Onlook (YC W25)

Subject: Call to Service FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE XIV-XV-MMXXV FROM THE OFFICE OF THE CEO ON OFF, INC. also known as @onlookdev To whom it may concern, For too long, designers have been unable to practice their excellence to the fullest. For too long, developers have been forced to interpret instead of invent. For too long, we have endured the insufferable feeling of compromise. Onlook is recruiting our first Founding Engineer – a tactical soldier armed with ambition and skill, prepared to change the way the world crafts exceptional products, brands, and experiences forever. We are on the hunt for a worthy ally who will architect the foundation of a new instrument of creation – One that is open-source, AI-native, and respects code as the source of truth. You will not simply build. You will liberate. If you feel the intoxicating urge to abandon the dull and join our cause to empower the greatest creatives of our time, express your interest imminently to daniel@onlook.com. Bring the knowledge you’ve sharpened in the shadows of extraordinary experiences past, and join us in San Francisco. This will be an incredible journey unlike any other. Please repost to aid our search!

It's a big part of why I'm personally so driven by what we're doing at @onlookdev -- I want designers to lead this convergence, not get swallowed by it. Design and engineering are merging. The question is who's driving.

The companies that win aren't replacing designers with engineers who have Claude Code. They're giving designers superpowers. A visual canvas + AI primitives + design principles captured as prompts. That's the stack. That's leverage engineers can't replicate.

Here's what I'm seeing: engineers + AI are already cannibalizing design roles. They ship faster, skip the system, break the details. They won't wait for a designer to catch up. But rapid progress without design taste creates debt that kills products in the medium term.

The question isn't whether design becomes engineering. It's whether designers ship faster than engineers learn taste. Engineers + AI won't close the gap on design thinking and org-level craft. Designers with the right tools? They absolutely close the engineering gap.

lots of great stuff cookin' at @onlookdev in this direction can't wait to share what's next!

Sharing some the open source repos to start contributing, if you're a beginner or wanna start OSS. 1. NextJs @twentycrm @lightdash_devs @onlookdev @calcom @firecrawl (YC S22) @triggerdotdev (YC W23) @activepieces (give counties, YC S22) @dodopayments (Hacktoberfest, 2025) 2. Python @mem0ai 3. Rust (give bounties through @algoraio) @nativelinkdev @GolemCloud

queuing messages in @onlookdev has been my favorite new feature

"Product design is always treated as 'good enough' Yet everyone wonders why they aren't Apple" some draft slides from the first @onlookdev pitch deck way back in 2024

Claude Sonnet 4.5 is now the default model in Onlook go craft something incredible ✨

recorded myself drawing some stuff and chatting about design and engineering and @onlookdev so be on the lookout for that soon featuring 🏝️⛵️🏝️🏝️

@onlookdev if you want to support the project, drop us a star: ➡️ GitHub: github.com/onlook-dev/onl…

@onlookdev 4/ every star, pr, and discussion helps push the boundaries of what this new era of design and code can be and we're so excited to keep building this with you.

@onlookdev 3/ the response has been incredible: • first-time contributors fixing small UI quirks • teams spinning up self-hosted pilots • late-night PRs from all over the world that keep making the product better and better

@onlookdev 2/ when we open-sourced Onlook last year, the goal was simple: give designers and developers a shared space to work together in code – no disconnect between the roles

✨20,000 GitHub stars!✨ 1/ @onlookdev just crossed a huge milestone: 20K stars on GitHub. it’s more than a number: it’s a sign that teams everywhere want a faster, more design-centric way to build together in code.

@ProductHunt 👀

gm legends, it's monday again! what ya shipping this week? drop it in the replies 🫶

we’re also gearing up for another Hacktoberfest! it’s a month-long open-source sprint where you can earn the official badge by contributing to community projects like Onlook. last year tons of new folks jumped in and many stuck around in our Discord open-source squad—so we’re extra excited this time. want in? register at hacktoberfest.com and keep an eye on our repo. we’ll have everything from tiny 🪱 fixes to bigger 💡 explorations—perfect if you’re keen to roll up your sleeves and build with us. 🙌

AI workflow improvements: Onlook’s AI now plans, applies, and verifies changes on its own. it reasons before editing, preserves context, proactively checks its code output, and self-recovers from errors—keeping sessions stable without you needing to do anything. - the AI now has reasoning capabilities - new tools for the AI to edit your project, including running multiple edits simultaneously - AI now runs code checks (type check) on its own after each major edit. - improved system prompts for better responses.

the September recap is live! this month has been about bringing rapid design experimentation to Onlook. the highlight: Branching. a feature that was previously reserved to developers now brought to designers, exclusive to Onlook. this allows you to visually experiment with multiple design prototypes in parallel on a single canvas. onlook’s AI now also plans, applies, and verifies changes on its own – maintaining context and catching issues early. Plus: faster visual design tools with multi-select + snap guides and so much more. let’s dive in: