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Show HN: A word of the day that doesn't suck

I’ve long thought that the Word of the Day was a wasted genre. The goal should be to give you words you can use; to enrich your understanding of words you already know; or at least to use words to tell you something neat about the world.<p>Instead, what you usually get is words that will never be used in conversation, held up as curios. Some examples from Dictionary.com’s daily email: thewless, balladmonger, vagility, contextomy. These words are... not useful.<p>I’ve always thought I could do better. My friend Ben recently created a daily puzzle game, called Bracket City, launched here on HN [1], which I like because it takes about the same amount of time as Wordle but has some of the variety and artistry of a good crossword.<p>Ben agreed to let me write a word of the day for the game’s audience. We’ve collected them all here: <a href="https://bracket.city/words" rel="nofollow">https://bracket.city/words</a>. It’s such a joy to write -- every day, I pay homage to a word I love or use or have newly discovered. I find myself paying more attention to words I encounter, thinking if they deserve a place.<p>It’s also fun for another reason. Many years ago I wrote a blog post, "You’re probably using the wrong dictionary" [2], that made the rounds and actually still finds new readers today. It was about how the modern-day dictionaries we find by default on our iPhones and web browsers are actually kind of bureaucratic and lifeless. Through a writer I love, John McPhee, I rediscovered Webster’s 1913 dictionary, which feels like it was written by a thinking person who loved words. I still consult it all the time. Writing a word of the day has reminded me just how delightful and useful Webster’s old dictionary is -- and reacquainted me with the OED, which I now look to every day, and which I discovered you can access with your library card.<p>Some of my favorite entries so far: sophisticated, twee, gravitas, blockbuster, meteorologist, send, bid. There are more than 175 now -- and more coming once a day, every day, for as long as Bracket City stands.<p>To sign up to see each word of the day as it’s published, go to <a href="https://bracket.city/words" rel="nofollow">https://bracket.city/words</a>.<p>[1] <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43622719">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43622719</a><p>[2] <a href="https://jsomers.net/blog/dictionary" rel="nofollow">https://jsomers.net/blog/dictionary</a>

Show HN: Phind.design – Image editor & design tool powered by 4o / custom models

Hi HN,<p>Today we’re launching phind.design (<a href="https://phind.design" rel="nofollow">https://phind.design</a>), an image editor and design tool that uses 4o and custom models to allow users to generate and edit designs for anything from logos and advertisements to creative website and app designs.<p>4o is great at producing a first version of an image, but is not capable of editing it without messing up other parts of it. We fix this by running Flux Kontext alongside 4o image gen in the chat, as well as by introducing a precision editor powered by custom models where a user indicates an area to modify and we guarantee that only that area will be modified.<p>Our precision editor is state-of-the-art on image editing in our tests and allows inserting new additional images into the existing image. The latter allows users to insert a logo, product, or face into an image without messing up other parts of the image, and even fix logos and faces that were messed up by 4o. Text editing with the precision edit model is still a work in progress, and we will fix it with the next iteration of that model. We recommend using the chat for editing text for now.<p>Example: Insert UT Austin logo into helicopter ad (<a href="https://phind.design/edit?chat=cmd27o2n10001l704h6865f3u" rel="nofollow">https://phind.design/edit?chat=cmd27o2n10001l704h6865f3u</a>)<p>We also always produce multiple variations for image generations and edits, as we think this variety is important for getting exactly what you asked for.<p>Example: Paul Graham in startup heaven (<a href="https://phind.design/edit?chat=cmd23h91c000jky04no5d92uy" rel="nofollow">https://phind.design/edit?chat=cmd23h91c000jky04no5d92uy</a>)<p>One thing we’re excited about is adding more variation into AI-generated websites, as many website builders all use the same CSS libraries, so many websites end up looking the same. We hope to allow builders and creatives to make truly unique designs in 1/10th the time it currently takes with existing tools.<p>Example: Make me a popeyes landing page where the eyes are actually popping out (<a href="https://phind.design/edit?chat=cmd25imtm0001jr046nsag4lu" rel="nofollow">https://phind.design/edit?chat=cmd25imtm0001jr046nsag4lu</a>) Example: A train map with sandwich ingredients replacing subway stops. (<a href="https://phind.design/edit?chat=cmd23i98c0001ie04l56npyj3" rel="nofollow">https://phind.design/edit?chat=cmd23i98c0001ie04l56npyj3</a>)<p>As engineers who have been frustrated by the time commitment it takes to learn Figma or Photoshop, we hope that phind.design makes it incredibly easy to go from zero to one on your wildest creative ideas.<p>The editor is far from perfect, particularly when it comes to text. We are working on it and have a new custom precision editing model on the way. In the meantime, we’re excited to hear your comments and feedback!

