Alternatives
Products that do what Design architecture using code and visually simulate it in browser does
Hey HN, I have been working on this for a few months and recently open sourced my work. It’s a code playground where you can write TypeScript based code and the bundled runtime will execute it visually. Here are some examples that you can try right away: Hello world https://app.metz.sh/template/2 Average stock price(Event based system) https://app.metz.sh/template/7 A polling setup(Shows parallel flows) https://app.metz.sh/template/4 There are more on the readme https://github.com/metz-sh/simulacrum#examples I…
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2014 · maurizzzio.github.io
- 6AM
I wrote a free book (CC BY license) on software architecture. It classifies architectural patterns / system designs into groups according to their structure, so that each group features a specific set of goals and properties, as structure and function correlate. That results in a kind of inheritance for patterns, making it easy to learn them and even iterate over all the known architectures to analyze their properties. Any feedback and ideas on how to promote the book is warmly welcome!
2024 · github.com
- 7PB
Hi HN, We're Rishabh, Aashish, and Noah, the creators of ProtoType: a platform for building GraphQL backends. You can check it out here: https://www.useprototype.com We were fed up with creating the same sort of APIs over and over again when building web applications so we built this tool for ourselves. As we're all in university, we showed it around to our friends and they enjoyed using it to kickstart their projects. After that, we thought we'd host it on a website and allow anybody to use it! ProtoType is different from similar GraphQL backend builders such as 8base in that it…
2019
- 8WC
Hi all, I'm Ivan, and together with Alex, we're building a diagram visualization tool for codebases. Alex and I are devs, and we've noticed that recently we've been super productive at writing code (prompting :D). But when it comes to understanding big systems, prompting doesn't work that well — for that, diagrams are best imo. Most tools out there don't scale to big projects (e.g. PyTorch), so we're building CodeBoarding — a recursive visualizer for codebases. It starts from the highest level of abstractions and lets you dive deeper. We use static analysis and LLM agents. The control-flow…
2025 · github.com
- 9PL
Hi, I’ve been exploring Claude 3.5 code generation abilities for a while and it looks like it can generate more consistent code than other models. However it would still be unmaintainable if you ask it to write a lot of code and it still sucks at system design. So, I’ve been playing around the idea of using the code repository with a template for directory layout and infrastructure, then adding the repository information to Claude and asking it to generate code. It seems that it works, if I pass the structure of some OpenAPI based backend it can update the API definition and implementation…
2024 · github.com
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2019 · github.com
- 11AN
Three.js recently introduced TSL (Three.js Shading Language), a way to write shaders in pure JavaScript/TypeScript that compiles to both GLSL and WGSL. I built this editor to provide a visual interface for the tsl ecosystem. It allows developers to prototype shaders for WebGPU/WebGL and see the results in real-time. This is a beta release and I'm looking for feedback.
Jan 2026 · tsl-graph.xyz
- 12IM
I made a starter template for creating Haskell web-applications using HTMX, AlpineJS, Servant, TailwindCSS and Lucid (HASTL) - I really enjoy working in this stack and I think it brings together a lot of cool technologies with the awesomeness of Haskell doing all the heavy lifting I also tried to make it "production ready" by adding build and test tools e.g. it comes with simple Make targets and with unit and integration tests that use testcontainers to spin up the database and web application to test against. It's based on the awesome servant-persistant example by Matt Parsons…
2024 · github.com
- 13TI
Spent a week in the break building a pre-compiler that brings type safety to runtime. Still pretty early, but generally does what it says. Looking for feedback, code that breaks it (check out the playground), ideas etc.
