Show HN: Whiteboard (YC W26) – an open-source IDE for thoughtful software design (github.com)

Whiteboard, a new open-source IDE, has been introduced as a collaborative platform for software design where humans and AI agents can work together in an integrated environment. Users can connect familiar coding agents like Claude Code and Codex directly within Whiteboard, allowing for seamless interaction on software architecture tasks. The IDE features a canvas for agents to illustrate their processes, an AST-aware diff viewer in Rust to highlight relevant code changes, and visualizations that can directly link to underlying code, enhancing the design and implementation phases of software development. This tool is significant for the AI/ML community as it offers a novel way to bridge the gap between code and abstract design, enabling developers to better reason about AI-generated code outputs and the decisions made during implementation. By supporting direct code navigation, customizable settings via a WASM-based plugin system, and an open-source model, Whiteboard promotes an innovative workflow for integrating AI tools into software engineering. Future plans for a hosted team product emphasize its potential for collaborative development while maintaining a self-hostable option, ensuring user control over their code and data privacy.