for notes in my note system for related information, than passes my raw text and notes into the next to draft a blog post, a third agent takes out all the em dashes because I'm tired of taking them out. Once that's all done then I read and edit it to be exactly what I want.

Re: Show HN: Axe – A 12MB binary that replaces your AI framework

#37

Post by jrswab »

hrimfaxi wrote: post #32
r_lee wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

wow, like 10 posts within 5 minutes, how great! love me some AI slop on HN @dang

Yeah ive been going and flagging everything until they're banned. Old account too.

Thank you for your service.

Re: Show HN: Axe – A 12MB binary that replaces your AI framework

#39

Post by Orchestrion »

The Unix-style framing resonates a lot.

One thing I’ve noticed when experimenting with agent pipelines is that the “single-purpose agent” model tends to make both cost control and reasoning easier. Each agent only gets the context it actually needs, which keeps prompts small and behavior easier to predict.

Where it gets interesting is when the pipeline starts producing artifacts instead of just text — reports, logs, generated files, etc. At that point the workflow starts looking less like a chat session and more like a series of composable steps producing intermediate outputs.

That’s where the Unix analogy feels particularly strong: small tools, small contexts, and explicit data flowing between steps.

Curious if you’ve experimented with workflows where agents produce artifacts (files, reports, etc.) rather than just returning text.

Re: Show HN: Axe – A 12MB binary that replaces your AI framework

#40

Post by jrswab »

TSiege wrote: post #30

This looks really interesting. I'm curious to learn more about security around this project. There's a small section, but I wonder if there's more to be aware of like prompt injection

I'm happy you brought this up. I've been thinking about this and working on a plan to make it as solid as possible. For now, the best way would be to run each agent in a docker container (there is an example Dockerfile in the repo) so any destructive actions will be contained to the container.

However, this does not help if a person gives access to something like Google Calendar and a prompt tells the LLM to be destructive against that account.

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