Show HN: Phind.design – Image editor & design tool powered by 4o / custom models

Hi HN,<p>Today we’re launching phind.design (<a href="https://phind.design" rel="nofollow">https://phind.design</a>), an image editor and design tool that uses 4o and custom models to allow users to generate and edit designs for anything from logos and advertisements to creative website and app designs.<p>4o is great at producing a first version of an image, but is not capable of editing it without messing up other parts of it. We fix this by running Flux Kontext alongside 4o image gen in the chat, as well as by introducing a precision editor powered by custom models where a user indicates an area to modify and we guarantee that only that area will be modified.<p>Our precision editor is state-of-the-art on image editing in our tests and allows inserting new additional images into the existing image. The latter allows users to insert a logo, product, or face into an image without messing up other parts of the image, and even fix logos and faces that were messed up by 4o. Text editing with the precision edit model is still a work in progress, and we will fix it with the next iteration of that model. We recommend using the chat for editing text for now.<p>Example: Insert UT Austin logo into helicopter ad (<a href="https://phind.design/edit?chat=cmd27o2n10001l704h6865f3u" rel="nofollow">https://phind.design/edit?chat=cmd27o2n10001l704h6865f3u</a>)<p>We also always produce multiple variations for image generations and edits, as we think this variety is important for getting exactly what you asked for.<p>Example: Paul Graham in startup heaven (<a href="https://phind.design/edit?chat=cmd23h91c000jky04no5d92uy" rel="nofollow">https://phind.design/edit?chat=cmd23h91c000jky04no5d92uy</a>)<p>One thing we’re excited about is adding more variation into AI-generated websites, as many website builders all use the same CSS libraries, so many websites end up looking the same. We hope to allow builders and creatives to make truly unique designs in 1/10th the time it currently takes with existing tools.<p>Example: Make me a popeyes landing page where the eyes are actually popping out (<a href="https://phind.design/edit?chat=cmd25imtm0001jr046nsag4lu" rel="nofollow">https://phind.design/edit?chat=cmd25imtm0001jr046nsag4lu</a>) Example: A train map with sandwich ingredients replacing subway stops. (<a href="https://phind.design/edit?chat=cmd23i98c0001ie04l56npyj3" rel="nofollow">https://phind.design/edit?chat=cmd23i98c0001ie04l56npyj3</a>)<p>As engineers who have been frustrated by the time commitment it takes to learn Figma or Photoshop, we hope that phind.design makes it incredibly easy to go from zero to one on your wildest creative ideas.<p>The editor is far from perfect, particularly when it comes to text. We are working on it and have a new custom precision editing model on the way. In the meantime, we’re excited to hear your comments and feedback!

