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Prospero: A new coding harness for a more civilized age

What HN thinks

Everyone admires the hand-built C++ harness, then goes off to build their own.

GUI beats TUI for agents
Several want richer interaction with agent output: branching, selecting text, async questions, forking sessions. Others defend TUIs for VMs, SSH and simplicity.
Native lightweight software is refreshing
Many praised the 5 MB native Dear ImGui app for opening instantly. Others argued browser engines are the right tool for rich text layout and that RAM costs are overstated.
Build your own harness
Many commenters have written their own harness and recommend everyone do so. Skeptics question one-person C++ projects, the lack of plugins, the overloaded name and the Claude subscription limits.

Consensus: Most agree the UI is fast, space-efficient and thoughtfully designed. Claude subscription restrictions on third-party harnesses remain murky and disputed.

Recommended in the comments

Juggler ↗ (tool): Offered as a GUI alternative to TUI agents, and one user who tried it liked it, though another found it too noisy.
hax ↗ (tool): Praised for its tiny footprint, native scrollback and OpenBSD support.
OpenChamber (tool): Lets you comment on parts of an agent's response and handles subagents better.
Handy ↗ (tool): Suggested as a way to avoid accidentally answering Y/N prompts while typing.
wxWidgets (library): Its built-in HTML support is enough to render markdown output from agents.
Tauri (library): Seen as the sweet spot of a Rust backend with a TypeScript UI.

Summarised by Claude from the comment thread 1 day ago.

Points: 167
Comments: 118
Best rank: #2
Posted: 2026-10-31 by fovc
Category: Ai ml

coding-agents local-llm prospero dear-imgui cpp llama-cpp developer-tools

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Full page

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