The rise of AI coding assistants has fundamentally changed how developers work. What started with simple autocomplete suggestions has evolved into sophisticated agents capable of writing entire functions, debugging complex issues, and even architecting multi-file systems. But as developers begin juggling multiple AI agents simultaneously, a new challenge has emerged: how do you effectively manage, monitor, and coordinate all these parallel assistants without losing your mind? Enter Smith, a visual control center designed specifically for this moment.
Smith burst onto the scene on February 1, 2026, when it appeared on Hacker News’ Show HN and quickly climbed to the 48th spot on the front page. In a sea of AI tools launching every day, this was no small feat. The reason for its warm reception becomes clear once you understand what it actually does.
At its core, Smith is a graphical interface for orchestrating multiple AI coding agents working in parallel. Think of it as mission control for your development workflow. Instead of switching between different chat windows, losing track of which agent is working on what, and manually coordinating tasks, Smith brings everything into a unified dashboard where you can see the big picture at a glance.
The interface presents each active agent as a distinct node, showing its current status, the task it’s working on, and its progress in real-time. You can drag and drop to reprioritize work, spin up new agents for specific subtasks, or merge outputs from multiple agents tackling different aspects of the same problem. It’s the kind of tool that makes you wonder how you ever managed multiple AI assistants without it.
What makes Smith particularly compelling is how it addresses a genuine pain point that has been building up over the past year. As AI coding agents have become more capable, developers naturally started using several at once. One might handle frontend components, another works on API endpoints, a third focuses on database migrations. The productivity gains are real, but so is the chaos of managing them all. Smith transforms that chaos into organized, visual workflow management.
The timing couldn’t be better. Early 2026 has seen an explosion in agent-based coding workflows, with developers routinely running twenty to thirty parallel agents on complex projects. Without proper orchestration, this parallelization quickly becomes counterproductive. Smith steps in as the coordination layer that makes multi-agent development actually workable.
Beyond just monitoring, Smith includes scheduling capabilities that let you define dependencies between agents. If Agent A needs to finish generating data models before Agent B can write the API routes, Smith handles that sequencing automatically. You set the rules, and the system ensures everything happens in the right order.
For developers already deep into the AI-assisted coding world, Smith represents a maturation of the ecosystem. We’re moving from the wild west of experimenting with individual agents to a more structured approach where multiple agents can collaborate effectively. The fact that it resonated with the notoriously discerning Hacker News community suggests Smith is hitting the right notes.
As AI coding agents continue to evolve and multiply, tools like Smith will likely become essential infrastructure for development teams. The future of software engineering isn’t just about having smart AI assistants. It’s about being able to wield many of them effectively, in concert, toward ambitious goals. Smith is helping make that future a reality today.
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