JetBrains launched Thinkrail, an agent IDE, and HN spent its thread on the README
The open-source app runs several coding-agent sessions in separate git worktrees. The top comment refused to take it seriously because the README looked AI-written.
Thinkrail is built around the pi coding agent and keeps specs in SPEC.md files beside the code. It is Apache 2.0 licensed and ships for macOS, Windows and Linux.
Veteran JetBrains users in the thread were less interested in the README than in whether they still need an IDE.
What JetBrains shipped
Thinkrail is a JetBrains incubator project, described as an "agentic IDE" built around the open pi coding agent. Opening a git repository creates a separate git worktree for each workspace, so several agent sessions with different models can run in parallel without touching the main checkout. There is a Monaco-based editor, terminals, review comments on diffs, and a graph of SPEC.md files that the agent reads and updates. It reads existing Agent Skills, supports MCP servers and works with JetBrains AI or any provider configured through pi.
It is Apache 2.0, with desktop builds for macOS (Apple Silicon only), Windows and Linux plus a CLI that opens the app in a browser. Full extension support is still being added. Usage analytics are collected under a random install ID.
The README fight
"I refuse to take a repo with an AI-generated readme seriously. If you haven't bothered to write a readme, what else have you not bothered to do?" — exizt88, who cited a detector score as proof
The reply that drew agreement was about the product category.
"It is an 'agentic IDE', a tool intended for people who don't bother writing a readme. If you care about these things you are either not the intended target or you are a hypocrite." — GuB-42
The question under it: who still needs the IDE
"I've been using JetBrains IDEs for over a decade but rarely open them anymore because working on several worktrees concurrently is extremely frustrating and wasteful." — a decade-long JetBrains user
Another commenter cancelled after about 12 years, writing that agents now write the code under their direction and that "something like Zed was more than sufficient" on the occasions they did need an editor.
That is the market Thinkrail is aimed at: JetBrains is shipping to people who have already stopped opening its flagship.
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