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An Agentic IDE that builds itself

An Agentic IDE that builds itself

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bb is an open-source, agentic IDE that allows users to build its own features, interface components, and workflows by simply prompting the integrated agents.
What: Built by Sawyer Hood and Michael, bb is an MIT-licensed agent orchestrator that supports coding agents like Claude Code and Cursor. Users extend the IDE by tasking agents to build components such as task management GUIs, markdown editors, or custom audio workstations directly within the environment.
Why it matters: This highlights a shift toward 'malleable software,' where the boundary between the developer tool and the application code blurs, allowing users to move from buying rigid tools to building self-customizing development environments.
Takeaway: Try bb at https://getbb.app or clone the repo at https://github.com/get-bb/bb to start building your own custom IDE features.
Decoder
  • Agentic IDE: A development environment that acts as an autonomous agent orchestrator, capable of modifying its own source code, interface, and toolchain based on user prompts.
Original article

An Agentic IDE that builds itself

I'm excited to show something I've been working on recently: bb, an agentic IDE that builds itself.

This started as a passion project by @_ymichael, and over time I changed from being an early user to a contributor. bb really worked for me in a way no other agent orchestrator has before and I think you'll like it too.

Your first question is: ok, there are dozens of these, why this one?

No two installs look alike

Software of a previous generation looks something like this: there is a team somewhere who is solving a pain point for you. They might not solve it perfectly, but they are solving the problem for a set of people well enough and the economies of scale make it so that it is more efficient to buy their software vs building it yourself.

Software now is cheaper than ever before and I think those previous assumptions might no longer hold true. Software that you use needs to get the fundamentals right and be malleable enough to adapt to your use case.

This is where bb shines. It is a full agent orchestrator with solid fundamentals. It has a beautiful timeline and works with any coding agent using your own subscriptions. But the thing that sets it apart is that you can extend it in any way you see fit. Here is bb the first time you open it:

Here is my bb:

Same install. Your imagination is the limit. Here is a set of things that people have added to bb all by just asking it to build it for them:

  • A task management system. A full GUI for managing issues and agents automatically know how to read, create, and filter them.
  • A tiling thread management system. A way to spatially navigate between all of your threads in 2 dimensions.
  • Automated code review. A GitHub webhook that watches a repo for new PRs, pulls them, reviews them, and uses Codex computer use to test them end to end.
  • A markdown editor. An Obsidian-like vault for markdown that you and your agents can edit. I'm writing this post in it right now.
  • A Digital audio workstation. I have a surface that lets me upload samples and prompt agents to create code using Strudel to do music production inside of bb.

Moreover, much of the functionality that ships with bb was built using the same extension system that you can use to have bb customize itself: provider agnostic workflows, the ask user question tool, side chat, crons, inline previews, and remote access are all plugins.

The code is yours

bb is an open source, MIT licensed agent orchestrator. It works with all of the popular coding agents out of the box (Codex, Claude Code, Cursor, etc) and any agent that supports ACP, on your own subscriptions.

Clone it, run it, and then ask it for something it does not do yet.

I have not gone back to a tool I cannot change. I don't think I will.

Site: https://getbb.app

Github: https://github.com/get-bb/bb

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