Show HN: Phind.design – Image editor & design tool powered by 4o / custom models

Hi HN,<p>Today we’re launching phind.design (<a href="https://phind.design" rel="nofollow">https://phind.design</a>), an image editor and design tool that uses 4o and custom models to allow users to generate and edit designs for anything from logos and advertisements to creative website and app designs.<p>4o is great at producing a first version of an image, but is not capable of editing it without messing up other parts of it. We fix this by running Flux Kontext alongside 4o image gen in the chat, as well as by introducing a precision editor powered by custom models where a user indicates an area to modify and we guarantee that only that area will be modified.<p>Our precision editor is state-of-the-art on image editing in our tests and allows inserting new additional images into the existing image. The latter allows users to insert a logo, product, or face into an image without messing up other parts of the image, and even fix logos and faces that were messed up by 4o. Text editing with the precision edit model is still a work in progress, and we will fix it with the next iteration of that model. We recommend using the chat for editing text for now.<p>Example: Insert UT Austin logo into helicopter ad (<a href="https://phind.design/edit?chat=cmd27o2n10001l704h6865f3u" rel="nofollow">https://phind.design/edit?chat=cmd27o2n10001l704h6865f3u</a>)<p>We also always produce multiple variations for image generations and edits, as we think this variety is important for getting exactly what you asked for.<p>Example: Paul Graham in startup heaven (<a href="https://phind.design/edit?chat=cmd23h91c000jky04no5d92uy" rel="nofollow">https://phind.design/edit?chat=cmd23h91c000jky04no5d92uy</a>)<p>One thing we’re excited about is adding more variation into AI-generated websites, as many website builders all use the same CSS libraries, so many websites end up looking the same. We hope to allow builders and creatives to make truly unique designs in 1/10th the time it currently takes with existing tools.<p>Example: Make me a popeyes landing page where the eyes are actually popping out (<a href="https://phind.design/edit?chat=cmd25imtm0001jr046nsag4lu" rel="nofollow">https://phind.design/edit?chat=cmd25imtm0001jr046nsag4lu</a>) Example: A train map with sandwich ingredients replacing subway stops. (<a href="https://phind.design/edit?chat=cmd23i98c0001ie04l56npyj3" rel="nofollow">https://phind.design/edit?chat=cmd23i98c0001ie04l56npyj3</a>)<p>As engineers who have been frustrated by the time commitment it takes to learn Figma or Photoshop, we hope that phind.design makes it incredibly easy to go from zero to one on your wildest creative ideas.<p>The editor is far from perfect, particularly when it comes to text. We are working on it and have a new custom precision editing model on the way. In the meantime, we’re excited to hear your comments and feedback!

Show HN: The Magic of Code – book about the wonders and weirdness of computation

I recently published a book called “The Magic of Code” which is about the delights of the computational world, examining computing as a kind of “humanistic liberal art” that connects to so many topics, from art and biology to philosophy and language. The link I’ve shared is to a page on my book’s website where you can download a pdf of the introduction, to give HN readers a taste of what is inside.<p>Right now there is so much worry and concern around technology that I feel like some people—though not the folks here—have forgotten how much fun that code and computation can also be. So I wanted to rekindle some of that sense of wonder.<p>But, as I’ve written elsewhere, this is also the kind of book I wish I had when I was younger and getting interested in computers. I’ve always enjoyed the kinds of writing that talks about computing but in the context of so many other big ideas, especially ones I’ve explored at various points in my own life, from evolution to simulation. And that’s what I tried to do.<p>But while “The Magic of Code” is certainly for a wide audience, and for people who are unfamiliar with programming and code, I’ve also (hopefully!) designed it to be of interest to those who are more expert in this realm, with lots of rabbit holes and strange ideas to pursue. And if there exists a genre of book to explain to outsiders why you love a topic, this is in that genre, for computing and code. I think the HN community will really enjoy it.

Show HN: The Magic of Code – book about the wonders and weirdness of computation

I recently published a book called “The Magic of Code” which is about the delights of the computational world, examining computing as a kind of “humanistic liberal art” that connects to so many topics, from art and biology to philosophy and language. The link I’ve shared is to a page on my book’s website where you can download a pdf of the introduction, to give HN readers a taste of what is inside.<p>Right now there is so much worry and concern around technology that I feel like some people—though not the folks here—have forgotten how much fun that code and computation can also be. So I wanted to rekindle some of that sense of wonder.<p>But, as I’ve written elsewhere, this is also the kind of book I wish I had when I was younger and getting interested in computers. I’ve always enjoyed the kinds of writing that talks about computing but in the context of so many other big ideas, especially ones I’ve explored at various points in my own life, from evolution to simulation. And that’s what I tried to do.<p>But while “The Magic of Code” is certainly for a wide audience, and for people who are unfamiliar with programming and code, I’ve also (hopefully!) designed it to be of interest to those who are more expert in this realm, with lots of rabbit holes and strange ideas to pursue. And if there exists a genre of book to explain to outsiders why you love a topic, this is in that genre, for computing and code. I think the HN community will really enjoy it.

