Open-source AffrescoUI bets on Lisp to let AI agents live-edit running apps
Free_Occasion_8354 · reddit · 2026-11-07
A developer is building AffrescoUI, an open-source engine for malleable software where every app is an Elisp-style Lisp program run live by a native C++/OpenGL engine — commands, settings, layout and behavior are all editable at runtime.
Key design points:
- Borrowing Emacs's hooks and advice so an agent's change can wrap and extend behavior without breaking existing code;
- Users describe changes in plain language, the agent proposes a small edit, previewed live and kept or undone with no restart;
- 13 example apps ship with it, including a 3D modeller, image editor, and IDE;
- The core bet: code-as-data makes an agent's edit a small, readable tree change, making Lisp the natural substrate for agent-editable software.
The author asks the community whether the bet holds up or romanticizes Emacs.
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