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Show HN: AI Tool Is Now Supporting React, Angular, CSS, Svelte, Vue
- anonzzzies 2y agoCan you tell what is different from Claude Sonnet besides some frontend help? Can you tell a bit more about the stack / tech if it's more than just getting some LLM (gpt/clause) to come up with pages and rendering them?
- m4rcxs 2y agoFrontend-AI goes beyond just utilizing a standard LLM like GPT or Claude. While these models are powerful for generating content, our tool is specifically designed to streamline front-end development by providing specialized support for frameworks like React, Angular, Svelte, Vue, and CSS.
- foreigner 2y agoPricing model?
- heyjmac 2y agoFree so far
- compacct27 2y agoWell. I guess the demo doesn’t work for react components even when prompted for them? Overall the output seemed best for static demo showcasing, it was all HTML
- heyjmac 2y agoTry clicking "Choose Framework" or "Export Code". There you can find all the available formats to export =)
- compacct27 2y agoGotcha, that wasn't obvious on mobile
- m4rcxs 2y agoThe reason is that the mobile version doesn't include all the tools available in the desktop version. The mobile version is more of a 'light' or 'shortened' version, offering fewer features for a more streamlined experience.
- pants2 2y agoI asked for an 'interactive particle simulation' and got a big gray rectangle. Then I clicked regenerate and the page crashed. To me it's not clear how I would debug the component, I can ask for modifications but not like add log statements, inspect variables, and give feedback on errors.
- rubicon33 2y agoWelcome to the future!
- gmaster1440 2y agoHow about Svelte 5 with runes mode? One of the biggest challenges I've encountered so far while working on my SvelteKit with Svelte 5 codebase is that all frontier models struggle to understand differences between major versions of languages and frameworks, leading to a lot of annoying hallucinations. They're fantastic at writing code, but the last mile of figuring out how to fix issues for incorrect APIs or syntax becomes very tedious.
- segfaltnh 2y agoThat's because they don't "understand" any of it. I think the interesting space here is in getting the machinery around the model to correct the output before returning it to users, which is the sort of space I'm assuming this app plays it.
- eurekin 2y agoI work around that (with limited success) by prepending the latest docs (migration guides, how-tos) into the conversation. gpt-4o picks that up perfectly
- pennomi 2y agoThis is an enormous footgun that makes AI absolutely impossible to use in Godot. You get a ton of Godot 3 code output which really doesn’t resemble Godot 4 code at all, despite having the same name.
- matsemann 2y agoI'm a bit afraid that LLMs will make it harder for new frameworks and tools, as they have far fewer examples to learn from. And if that will make it so that the established frameworks remain status quo.
- soco 2y agoFood for thought: let's say AI (some day) delivers a working application, will it still matter which framework it is written? AI writes it, we complain about a problem, AI fixes it, we programmers are out of jobs (at least web application programmers) and the users get updates and finally working applications. I know we are not there yet, but at that imaginary later point, I think frameworks will be a thing of the past.
- sergiotapia 2y agohow hard would it be have a Phoenix .html.heex mode instead of your typical react/angular? .html.heex is really just plain old HTML with tailwind css classes. I could easily copy and paste your generated UIs into my views and play around there! thanks!
- heyjmac 2y agoYou can export and even download a functioning .html! Does that help?
- sergiotapia 2y agofor sure, I guess I didn't see that UI button to export as html
- causal 2y agoInteresting. I like that better developer tooling is coming out. That said, this particular tool seems like it's trying to be very hand-holdy, maybe not targeting developers? For developers Claude Dev seems like a more functional equivalent: https://github.com/saoudrizwan/claude-dev https://github.com/saoudrizwan/claude-dev
- dboreham 2y agoApproaching the singularity...since no human understands all those things.
- nickreese 2y agoI've been using AI models to do frontend design and candidly this doesn't hold a candle to just working directly with the base models. With the base models you can ask: Hey, make me 5 designs that fit xyz requirements and it will go to work. If you already know front end design, you can take that up a level and pass it an emmet abbreviation of the rough code you want and say only use tailwind colors of sky, zinc, and blue. I am decidedly not your audience, but if anyone on HN is thinking about how to speed up frontend dev and they are a frontend dev, I'd suggest just messing with the base models more. Once you get the hang of it, it can be like working with a designer who's feelings don't get hurt... which I love. "Meh, I don't like those designs, generate me 5 more and feel free to increase the model's temperature up quite a bit to see if you can come up with something cool."
- runnr_az 2y agoI'm not really sure what you mean by "base models?"
- punkspider 2y agoThey're likely referring to using the large language models (GPT, Claude, etc.) through their primary interfaces, because you get more control by interacting with the LLM directly.
- nickreese 2y agoClaude, GPT, Llama3.1 directly. The models are really capable if you prompt correctly.
- lasermike026 2y agoWow, look at that.
- mgaunard 2y agois there a web framework that managed to significantly iterate on knockout or is it all needless fluff to spout more buzzwords every week?
- skapadia 2y agoI'm not having much success with this beyond very basic components. I think I'd have more success iteratively working with ChatGPT or Claude directly, and then pasting the code into jsfiddle, pastebin, or replit to see the results and iterate.
- m4rcxs 2y agoI understand your point, iterating with ChatGPT or Claude can be a great approach for many cases. Our focus with Webcrumbs is to speed up front-end component creation, especially for those looking for a quicker, more direct solution. But of course, there's always room for improvement! If you have specific suggestions, I'd be happy to hear them.