Show HN: The Magic of Code – book about the wonders and weirdness of computation

I recently published a book called “The Magic of Code” which is about the delights of the computational world, examining computing as a kind of “humanistic liberal art” that connects to so many topics, from art and biology to philosophy and language. The link I’ve shared is to a page on my book’s website where you can download a pdf of the introduction, to give HN readers a taste of what is inside.<p>Right now there is so much worry and concern around technology that I feel like some people—though not the folks here—have forgotten how much fun that code and computation can also be. So I wanted to rekindle some of that sense of wonder.<p>But, as I’ve written elsewhere, this is also the kind of book I wish I had when I was younger and getting interested in computers. I’ve always enjoyed the kinds of writing that talks about computing but in the context of so many other big ideas, especially ones I’ve explored at various points in my own life, from evolution to simulation. And that’s what I tried to do.<p>But while “The Magic of Code” is certainly for a wide audience, and for people who are unfamiliar with programming and code, I’ve also (hopefully!) designed it to be of interest to those who are more expert in this realm, with lots of rabbit holes and strange ideas to pursue. And if there exists a genre of book to explain to outsiders why you love a topic, this is in that genre, for computing and code. I think the HN community will really enjoy it.

Show HN: Any-LLM – Lightweight router to access any LLM Provider

We built any-llm because we needed a lightweight router for LLM providers with minimal overhead. Switching between models is just a string change : update "openai/gpt-4" to "anthropic/claude-3" and you're done.<p>It uses official provider SDKs when available, which helps since providers handle their own compatibility updates. No proxy or gateway service needed either, so getting started is pretty straightforward - just pip install and import.<p>Currently supports 20+ providers including OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Mistral, and AWS Bedrock. Would love to hear what you think!

Show HN: Any-LLM – Lightweight router to access any LLM Provider

We built any-llm because we needed a lightweight router for LLM providers with minimal overhead. Switching between models is just a string change : update "openai/gpt-4" to "anthropic/claude-3" and you're done.<p>It uses official provider SDKs when available, which helps since providers handle their own compatibility updates. No proxy or gateway service needed either, so getting started is pretty straightforward - just pip install and import.<p>Currently supports 20+ providers including OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Mistral, and AWS Bedrock. Would love to hear what you think!

Show HN: Compass CNC – Open-source handheld CNC router

Hey HN,<p>I am Cam, and for the past two years I have been working on Compass, an open-source handheld CNC router that brings computer precision to woodworking while keeping the user directly involved in the process.<p>The idea started as my senior design project at UC Berkeley, with the goal of making a more approachable CNC machine—standard CNC machines are expensive, bulky, and remove you from the tactile “maker” experience. Compass solves that by combining a handheld router with real-time robotic assistance. You move the router roughly along a design path, and Compass uses four optical flow sensors (like in computer mice) and a 3-axis motion system to auto-correct for precision cuts.<p>What is different about Compass: - Open source: All plans, firmware, and CAD files are available on GitHub. - Affordable: The DIY build costs ~$600 in parts, and I am selling kits for <$800. - No external markers: The sensing technology allows for positioning without external markers, so no setup or consumables required. - Portable: Fits in a backpack and is not limited by a fixed work envelope.<p>We recently completed our first beta program and have just launched V1 kits for pre-order. You can find more info and the launch video at the listed URL.<p>GitHub: <a href="https://github.com/camchaney/handheld-cnc">https://github.com/camchaney/handheld-cnc</a>

