Collison Says Agentic Coding Needs Richer UIs Than Terminals
Replies highlight apps like Codex, Conductor, and open-source alternatives with browser and GUI features.
Patrick Collison posted that he likes agentic coding harnesses but they should not stay primarily terminal-based. The terminal gives low information density and few UI options, he said, though TUIs can work for quick tasks. Romain Huet from OpenAI replied that the Codex app supplies computer use, in-browser annotations, and a richer surface for agents. Other replies pointed to ChatGPT Work for parallel agents, files, and previews in one workspace, Conductor as a GUI that manages multiple harnesses and supports cloud workspaces, and web apps such as deepseek-harness and t3code that users can fork and modify.
I love agentic coding harnesses, but they shouldn't be primarily terminal-based. The terminal is great for quick and precise commands, but information density is extremely low and UI affordances are minimal. Maybe provision of TUIs is worthwhile for occasional use (when…
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6 postsRH 
Romain Huet@romainhuet@patrickc Couldn’t agree more! A new kind of coding harness deserves a new kind of interface. That’s a big part of why we built the Codex app: computer use, in-browser annotations, and a much richer surface to pair with agents.
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EL elie@eliebakouch@patrickc you should take a look at deepseek harness (which is a web app, not only a harness) or t3 code, it goes in this direction + can just fork it and ask to change the UI/features to ones you'd like https://github.com/pingdotgg/t3code
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EL elie@eliebakouchthis reduces a lot the frustration related to features not being implemented in codex/claude app (or bugs), for instance the current fork of t3code i use probably has more rough edges than codex, but i know i can fix them myself if they become a problem. also feels good to be…
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BT Ben Tossell@bentossellare they primarily terminal based? most are apps too
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V( Vaibhav (VB) Srivastav@reach_vb@patrickc Feels like this is exactly what ChatGPT Work solves for. You get parallel agents, files, diffs, previews, a browser and long-running work, all in one workspace directly on chatgpt [dot] com What’s missing is a seamless interop b/w your actual IRL desktop and cloud -…
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CH Charlie Holtz@charlieholtz@patrickc you should try @conductor_build! it's a GUI for managing a bunch of agents. It supports the main harnesses, cloud workspaces, and is multiplayer. And used by engineers at Stripe :)
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