Inkeep (YC W23)
AI
agent builder
SHOW HN2025
79points
49comments
#898of 3,837 in 2025
Top 24%of 2025 by points
How HN took it
RoastedHalf or more of the comments are critical
3 positive, 7 neutral or asking, 1 mixed, 13 critical, out of 24 comments about the project. Thread score -0.25.
Idea: 2 for, 0 againstExecution: 1 for, 1 againstDocs: 0 for, 1 againstPricing: 0 for, 1 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Two-way sync between code and visual editor is a strong differentiator
From 3 comments
> true 2-way sync between code and a drag-and-drop visual editor... EXACTLY what was missing in many tools, and exactly what is required for reducing the time from quick…
niyazpk on HNThis two-way sync is slick—saves us from the usual “designer broke prod” dance. One edge case: if a non-tech user renames a sub-agent in the visual builder while a dev still…
CoreLathe on HNThe opening line from the video [1] impressed me: > We built an agent builder with true two-way sync between code and a drag-and-drop visual editor. Wow, what a clear pitch. I…
xpe on HN
Clear pitch and useful comparison with n8n and OpenAI builder
From 2 comments
The opening line from the video [1] impressed me: > We built an agent builder with true two-way sync between code and a drag-and-drop visual editor. Wow, what a clear pitch. I…
xpe on HNGreat, thank you, that makes the benefits stand out a lot to me.
endymion-light on HN
Objections
Elastic License 2.0 is not open source; called fair-code or source-available
From 4 comments
Fake "Open source" all over again.. why do we repeatedly have to do this? You can own the "Fair source" and call it that. I was excited with the pitch. And then had this…
thedevilslawyer on HNThis is not an open source application. Here is the definition of open source should you wish to correct your post - https://opensource.org/osd
r0b05 on HNPlease do not call this open source. > The Inkeep Agent Framework is licensed under the Elastic License 2.0 (ELv2) subject to Inkeep's Supplemental Terms (SUPPLEMENTAL_TERMS.md).…
bityard on HNThat's an extremely restrictive license, the best you could say about it is it's "source available"
mips_avatar on HN
Crowded agent builder space and possible vendor lock-in or high enterprise pricing
From 2 comments
I see "Get a demo" as the only call-to-action and a bunch of other venture-backed Saas startups as your customers...so I'm guessing pricing will be...high. This might sound…
pembrook on HNfor a product that nobody is actually interested, the 10th agent builder from YC in the last month.
brazukadev on HN
Self-hosting setup was confusing (SigNoz account requirement)
From 1 comment
I started to follow documentation here (https://docs.inkeep.com/self-hosting/docker-local) to run things with Docker. -> connect to the locally installed instance of SigNoz -> It…
mrjay42 on HN
Requests
Add AWS Bedrock model support
From 1 comment
> true 2-way sync between code and a drag-and-drop visual editor... EXACTLY what was missing in many tools, and exactly what is required for reducing the time from quick…
niyazpk on HN
Stronger debugging tools for non-coders
From 1 comment
Since this is for people who can't code, I'd make sure the debugging capabilities are beefed up. Otherwise what's going to happen when the code doesn't work? This is the whole…
esafak on HN
Add Google Opal to comparisons
From 1 comment
Don't forget to cover Google Opal as well. https://opal.google/landing/
langitbiru on HN
Questions
How are merge conflicts handled between visual and code edits
From 2 comments
This two-way sync is slick—saves us from the usual “designer broke prod” dance. One edge case: if a non-tech user renames a sub-agent in the visual builder while a dev still…
CoreLathe on HNThe Git-style workflow is super clever. How do teams typically collaborate around it? For example, can multiple people work on different branches of the same agent (visual and…
Benclaman on HN
How does it compare to OpenAI agents builder and n8n
From 2 comments
How does it compare to OpenAI agents builder? inkeep isn't open source with a Elastic License 2.0, why not just go with OpenAI agents sdk (MIT)?
d0100 on HNGenuine question, what makes this more effective than something like N8n? Right now i'm not seeing what I could achieve within Inkeep that I couldn't on N8n. Less being snide and…
endymion-light on HN
Does it support human-in-the-loop workflows triggered by API or webhook
From 1 comment
Is this primarily for building chat based agents? What if I want to trigger a workflow via API or webhook and the wait for some sort of human in the loop verification? Do you…
thesandlord on HN
Alternatives named
n8n
From 2 comments
Genuine question, what makes this more effective than something like N8n? Right now i'm not seeing what I could achieve within Inkeep that I couldn't on N8n. Less being snide and…
endymion-light on HNGood question! Main things: n8n you can't export to code (or import). It's all visual, so you don't get CI/CD, typesafety, etc. when you want it. That can be fine if visual is…
engomez on HN
OpenAI agents builder
From 2 comments
How does it compare to OpenAI agents builder? inkeep isn't open source with a Elastic License 2.0, why not just go with OpenAI agents sdk (MIT)?
d0100 on HNWe made a good video about the differences between n8n, OpenAI, and Inkeep here: https://youtu.be/tRgU5FQoe3s. Short overview. Re:OpenAI agents builder - there is a hard one-time…
engomez on HN
LangGraph and LangChain
From 1 comment
Dify
From 1 comment
Very interesting! I recently reviewed n8n and Dify for this (https://www.cyprien.io/posts/n8n-vs-dify/), but I will definitely check this one. How do you compare yourself to Dify?
cyprien_g on HN