Show HN: Compass CNC – Open-source handheld CNC router

Hey HN,<p>I am Cam, and for the past two years I have been working on Compass, an open-source handheld CNC router that brings computer precision to woodworking while keeping the user directly involved in the process.<p>The idea started as my senior design project at UC Berkeley, with the goal of making a more approachable CNC machine—standard CNC machines are expensive, bulky, and remove you from the tactile “maker” experience. Compass solves that by combining a handheld router with real-time robotic assistance. You move the router roughly along a design path, and Compass uses four optical flow sensors (like in computer mice) and a 3-axis motion system to auto-correct for precision cuts.<p>What is different about Compass: - Open source: All plans, firmware, and CAD files are available on GitHub. - Affordable: The DIY build costs ~$600 in parts, and I am selling kits for <$800. - No external markers: The sensing technology allows for positioning without external markers, so no setup or consumables required. - Portable: Fits in a backpack and is not limited by a fixed work envelope.<p>We recently completed our first beta program and have just launched V1 kits for pre-order. You can find more info and the launch video at the listed URL.<p>GitHub: <a href="https://github.com/camchaney/handheld-cnc">https://github.com/camchaney/handheld-cnc</a>

Show HN: Compass CNC – Open-source handheld CNC router

Hey HN,<p>I am Cam, and for the past two years I have been working on Compass, an open-source handheld CNC router that brings computer precision to woodworking while keeping the user directly involved in the process.<p>The idea started as my senior design project at UC Berkeley, with the goal of making a more approachable CNC machine—standard CNC machines are expensive, bulky, and remove you from the tactile “maker” experience. Compass solves that by combining a handheld router with real-time robotic assistance. You move the router roughly along a design path, and Compass uses four optical flow sensors (like in computer mice) and a 3-axis motion system to auto-correct for precision cuts.<p>What is different about Compass: - Open source: All plans, firmware, and CAD files are available on GitHub. - Affordable: The DIY build costs ~$600 in parts, and I am selling kits for <$800. - No external markers: The sensing technology allows for positioning without external markers, so no setup or consumables required. - Portable: Fits in a backpack and is not limited by a fixed work envelope.<p>We recently completed our first beta program and have just launched V1 kits for pre-order. You can find more info and the launch video at the listed URL.<p>GitHub: <a href="https://github.com/camchaney/handheld-cnc">https://github.com/camchaney/handheld-cnc</a>

Show HN: Compass CNC – Open-source handheld CNC router

Hey HN,<p>I am Cam, and for the past two years I have been working on Compass, an open-source handheld CNC router that brings computer precision to woodworking while keeping the user directly involved in the process.<p>The idea started as my senior design project at UC Berkeley, with the goal of making a more approachable CNC machine—standard CNC machines are expensive, bulky, and remove you from the tactile “maker” experience. Compass solves that by combining a handheld router with real-time robotic assistance. You move the router roughly along a design path, and Compass uses four optical flow sensors (like in computer mice) and a 3-axis motion system to auto-correct for precision cuts.<p>What is different about Compass: - Open source: All plans, firmware, and CAD files are available on GitHub. - Affordable: The DIY build costs ~$600 in parts, and I am selling kits for <$800. - No external markers: The sensing technology allows for positioning without external markers, so no setup or consumables required. - Portable: Fits in a backpack and is not limited by a fixed work envelope.<p>We recently completed our first beta program and have just launched V1 kits for pre-order. You can find more info and the launch video at the listed URL.<p>GitHub: <a href="https://github.com/camchaney/handheld-cnc">https://github.com/camchaney/handheld-cnc</a>

Show HN: Compass CNC – Open-source handheld CNC router

Hey HN,<p>I am Cam, and for the past two years I have been working on Compass, an open-source handheld CNC router that brings computer precision to woodworking while keeping the user directly involved in the process.<p>The idea started as my senior design project at UC Berkeley, with the goal of making a more approachable CNC machine—standard CNC machines are expensive, bulky, and remove you from the tactile “maker” experience. Compass solves that by combining a handheld router with real-time robotic assistance. You move the router roughly along a design path, and Compass uses four optical flow sensors (like in computer mice) and a 3-axis motion system to auto-correct for precision cuts.<p>What is different about Compass: - Open source: All plans, firmware, and CAD files are available on GitHub. - Affordable: The DIY build costs ~$600 in parts, and I am selling kits for <$800. - No external markers: The sensing technology allows for positioning without external markers, so no setup or consumables required. - Portable: Fits in a backpack and is not limited by a fixed work envelope.<p>We recently completed our first beta program and have just launched V1 kits for pre-order. You can find more info and the launch video at the listed URL.<p>GitHub: <a href="https://github.com/camchaney/handheld-cnc">https://github.com/camchaney/handheld-cnc</a>

