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I turned Markdown into a protocol for generative UI

fabian-kuebler.com

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Re: I turned Markdown into a protocol for generative UI

#31

Post by FabianCarbonara »

realrocker wrote: post #29

The streamed execution idea is novel to me. Not sure what’s it significance ? I have been working on something with a similar goal: https://github.com/livetemplate/tinkerdown

The significance is responsiveness — instead of waiting for the LLM to finish generating the entire code block before anything happens, each statement executes as soon as it's complete. So API calls start, UIs render, and errors surface while the LLM is still streaming tokens.

Combined with a slot mechanism, complex UIs build up progressively — a skeleton appears first, then each section fills in as the LLM generates it.

I wrote a deeper dive on how the streaming execution works technically: https://fabian-kuebler.com/posts/streaming-ts-execution/

Re: I turned Markdown into a protocol for generative UI

#32

Post by altruios »

doublerabbit wrote: post #19
altruios wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every turn of the wheel someone wants to make a new one. Maybe one day someone will invent a rounder wheel.

Personally I think we should move to heptagons, they're round enough. The wheel is what I would call, passé.

Every day the wheel of society turns a little further off course.

Soon we'll be optimizing for minimizing the sides of a wheel (triangles are not the final form here...) /s

Re: I turned Markdown into a protocol for generative UI

#35

Post by z3ugma »

I will say I came upon this same design pattern to make all my chats into semantic Markdown that is backward compatible with markdown. I did:

````assistant

gemini/3.1-pro - 20260319T050611Z

Response from the assistant

````

with a similar block for tool calling This can be parsed semantically as part of the conversation but also is rendered as regular Markdown code block when needed

Helps me keep AI chats on the filesystem, as a valid document, but also add some more semantic meaning atop of Markdown

Re: I turned Markdown into a protocol for generative UI

#36

Post by rthrfrd »

Lws803 wrote: post #28

I see potential to take over Notion's / Obsidian's business here. Imagine highly customizable notebooks people can generate on the fly with the right kind of UI they need. Compared to fixed blocks in Notion

That’s what I’m building, along with the invisible unified data model underneath, that is needed to tie everything together. Always glad for feedback, reach out in my profile if it sounds interesting!

Re: I turned Markdown into a protocol for generative UI

#39

Post by FabianCarbonara »

nthypes wrote: post #37

Why not MDX?

The goal isn't really a better markdown format — it's bringing code execution and generative UI together. The code fences run on the server: calling APIs, processing data, doing agentic work. And they can also mount reactive UIs with full data flow between client, server, and LLM.

MDX is a compile-time format for static content. This is a runtime protocol where the LLM writes code that executes as it streams, and the UIs it creates stay connected to the server.

Re: I turned Markdown into a protocol for generative UI

#40

Post by kristopolous »

realrocker wrote: post #29

The streamed execution idea is novel to me. Not sure what’s it significance ? I have been working on something with a similar goal: https://github.com/livetemplate/tinkerdown

Add a video or a live demo, there's still too much friction on this readme.

Always Show then Ask.

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