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Launch HN: Onyx (YC W24) – Open-source chat UI

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Re: Launch HN: Onyx (YC W24) – Open-source chat UI

#91

Post by _pdp_ »

martypitt wrote: post #50
_pdp_ wrote: post #21

> We’re building an open-source chat that works As long as you have Pricing on your website your product is not open source in the true spirit of open sourceness. It is open code for sure but it is a business and so incentive is to run it like a business which will conflate with how the project is used by the community. Btw, there is nothing wrong with that but let's be honest here if you get this funded (perhaps it…

> As long as you have Pricing on your website your product is not open source in the true spirit of open sourceness. It's an MIT license. That IS open source. If they have a commercial strategy - that's a GoodThing. It means they have a viable strategy for staying in business, and keeping the project maintained. MIT == OpenSource. Pricing == Sustainable. That's a horse worth backing IMO.

You are not wrong but in most cases this is a trojan horse. It has the characteristics of a classic rugpullware.

At the top level looks like open source but it is not really because parts (the most useful ones) of the project are not. Imagine if python was open source but the core libraries where not. You wont call this open source in the true spirit of open source. You could make the argument that at least it is sustainable because they a have now a business model. It doesn't add up.

I prefer more of a honest take on software. There is nothing wrong to make money while contributing back to the community in some meaningful way or by simply being transparent. In fact this is the best kind and there are plenty of good examples.

All I am saying is that when I see such projects I tend to think that in most cases they are dishonest to themselves or their communities or both.

Re: Launch HN: Onyx (YC W24) – Open-source chat UI

#92

Post by CuriouslyC »

jstummbillig wrote: post #82
CuriouslyC wrote: post #78

Something like this has a very limited shelf life as a product. What users need from chat is very user specific, trying to be the one chat to rule them all is not gonna end well, and as models get more capable each chat experience is going to need to be more customized. Something like this could have a nice future as an open source chat framework for building custom UIs if it's well made and modular, but that isn't g…

I disagree. This has both APIs as well as connectors. One of the reasons I use Google Workspace as SaaS is because of the extensive API, that gives me the flexibility I need with a great starting point (and continued development, that I continue to benefit from).

Yes, but imagine a chat app that's designed for accountants, that has widgets for accounting, and it's set up for accounting workflows. That's _HUGE_ but not something that a "one chat to rule them all" is going to just go and do. You could use that same example for lab technicians and any other role.

Re: Launch HN: Onyx (YC W24) – Open-source chat UI

#93

Post by CuriouslyC »

Weves wrote: post #88
CuriouslyC wrote: post #78

Something like this has a very limited shelf life as a product. What users need from chat is very user specific, trying to be the one chat to rule them all is not gonna end well, and as models get more capable each chat experience is going to need to be more customized. Something like this could have a nice future as an open source chat framework for building custom UIs if it's well made and modular, but that isn't g…

Hmm, will have to disagree here. I think "one chat to rule them all" is the way it will end. It does requires having UI components for many different types of interactions (e.g. many ways to collect user input mid-session + display different tools responses like graphs and interactives). With this, people should be able to easily build complex tools/flows on top of that UI, and get a nice, single interface (no siloed…

I agree with an end state something like you describe, but I don't think it will be a chat app, I think you'll have an agent lives outside your apps, that managers your apps.

Re: Launch HN: Onyx (YC W24) – Open-source chat UI

#94

Post by terminalkeys »

The UI looks so close to Open WebUI I was shocked this isn't a fork. It even looks like it takes OWUI's unique model customization features, but makes it agents.

Might have to try this out. OWUI's lagging docs has made managing my own self hosted instance a pain.

PS: Your _See All Connectors_ button on the homepage is 404ing.

Re: Launch HN: Onyx (YC W24) – Open-source chat UI

#95

Post by aargh_aargh »

visarga wrote: post #74

That sidebar of past chats is where they go to be lost forever. Nobody came up with a UI that has decent search experience. It's like reddit internal search engine, but a bit worse.

Exactly. The best they came up with is a generated subject-like summary. So many options to explore here. Categorization by topic, by date, by customer account, clustering by topic, search with various ranking options, conversation(s) tree view, histogram per date/topic/account, integration with email, with an issue tracker, various states per chat/thread e.g. resolved/ongoing/non-viable, a knowledge bank to quickly save stuff you learned (code snippets, commands, facts), integration with Notion or a wiki etc etc. Just off the top of my head.

I was told there would be rapid prototyping with AI. Haven't seen any of the above.

Re: Launch HN: Onyx (YC W24) – Open-source chat UI

#96

Post by limagnolia »

panki27 wrote: post #25

What does this do that OpenWebUI (or one of the many of other solutions) does not?

OpenWebUI isn't Open Source anymore. Open WebUI has an egregious CLA if I want to contribute back to it (Which I wouldn't do anyway because it isn't Open Source...)

Onyx Devs: This looks awesome, I will definitely add it to my list of things to try out... close to the top! Thanks, and please keep it cool!

Re: Launch HN: Onyx (YC W24) – Open-source chat UI

#97

Post by Weves »

terminalkeys wrote: post #94

The UI looks so close to Open WebUI I was shocked this isn't a fork. It even looks like it takes OWUI's unique model customization features, but makes it agents. Might have to try this out. OWUI's lagging docs has made managing my own self hosted instance a pain. PS: Your _See All Connectors_ button on the homepage is 404ing.

Haha, yea the UIs certainly have similarities (much of the industry converges to standard places to put different components, since users are familiar).

"Agents" is a particular area where we feel like we're better than the alternatives (especially if you want something that effectively calls multiple tools in sequence). Curious to hear your thoughts after trying it out!

Re: Launch HN: Onyx (YC W24) – Open-source chat UI

#100

Post by phildougherty »

kurtis_reed wrote: post #7
phildougherty wrote: post #3

Honestly surprised something like this can get funded

why?

I wasn't trying to be a hater, i think it is great they got funded for this. It just felt like there are so many free options and alternatives out there that are addressing basically the same things (and look almost exactly the same) it genuinely surprised me.
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