Show HN: I built an AI agent that helps me invest

A while back, I built a simple app to track stocks. It pulled market data and generated daily reports based on my risk tolerance. Basically a personal investment assistant. It worked well enough that I kept going.<p>Now, the same framework helps me with real estate: comparing neighborhoods, checking flood risk, weather patterns, school zones, old vs. new builds, etc. It’s a messy, multi-variable decision—which turns out to be a great use case for AI agents.<p>Instead of ChatGPT or Grok 4, I use mcp-agent, which lets me build a persistent, multi-agent system that pulls live data, remembers my preferences, and improves over time.<p>Key pieces: • Orchestrator: picks the right agent or tool for the job • EvaluatorOptimizer: rates and refines the results until they’re high quality • Elicitation: adds a human-in-the-loop when needed • MCP server: exposes everything via API so I can use it in Streamlit, CLI, or anywhere • Memory: stores preferences and outcomes for personalization<p>It’s modular, model-agnostic (works with GPT-4 or local models via Ollama), and shareable.<p>Let me know what you all think!

Show HN: Built an email marketing platform after paying $230/month

Spent the last month building Fertit - basically a newsletter manager but you bring your own SMTP and skip the DevOps nightmare. All the features (subscriber management, admin dashboard, custom preferences) without the infrastructure markup.<p>The math that broke me: Mailchimp: $230/month for 15k contacts My solution: $10/month infrastructure + $10 SendGrid = unlimited<p>What I learned: The "enterprise" features are mostly database operations with SMTP APIs. But the 3 weeks of Go/PostgreSQL/Redis setup explains why people just pay ConvertKit $300/month. Here's the thing: Even open-sourcing it, I realized most people don't want to deal with servers, Docker configs, and database migrations. So I built an affordable hosted service starting at $5/month. More features and security measurements, zero setup - just bring your SMTP and start sending. You get all the cost savings without any of the self-hosting headaches.<p>Now testing this hosted version at $5/month - middle ground between DIY pain and SaaS pricing. Hosted version: <a href="https://www.fertit.com" rel="nofollow">https://www.fertit.com</a> Open source: <a href="https://github.com/rasadov/NewsletterManager">https://github.com/rasadov/NewsletterManager</a> Anyone else tired of choosing between expensive self-hosting and expensive SaaS? Would love feedback on the approach.

Show HN: Built an email marketing platform after paying $230/month

Spent the last month building Fertit - basically a newsletter manager but you bring your own SMTP and skip the DevOps nightmare. All the features (subscriber management, admin dashboard, custom preferences) without the infrastructure markup.<p>The math that broke me: Mailchimp: $230/month for 15k contacts My solution: $10/month infrastructure + $10 SendGrid = unlimited<p>What I learned: The "enterprise" features are mostly database operations with SMTP APIs. But the 3 weeks of Go/PostgreSQL/Redis setup explains why people just pay ConvertKit $300/month. Here's the thing: Even open-sourcing it, I realized most people don't want to deal with servers, Docker configs, and database migrations. So I built an affordable hosted service starting at $5/month. More features and security measurements, zero setup - just bring your SMTP and start sending. You get all the cost savings without any of the self-hosting headaches.<p>Now testing this hosted version at $5/month - middle ground between DIY pain and SaaS pricing. Hosted version: <a href="https://www.fertit.com" rel="nofollow">https://www.fertit.com</a> Open source: <a href="https://github.com/rasadov/NewsletterManager">https://github.com/rasadov/NewsletterManager</a> Anyone else tired of choosing between expensive self-hosting and expensive SaaS? Would love feedback on the approach.

