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Launch HN: Haystack (YC S24) – Visualize and edit code on an infinite canvas

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Re: Launch HN: Haystack (YC S24) – Visualize and edit code on an infinite canvas

#11

Post by jitl »

candiddevmike wrote: post #4
bhy wrote: post #2

This looks quite useful! However could Haystack be made an VSCode extension instead of a fork? So I could use this in Cursor, which is also a VSCode fork.

So many YC folks are forking VSCode for various reasons that mostly revolve around "can't monetize extensions, want to own the platform". I don't think any of them will be successful, IMO. You want to be an extension because getting software approved is _hard_ at bigcos, it's much easier to trojan horse on an existing tool.

I think Cursor is already looking successful. Most VS Code people I know (including myself) have switched over. I love the idea of Haystack (I was a fan of Light Table back in the day) but if I have to pick between a better UI and an assistant who perform most simple code transforms by English language request, saving hour(s) per day, I’m picking the assistant.

Re: Launch HN: Haystack (YC S24) – Visualize and edit code on an infinite canvas

#14

Post by akshaysg »

ivanjermakov wrote: post #7

Interesting, for me this is exactly the opposite of efficient code navigation. LSP + keyboard-driven interface is miles ahead in terms of efficiency and speed. I respect the effort of breaking into less researched lands though. Congrats on the launch, I'm sure some will find this tool useful.

This is fair! Not sure if you're a VS Code user, but our goal is to maintain a parity between the keyboard experience in VS Code and the keyboard experience in Haystack. All the keyboard shortcuts in VS Code still live in Haystack.

If you're a Vim user then this is an entirely different story haha.

Re: Launch HN: Haystack (YC S24) – Visualize and edit code on an infinite canvas

#15

Post by williamcotton »

candiddevmike wrote: post #4
bhy wrote: post #2

This looks quite useful! However could Haystack be made an VSCode extension instead of a fork? So I could use this in Cursor, which is also a VSCode fork.

So many YC folks are forking VSCode for various reasons that mostly revolve around "can't monetize extensions, want to own the platform". I don't think any of them will be successful, IMO. You want to be an extension because getting software approved is _hard_ at bigcos, it's much easier to trojan horse on an existing tool.

I could be wrong but one of the main reasons to fork VS Code is because extensions have a limited UI.

This was at least the motivation for Positron, AFAIK.

Re: Launch HN: Haystack (YC S24) – Visualize and edit code on an infinite canvas

#16

Post by xixixao »

Congrats on the launch. It is an “obvious” idea, in a good way. Agree that minimizing the effort in constructing the workspace will be key. I’d also love to try a sort-of 3D stack for caller/callee relationship, zooming in and out. The code really is a graph (not acyclic though), and I think visualizing it that way can be helpful.

Re: Launch HN: Haystack (YC S24) – Visualize and edit code on an infinite canvas

#19

Post by valianter »

I get that this is a completely new idea so adoption is going to be slow but I'm curious to see how your user interviews and user research is going. I'm a young dev but I'm not even sure if I would use this because the way I've learned to code is already so ingrained into the traditional IDE. Nevertheless, congrats on the launch!

Re: Launch HN: Haystack (YC S24) – Visualize and edit code on an infinite canvas

#20

Post by scrozier »

ivanjermakov wrote: post #7

Interesting, for me this is exactly the opposite of efficient code navigation. LSP + keyboard-driven interface is miles ahead in terms of efficiency and speed. I respect the effort of breaking into less researched lands though. Congrats on the launch, I'm sure some will find this tool useful.

To give you (Haystack authors) another datapoint, I'm a +1 to this comment. I can't think of a time when a canvas UI solved a problem I had. Usually it made navigation more difficult.

But also agree that it's great that you're innovating in this space! Good luck!

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