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bhouston | on: KetchUp – Open-source SketchUp alternative built with Rust and WebGPU
> At the same time I wonder if we are entering an era in which it’s just better to build your own tools

I wonder if Claude Code and other similar tools start to maintain their own base apps that everyone keeps asking for? This would be like a "cache" that makes the requests cheaper/easier to deliver?

Then everyone's "own" apps is really just a customization layer on top of a solid base that already does all the heavy lifting.

So many people are building their own versions of:

- PDF editors

- Word processors

- 3D editors

- Video editors

- Pixel-based image editors

- Vector-based image editors

- CAD editors

etc.

In some of these there are a few flavors as well that are major architectural choices. But most of what people are doing is just playing around with UI and file formats. Much of the functionality is generally the same.

Gigachad | parent | next
We have existing tools for this. You fork the repo of the closest thing and have AI tune it to exactly what you want.
dirkc | parent | next
I'm pretty sure this already happens to some extend. Look at the default website output you get from the different models, there tends to be a 'default' look/approach it takes.

I think they all have been post-trained on specific tasks like building sites, apps, etc and that is a large part of the reason they are pretty good at it.

socalgal2 | parent | next
I guess I'm too used to the collaboration features of word processors like Google Docs. If I build my own, those go out the window otherwise everyone has to sign up for my word processor and learn my word processor's UX.

For the rest, at least so far, I haven't had the collaboration experience but for word processors I can't go back to local files that can't easily be edited/viewed/commented on by multiple people or myself on every device I own.

mastermage | parent | next
Honestly i think that now is the chance for established software to go with the flow and I think the major way to go with the flow is create are adapt software to be extensible (so that everyone can let claude or opencode or whatever add their functionality of choice without having to rebuilt the wheel from scratch everytime) and secondly direct mcp access to the software itself.
ripplarity | parent | next
yes but tons of new features introduced making things interesting
guhidalg | parent
Sigh... are we really just going to re-invent plugins?
bhouston | root | parent | next
We do need a safe layer for non-engineers to customize apps.

All these clones of Photoshop and similar tools are mostly dead ends, they are experiments to see if you can do it, but there will be a consolidation around regularly maintained and powerful and complete apps that likely also offer support.

These experiments are dead-ends for the most part long-term. Fun play things, but they will not gain significantly user bases.

t-writescode | root | parent | next
Isn't this more of an argument to use common OSS choices? Like, encourage people to use Blender for 3d modelling; LibreOffice for documents; Gimp, Krita, or one of the many other art programs for ... art; OBS for simple video stuff; and so on and so forth?
stonogo | root | parent
> We do need a safe layer for non-engineers to customize apps.

Why? Every time someone cripples software in the name of safety it just gets replaced with more capable software that isn't.

Gigachad | root | parent
Plugins have long been troubled. It’s hard to make a plugin interface that is actually useful while also not breaking on every app update. And plugins have been such a massive vector for distributing malware.