Show HN: Lotas – Cursor for RStudio

Hey HN! We’re Jorge and Will from Lotas (<a href="https://www.lotas.ai/" rel="nofollow">https://www.lotas.ai/</a>), and we’ve built an AI coding assistant into RStudio (think Cursor for RStudio).<p>RStudio is used by about 2 million data scientists and academics, but they currently lack a coding assistant within their IDE. Developers in other environments benefit from tools like Cursor and Windsurf, but R users don’t have any equivalent tools to speed up their workflow. Since ~80% of R programmers prefer to use RStudio over other IDEs like VSCode to write R code, we figured a tool like this one could be quite useful.<p>Both of us were PhD students at Harvard. Jorge was in the biophysics program and Will was in the biostatistics program where most people used RStudio every day. We saw how integrated code assistants were taking off in other IDEs, but we noticed that the RStudio integrations were still lagging far behind. Many R users were copying and pasting code from ChatGPT to build their workflows, and this was clearly slow and fragile.<p>To bring the Cursor-like experience to RStudio users, we built Rao (<a href="https://www.lotas.ai/" rel="nofollow">https://www.lotas.ai/</a>): a fork of RStudio with an embedded AI assistant that is aware of the user’s local context (both files and variable environment), can read and write files, can run code or commands, and can interpret textual or visual output. It works with any of the file formats already in RStudio (R, notebooks including RMDs and QMDs, Python, Stan, etc.), allowing R programmers to iteratively perform entire data analyses inside their preferred IDE.<p>Other AI data science tools are either (1) built on the web or in environments people don’t already use, (2) are completely focused on python notebooks, or (3) are weak package-based assistants with limited functionality. Rao is exactly like the RStudio IDE that millions of data scientists already use, but it incorporates a powerful AI assistant and works with all the standard file types.<p>You can download Rao at <a href="https://www.lotas.ai/download" rel="nofollow">https://www.lotas.ai/download</a>, watch our demo on the homepage (<a href="https://www.lotas.ai/" rel="nofollow">https://www.lotas.ai/</a>), and work through some example use cases on our GitHub (<a href="https://github.com/lotas-ai/rao/tree/main/demos">https://github.com/lotas-ai/rao/tree/main/demos</a>). We have a one-week free trial (no card required) and provide 500 queries/month for $20/month after that. We’d love to hear feedback from the HN community to make Rao as useful as possible! You can reach us at founders@lotas.ai.<p>P.S. We have zero data retention (ZDR) agreements with OpenAI and Anthropic, but we currently recommend users do not input sensitive or regulated data like PHI into Rao until we sign BAAs with both model providers. For more information on our security practices, please visit the security page on our website <a href="https://www.lotas.ai/security" rel="nofollow">https://www.lotas.ai/security</a>.

Show HN: Lotas – Cursor for RStudio

Hey HN! We’re Jorge and Will from Lotas (<a href="https://www.lotas.ai/" rel="nofollow">https://www.lotas.ai/</a>), and we’ve built an AI coding assistant into RStudio (think Cursor for RStudio).<p>RStudio is used by about 2 million data scientists and academics, but they currently lack a coding assistant within their IDE. Developers in other environments benefit from tools like Cursor and Windsurf, but R users don’t have any equivalent tools to speed up their workflow. Since ~80% of R programmers prefer to use RStudio over other IDEs like VSCode to write R code, we figured a tool like this one could be quite useful.<p>Both of us were PhD students at Harvard. Jorge was in the biophysics program and Will was in the biostatistics program where most people used RStudio every day. We saw how integrated code assistants were taking off in other IDEs, but we noticed that the RStudio integrations were still lagging far behind. Many R users were copying and pasting code from ChatGPT to build their workflows, and this was clearly slow and fragile.<p>To bring the Cursor-like experience to RStudio users, we built Rao (<a href="https://www.lotas.ai/" rel="nofollow">https://www.lotas.ai/</a>): a fork of RStudio with an embedded AI assistant that is aware of the user’s local context (both files and variable environment), can read and write files, can run code or commands, and can interpret textual or visual output. It works with any of the file formats already in RStudio (R, notebooks including RMDs and QMDs, Python, Stan, etc.), allowing R programmers to iteratively perform entire data analyses inside their preferred IDE.<p>Other AI data science tools are either (1) built on the web or in environments people don’t already use, (2) are completely focused on python notebooks, or (3) are weak package-based assistants with limited functionality. Rao is exactly like the RStudio IDE that millions of data scientists already use, but it incorporates a powerful AI assistant and works with all the standard file types.<p>You can download Rao at <a href="https://www.lotas.ai/download" rel="nofollow">https://www.lotas.ai/download</a>, watch our demo on the homepage (<a href="https://www.lotas.ai/" rel="nofollow">https://www.lotas.ai/</a>), and work through some example use cases on our GitHub (<a href="https://github.com/lotas-ai/rao/tree/main/demos">https://github.com/lotas-ai/rao/tree/main/demos</a>). We have a one-week free trial (no card required) and provide 500 queries/month for $20/month after that. We’d love to hear feedback from the HN community to make Rao as useful as possible! You can reach us at founders@lotas.ai.<p>P.S. We have zero data retention (ZDR) agreements with OpenAI and Anthropic, but we currently recommend users do not input sensitive or regulated data like PHI into Rao until we sign BAAs with both model providers. For more information on our security practices, please visit the security page on our website <a href="https://www.lotas.ai/security" rel="nofollow">https://www.lotas.ai/security</a>.

