Showboat and Rodney
Dev tools
agent demo and browser automation cli
SHOW HN2026
How HN took it
5 positive, 9 neutral or asking, 0 mixed, 4 critical, out of 18 comments about the project. Thread score +0.03.
Idea: 4 for, 2 againstDocs: 1 for, 1 againstDesign: 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
Useful idea for reviewing agent output as a test-like demo
From 2 comments
I was a bit confused as to how everything works until I read it in detail. Really cool tools, but I think one thing that would help in the introduction is: saying explicitly that…
Hansenq on HNVery interesting! I encountered the problems these tools are trying to tackle just recently while trying to guide an agent into creating an in-browser tool for me. Closing the…
eliben on HN
Go/uv packaging makes the CLIs easy to distribute
From 2 comments
If you're coming from the Python world, definitely. I find `go install github.com/simonw/rodney@latest` equally easy. :D Although you need the Go tooling installed, of course.…
markusw on HNRight, standalone binaries for CLI tools is great. And if one has Go installed, they can just `go run ...` any tool from its GitHub path, all installation/build/caching happens…
eliben on HN
Objections
Markdown is a weak format for documentation compared with reStructuredText or AsciiDoc
From 2 comments
If agents can generate text so easily, why would they be limited to Markdown instead of reStructuredText, AsciiDoc, or LaTeX which have rich features that help users understand…
toastal on HNDocumentation isn’t as simple document. There are tons of rich elements missing from the spec specifically for documentation… which is why so many resort to adopting one of the…
toastal on HN
Rodney duplicates existing tools like Playwright and agent-browser
From 2 comments
Out of curiosity, what is the advantage of using Rodney when Playwright has the same set of features and AI understands how to write a Playwright script very well?
johnfn on HNrodney seems to be pretty much the same as agent-browser: https://github.com/vercel-labs/agent-browser
simlevesque on HN
Requests
Make the blog theme responsive and wider on large screens
From 2 comments
I love your content, but I wish you'd make your blog theme responsive for wider screens/non-mobile. I prefer to read content like this on a large screen. Showboat seems like it…
samuelson on HNI second the request to make the site responsive. When I load the page the CSS constrains the main content to 560px and the whole page is constrained to 940px. Here's how it…
TheKnack on HN
Questions
What advantage does Rodney have over Playwright
From 1 comment
Out of curiosity, what is the advantage of using Rodney when Playwright has the same set of features and AI understands how to write a Playwright script very well?
johnfn on HN
Could Jupyter or marimo notebooks do the same job
From 2 comments
A bit like jupyter notebooks, isn't it?
mentalgear on HNI think you had a post about marimo notebooks at some point? I think they would be better suited for that. Their representation is just Python, they can run as scripts, and they…
markusw on HN
Alternatives named
Playwright and playwright-cli
From 2 comments
Out of curiosity, what is the advantage of using Rodney when Playwright has the same set of features and AI understands how to write a Playwright script very well?
johnfn on HNSee also (the confusingly named) playwright-cli https://github.com/microsoft/playwright-cli Different from the cli used for running tests etc that comes bundled with PlayWright…
tardismechanic on HN
agent-browser
From 1 comment
rodney seems to be pretty much the same as agent-browser: https://github.com/vercel-labs/agent-browser
simlevesque on HN
Jupyter notebooks
From 1 comment
A bit like jupyter notebooks, isn't it?
mentalgear on HN
marimo notebooks
From 1 comment
I think you had a post about marimo notebooks at some point? I think they would be better suited for that. Their representation is just Python, they can run as scripts, and they…
markusw on HN