JetBrains Thinkrail
- ID
- 39459
- Status
- summarized
- Published
- 26 Oct 2026, 12:27 AM
- Fetched
- 26 Oct 2026, 2:22 PM
- Provider
- Hacker News
- Category
- dev-community
- Original URL
- https://github.com/JetBrains/thinkrail
- Source URL
- https://hnrss.org/best
Summary
- Score
- 6.5
- Created
- 26 Oct 2026, 2:23 PM
- Tags
- Audience
- developersvibe_codersai_ml_learners
What happened
JetBrains has published ThinkRail on GitHub under Apache-2.0: an 'agentic IDE' built around the pi coding agent, with each change scoped to an isolated git workspace and project knowledge stored as 'living specs' plus reusable skills. The repo shows 2.0k stars, 116 forks and 554 commits, and the README says full extension support — where the IDE generates its own tools — is the next step, not something shipped today. The Hacker News thread drew 199 points and 147 comments.
Why it matters
Don't adopt it for the 'customises itself' pitch — that's roadmap. Evaluate what's actually in the repo: Apache-2.0 licensed TypeScript/Bun code with 554 commits, per-change isolated git workspaces, and a living-specs/skills model for durable project context. If you're choosing an agentic IDE this quarter, this is one you can read end-to-end before trusting it with your repo, unlike closed alternatives.
Discussion angle
Living specs and reusable skills versus dumping a big context window or RAG index — which actually keeps an agent coherent on a real codebase after week three? Worth comparing notes from anyone who has run the repo.