nowfound

AI · June 7, 2026

Lathe – Use LLMs to learn a new domain, not skip past it

Hey HN! Lathe is an experiment in using LLMs to teach me something new, instead of doing the work for me. It generates a hands-on, source-backed tutorial for any technical topic you want to learn. Then you work through it yourself by reading and typing the code by hand (gasp) in a local UI built for exactly that. It's a Go CLI plus LLM agent skills (Claude Code / Cursor / Codex). You prompt something like "/lathe build a 3D slicer in Erlang", run `lathe serve` to spin up a local webapp, and read it in your browser. Every tutorial comes with the things that have made…

Lathe – Use LLMs to learn a new domain, not skip past it launched on June 7, 2026 with 402 votes, #43 of 22,647 launches that month and more than 99% of that year's launches.

Visit github.com ↗Alternativestop 1% of June 2026

In plain words

Lathe is a learning tool that generates hands-on tutorials for technical topics using LLMs, then guides users through building projects themselves via a local web interface. Built as a Go CLI, it creates structured tutorials with tables of contents, side notes, exercises, and sourced references for deeper learning. Users prompt requests like "build a 3D slicer in Erlang" and work through the material by typing code manually rather than having it generated for them, emphasizing active learning over automation.

written from the facts on this page · September 2026

From the sources

Generate hands-on, multi-part technical tutorials on demand, with LLM skills tuned to make content approachable. Then you work through them yourself, by hand ✋ - devenjarvis/lathe

In the maker’s words, at launch

Hey HN! Lathe is an experiment in using LLMs to teach me something new, instead of doing the work for me. It generates a hands-on, source-backed tutorial for any technical topic you want to learn. Then you work through it yourself by reading and typing the code by hand (gasp) in a local UI built for exactly that.…

Does a similar job

all alternatives →
  • My LLM CLI tool can run tools now, from Python code or plugins2025 · simonwillison.net · ▲529

    LLM 0.26 is out with the biggest new feature since I started the project: support for tools. You can now use the LLM CLI tool—and Python library—to grant LLMs from …

  • I wrote an open-source browser alternative for Computer Use for any LLM2024 · github.com · ▲180

    Hey HN, I made Browser-Use, an open-source tool that lets (all Langchain supported) LLMs execute tasks directly in the browser just with function calling. It allows you to build agents that interact with web elements using natural language prompts. We created a layer that simplifies website interaction for LLMs by extracting xPaths and interactive elements like buttons and input fields (and other fancy things). This enables you to design custom web automation and scraping functions without manual inspection through DevTools. Hasn't this been done a lot of times? Good question, as a general…

  • Turn any website into a knowledge base for LLMs2024 · embedding.io · ▲305

    I built this tool because I wanted a way to just take a bunch of URLs or domains, and query their content in RAG applications. It takes away the pain of crawling, extracting content, chunking, vectorizing, and updating periodically. I'm curious to see if it can be useful to others. I meant to launch this six months ago but life got in the way...

  • Ell – A command-line interface for LLMs written in Bash2024 · github.com · ▲214

    Hi HN! I've created a CLI tool called "ell" that allows you to interact with LLMs directly from your terminal. Designed with the Unix philosophy in mind, ell is simple, modular, and extensible. You can easily pipe input and output to integrate with other tools. Its templates and hook-based plugins enable you to customize and extend its functionality to suit any needs. Check out the README for usage instructions and examples. I developed this tool because existing solutions often felt too heavy, with many dependencies, or they weren't friendly to piping and customization. I, on the contrary,…

  • Llms.txt Generator2024 · sitespeak.ai · ▲145

    I heard some cases that llms.txt really boosts SEO, so I build this. And it's free to use (no sign up required)!

  • Create-LLM – Train your own LLM in 60 secondsOct 2025 · github.com · ▲54

    https://medium.com/@theaniketgiri/three-months-ago-i-wanted-...

More ai this month

the category →
  • Video model that turns script into viral social media videos

    AI · 19d ago · spira.ai

  • The browser where Claude Code and Codex work beside you

    AI · 19d ago · rill.love

  • Kolibri is Aleph Alpha

    AI · 21d ago · tej.as

  • Paintings by AI models: programs run through a simulation of oil paint.

    AI · 22d ago · stillwet.art

  • Beam.win▲379

    Run AI agents on one Mac and use its windows on another

    AI · 5d ago · beam.win

  • Route requests to the right LLM for cost, latency & quality

    AI · 23d ago · fastrouter.ai

Source: Show HN post ↗ · launch text quoted in part

Launched alongside, June 2026

the whole month →
  • Fundraisly▲1,537

    AI fundraising agent that finds investors and books meetings

    AI · Jun 2026 · fundraisly.com

  • Today, I’m proud to announce Homebrew 6.0.0. The most significant changes since 5.1.0 are a new tap trust security mechanism, the new faster, smaller, default internal Homebrew JSON API, sandboxing on Linux, better defaults informed by our user survey, many brew bundle improvements, improved performance and initial support for macOS 27 (Golden Gate). Happy to discuss any questions here!

    Dev tools · Jun 2026 · brew.sh

  • Hi HN! I was super frustrated at apps like tiktok and wechat preventing me from saving or downloading the animated gifs, so I made a little tool to turn a screen recording into a slack-sized emoji. Hope you get some value from this!

    Life & fun · Jun 2026 · vorpus.github.io

  • Upstream▲976

    The inbox designed for humans and agents

    AI · Jun 2026 · upstream.do

  • Goldfish▲958

    Press Option. It knows your work and replies like you

    AI · Jun 2026 · goldfish.sh

  • Search 18 years of Hacker News and chart how any topic, tool, or person trended. Overlay terms to compare their rise and fall across 45M posts and comments.

    Life & fun · Jun 2026 · hackernewstrends.com