Show HN: Lotas – Cursor for RStudio

Hey HN! We’re Jorge and Will from Lotas (<a href="https://www.lotas.ai/" rel="nofollow">https://www.lotas.ai/</a>), and we’ve built an AI coding assistant into RStudio (think Cursor for RStudio).<p>RStudio is used by about 2 million data scientists and academics, but they currently lack a coding assistant within their IDE. Developers in other environments benefit from tools like Cursor and Windsurf, but R users don’t have any equivalent tools to speed up their workflow. Since ~80% of R programmers prefer to use RStudio over other IDEs like VSCode to write R code, we figured a tool like this one could be quite useful.<p>Both of us were PhD students at Harvard. Jorge was in the biophysics program and Will was in the biostatistics program where most people used RStudio every day. We saw how integrated code assistants were taking off in other IDEs, but we noticed that the RStudio integrations were still lagging far behind. Many R users were copying and pasting code from ChatGPT to build their workflows, and this was clearly slow and fragile.<p>To bring the Cursor-like experience to RStudio users, we built Rao (<a href="https://www.lotas.ai/" rel="nofollow">https://www.lotas.ai/</a>): a fork of RStudio with an embedded AI assistant that is aware of the user’s local context (both files and variable environment), can read and write files, can run code or commands, and can interpret textual or visual output. It works with any of the file formats already in RStudio (R, notebooks including RMDs and QMDs, Python, Stan, etc.), allowing R programmers to iteratively perform entire data analyses inside their preferred IDE.<p>Other AI data science tools are either (1) built on the web or in environments people don’t already use, (2) are completely focused on python notebooks, or (3) are weak package-based assistants with limited functionality. Rao is exactly like the RStudio IDE that millions of data scientists already use, but it incorporates a powerful AI assistant and works with all the standard file types.<p>You can download Rao at <a href="https://www.lotas.ai/download" rel="nofollow">https://www.lotas.ai/download</a>, watch our demo on the homepage (<a href="https://www.lotas.ai/" rel="nofollow">https://www.lotas.ai/</a>), and work through some example use cases on our GitHub (<a href="https://github.com/lotas-ai/rao/tree/main/demos">https://github.com/lotas-ai/rao/tree/main/demos</a>). We have a one-week free trial (no card required) and provide 500 queries/month for $20/month after that. We’d love to hear feedback from the HN community to make Rao as useful as possible! You can reach us at founders@lotas.ai.<p>P.S. We have zero data retention (ZDR) agreements with OpenAI and Anthropic, but we currently recommend users do not input sensitive or regulated data like PHI into Rao until we sign BAAs with both model providers. For more information on our security practices, please visit the security page on our website <a href="https://www.lotas.ai/security" rel="nofollow">https://www.lotas.ai/security</a>.