- algo_trader 2y agoWhen exporting the code, all the field values are hard coded in the react/html and no easy way to get data from a rest/api. Maybe i am missing something. I tried the trading template Also: BUG report. I asked for a complex field change. This gave me an orange error message "failed try again". But now there is no abort/cancel button. Only a retry button. Good luck
- rd 2y agoI’m begging you to try out cursor and sonnet as the model. It is incredible, and it genuinely feels like magic when it comes to codebase context.
- m4rcxs 2y agoThank you, great idea! have you joined at the discord channel?
- ggregoire 2y agoIn this case is it not faster to just code the component yourself?
- neilv 2y agoCode LLM tools are more defensible when they work only by training on documentation and public domain code of the languages and frameworks. But they tend to have also been trained on code under copyright, without license to do so. Some code LLM tools vendors have had to put in 'safeguards', to try to avoid further embarrassing evidence of outright copying. That doesn't mean that they're not still often passing through obfuscated copying. In real life, when someone is caught plagiarizing, such as copying a paragraph from a published work, and changing some words to fit, it's a career-ending scandal. And other times, in a grayer area, of mechanical mashing up of multiple works, with the intent of "take these multiple copyrighted works, and mechanically combine them to my needs, in a way that's hard to explain to a judge, and forget about all the copyrights, so I can claim copyright". (Hey, if merely saying "it's an app" can smokescreen an illegal taxi service, hotel service, or rental price-fixing, just think how effective a shield even matrix multiplication is.) In software, copying code without license, or being tainted by exposure to code when you're supposed to "cleanroom" it, are both already considered illegal or shady. A lot of the current enthusiasm around generative AI feels a bit like the popularity of media piracy -- many people know, or have a nagging suspicion, that it's against norms or laws, but it's just so appealing, and everyone around you is doing it. It also has the dynamic of the many exploiting the relative few creators, in a way that wasn't part of the social contract or laws, and which the creator doesn't want, but the many can simply take. Especially when the many are armed and cheered on, by tool vendors, many of whom should know exactly what they're doing, but who want to win big from this nonconsensual exploitation of the works of others. And, as the former head of Google recently advised at Stanford, just take it, get big money, and pay lawyers later.
- algem 2y agoI can’t stand these “tools”. And I find it morally wrong trying to automate every little thing a developer does.
- m4rcxs 2y agoThe goal of Frontend-AI isn't to fully automate the process, but rather to save you time by generating a strong starting point. As the code becomes more complex, it might require some refactoring, so developers still need to put in effort to refine and enhance it.
- t0mas88 2y agoConsider it an improved version of auto complete in your IDE. It helps type pieces of code faster, it doesn't do any of the thinking involved in building a software product.
- algem 2y agoIt isn’t an improved version of autocomplete though, it allows you to submit a design / image and output code. Narrowing the gap between designer and developer.
- Kiro 2y agoWhat is your argument exactly? What's morally wrong with automation? Don't get me wrong. There are many good arguments against AI but claiming we don't need more automation is one I don't understand, so please enlighten me.
- algem 2y agoFor me it boils down to the reduction of jobs, pay and displacement of workers. Industry is already over saturated and the evolution of automation has sped up greatly. This type of automation goes hand in hand with displacement. I don’t foresee some great enlightenment at the end of the tunnel here, I see the end of development as it looks today. And I don’t think it will have any resemblance of the past.
- rcconf 2y agoShould we as developers put more effort into defending our craft? The movements in the artistic space with AI were very widespread and vocal, but we developers seem not to care. I feel like developers in general are a bit more quiet and timid with things and it leads to companies or entire industries taking advantage of us. Am I the only one who feels like developers really need to be a bit more vocal in defending themselves, their craft, and even their sanity? Are we quiet because of the large salaries in the space? I suppose the biggest question is how do you defend the craft but at the same time keep the advantage of automation and AI? (is it unions?)
- willsmith72 2y agoDepends on your motive. I enjoy the "art" of programming, but I enjoy even more using it to build cool stuff, make companies happy, start side projects or even businesses. I've not seen any indication an AI legitimately replacing software engineering, rather enhancing it perhaps resulting in the need for fewer engineers for the same work. Even as an engineer that's a huge win. The role is less coding, more engineering. I suppose if the "craft" is the coding part, you're right it may need defending, but to me that's not the craft
- rkuodys 2y agoTotally in the same camp. How I see AI improvement- is that if you needed couple developers to launch something, now you can do it yourself. Meaning the cost of launch is lower and that I think should be appreciated not fighted against. If developer is actually solving the problems, it's like giving a tractor to dig a hole in addition to shovel
- bongodongobob 2y agoIf AI is building better software why stop it? If it's not, what's the threat? What's to defend? Our right to build worse software? Prevent people from using tools as they see fit? What's course of action would you take?
- haliskerbas 2y ago
- doctorpangloss 2y agoThis works better than I expected. Orient your front page to give a less vague and more detailed example, because specific results are excellent. I am discouraged by the overuse of rounded corners, but encouraged by the correctly equalized white space and “in sample” choice of font sizes, paddings, etc. It does things well that programmers do poorly. IMO the document layout folks and people building on top of that like at least 1 YC startup have a more promising path forward for whole-cloth complex component representations versus LLMs with robust prompts but no fine tuning.
- amsheehan 2y agoAll of the properties controls are bound to a network request. This is a big bummer. I don't like having to wait 400ms every time I change a color.
- dangsux 2y ago[dead]