Jan 2026 · typical.elliots.dev
- 14VA
Rather than calling tools one by one, Orion 2 generates a program and runs it end to end, meaning fewer round-trips and lower latency. You can try it out at https://chat.vlm.run When orchestration is code, every workflow is composable, inspectable, and deterministic. We put together a short Orion 2 demo video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzhXcNAYQ-0
Jun 2026 · vlm.run
- 15BA
I've been specializing in UI for over a decade. Using code for UI is great but I always wished there was a more visual code to build apps and sites. So I went ahead and built it. Decided to build it with Compose Multiplatform since I work a lot with Kotlin. Currently exports to CMP as it was simpler due to the context switch. You can try it for free and export some apps
2025 · license.builtwithpaper.com
- 16IB
process demo - https://i.redd.it/fbhlwsq1gcmg1.gif render demo - https://i.redd.it/smddwtryhcmg1.gif I love making creative software. I spent a few years making pixel art software but recently have gotten into 3d animation and 2d animation and really wanted a way to realize crazy ideas. Blockbench didn't feel quite right, spline is super well made but felt catered too much to just idle website animations, and I really didn't want to fall down a master class in Blender just to make some silly stuff. While I'm definitely not discounting Blender's literal…
Mar 2026 · app.topomaker.com
- 17MA
Hi HN, For the last ~15 years I've worked on embedding web browsers into Java and .NET desktop apps (JxBrowser, DotNetBrowser). Over time, I watched many teams move from embedding web views into native apps, to building full desktop apps with frameworks like Electron and Tauri. Both are useful, but in practice I kept running into several problems. With Electron, beyond the larger app footprint, I often ran into: - lack of type-safe IPC - no source code protection - weak support for the modern web stack Tauri solves some problems (like app size), but introduces others: - different WebViews…
Apr 2026 · teamdev.com
- 18OA
Thesys just open-sourced their generative UI rendering engine. Interesting timing given where Google a2ui and Vercel's json-render are headed. The difference worth noting: a2ui and json-render both treat JSONL as the contract between the LLM and the renderer. Thesys is betting that's the wrong primitive. Their engine uses a code-like syntax (OpenUI Lang) instead — LLM writes it, renderer executes it. The argument is that LLMs are fundamentally better at generating code than generating structured data, so you get cleaner output and ~67% fewer tokens. The broader vision seems to be a…
Mar 2026 · openui.com
- 19CA
Hi everyone! I built Composer, which is a tool turns your ideas into architecture diagrams. You can also use MCP to turn your EXISTING codebase into a visual diagram! It connects to all possible tools using MCP (Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode, etc.) The goal was to make system design easier and to be able to draw out what I wanted to make before I started / to explain to others. Its currently live at usecomposer.com and free! I’d love feedback on whether it feels useful for real projects and where it breaks down. :) Thank you
Apr 2026 · usecomposer.com
- 20BB
Hi HN, I'm Giovanni, founder of Userware. We built XAML.io, a free browser-based IDE for C# and XAML that compiles and runs .NET projects entirely client-side via WebAssembly. No server-side build step. The link above opens a sample project using Newtonsoft.Json. Click Run to compile and execute it in your browser. You can edit the code, add NuGet packages, and share your project via a URL. What's new in v0.6: - NuGet package support (any library compatible with Blazor WebAssembly) - Code sharing via URL with GitHub-like forking and attribution - XAML autocompletion, AI error fixing, split…
Feb 2026 · xaml.io
- 21CA
Hey HN, we’re Will and Liam, founders of CodeViz (YC S24). We’re building a VS Code extension that reads your code and generates editable architecture diagrams (C4, UML). It’s mostly used by teams to build shared context, agree on technical decisions, and visualize PRs. Here’s a recorded demo: https://youtu.be/Jh3wkrCj_WQ You can try the VS Code extension here: https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=CodeViz.... It’s free for 10 generations/month (no signup). Then, we have a $19/month plan for unlimited diagram generation and $50/month…
Dec 2025
- 22AL
Hi HN, I build this a few months back, thinking about improving it but wanted to share as is first to see what feedback I can get. I built it to be modular and with a clean understandable codebase in mind so easily extendable. I want to add more components to it maybe... Thanks! Will add link to the repo in a comment now
2022
- 23PT
Hi HN, I’ve been working the past year on something called Prototyper , and today we’re opening up the new version. The motivation is simple: whenever I built products in the past, I noticed the best ideas came after the “first version.” You try something, it feels wrong, you change it, repeat. Most tools make that painful. Prototyper is my attempt to make that loop natural—so you can explore ideas quickly instead of forcing them through a rigid workflow. This release includes: instant updates (no compile/refresh lag) simplified UI (months spent just removing steps) responsive by…
2025 · getaprototype.com
- 24AT
2019 · producthunt.com
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