Show HN Daily Selection (2025-05-17)

• KVSplit – Run 2-3x longer contexts on Apple Silicon
• Visual flow-based programming for Erlang, inspired by Node-RED
• Solidis – Tiny TS Redis client, no deps, for serverless
• Workflow Use – Deterministic, self-healing browser automation (RPA 2.0)
• Rv, a Package Manager for R
• SQL-tString a t-string SQL builder in Python
• Self-Funded Game with Homemade Engine – Play Online, Steam Coming
• Making #regions actually useful in VSCode
• Inconveniently operating my computer with voice and hand gestures
• Samurai Interview – a mock interview simulator
• wghttp – An HTTP server for managing WireGuard devices
• I vibe coded an open-source Go app to back up DBs using Docker labels
• Online Compass
• Simple CLI tools for multimodal data

KVSplit – Run 2-3x longer contexts on Apple Silicon [Developer Tools]

166 points, 15 comments

Optimized KV cache quantization for Apple Silicon to enable 2-3x longer LLM contexts with minimal quality loss.

• Uses different bit-widths for keys (higher precision) and values (lower precision)
• Achieves 59% memory reduction with only 0.86% perplexity loss (K8V4)
• Compatible with Metal/MPS and optimized for Apple Silicon
• Tested on M4 MacBook Pro with TinyLlama (8K context)
• Easy implementation via llama.cpp flags (--kvq-key, --kvq-val)

Discussion Link, Original Link

Visual flow-based programming for Erlang, inspired by Node-RED [Developer Tools]

193 points, 84 comments

Visual flow-based programming tool for Erlang inspired by Node-RED, leveraging Erlang's concurrency features.

• Enables true concurrency in Node-RED-style flows using Erlang's message passing
• Provides low-code visual programming for Erlang applications
• Designed for developers familiar with Erlang's lightweight processes

Discussion Link, Original Link

Solidis – Tiny TS Redis client, no deps, for serverless [Developer Tools]

23 points, 1 comments

Solidis is a lightweight TypeScript Redis client with zero dependencies, optimized for serverless environments.

• Super-light (<30 KB) with RESP2/RESP3 support and ESM/CJS compatibility
• Fully tree-shakable, importing only necessary commands
• Built with SOLID principles and full TypeScript typings
• Designed for cold-start-sensitive serverless platforms
• Auto-reconnect, per-command timeouts, and type-checked replies
• Extensible with drop-in command plugins and custom transactions

Discussion Link, Original Link

Workflow Use – Deterministic, self-healing browser automation (RPA 2.0) [Productivity]

44 points, 11 comments

Workflow Use is a deterministic, self-healing browser automation tool that converts manual recordings into reliable scripts with AI fallback.

• Converts manual browser recordings into deterministic scripts with variables
• Runs scripts 10x faster and ~90% cheaper than pure LLM-based automation
• Includes AI fallback for self-healing broken steps
• Designed for high-frequency, enterprise workflows
• Early-stage project with ongoing improvements

Discussion Link, Original Link

Rv, a Package Manager for R [Developer Tools]

61 points, 28 comments

Rv is a package manager for R inspired by Cargo, designed to explicitly declare R versions and dependencies in a config file.

• Explicitly declares R version and dependencies in a rproject.toml file
• No renv::snapshot equivalent; all dependencies must be declared upfront
• Config file and lockfile serve as the source of truth
• Avoids issues with missing installation info in renv
• Allows easy tweaking of packages (e.g., installing from source or suggests)
• Familiar to users of Cargo, npm, or Python package managers

Discussion Link, Original Link

SQL-tString a t-string SQL builder in Python [Developer Tools]

71 points, 30 comments

SQL-tString is a Python SQL builder leveraging PEP-750 t-strings to safely construct SQL queries with protection against injection.

• Uses t-strings to build SQL queries with placeholders for safe parameter binding
• Validates column names to prevent SQL injection in dynamic column references
• Supports conditional query building with Absent and other rewriting values
• Handles NULL comparisons with IsNull and IsNotNull
• Allows nested t-strings for complex query construction
• Compatible with pre-Python 3.14 versions with some limitations

Discussion Link, Original Link

Self-Funded Game with Homemade Engine – Play Online, Steam Coming [Entertainment]

6 points, 1 comments

A self-funded 2D game built with a custom engine, available online and soon on Steam.

• Built with a homemade engine (no Unity or frameworks)
• Fully self-funded project
• Engine source code available under MIT license
• Seeking feedback on gameplay, visuals, and performance
• Planned commercial release on Steam

Discussion Link, Original Link

Making #regions actually useful in VSCode [Developer Tools]

9 points, 3 comments

A VSCode extension that enhances the functionality of code regions with navigation, search, and organization tools.

• Commands/hotkeys for jumping between and selecting regions
• Fuzzy search for regions
• Interactive "Regions" and "Full Outline" tree views
• Diagnostics for unmatched region markers
• Support for 49 languages with customization options
• API for developers to build their own region extensions
• Expand/Collapse All actions with persisted state
• High performance even on large files (~50K LOC)

Discussion Link, Original Link

Inconveniently operating my computer with voice and hand gestures [Consumer Tech]

5 points, 0 comments

A computer interface controlled by voice and hand gestures for an intentionally inconvenient experience.

• Uses Three.js, Rosebud AI, Web Speech API, and MediaPipe for vision
• Designed to be deliberately cumbersome for experimentation
• Focuses on exploring computer vision and voice control

Discussion Link, Original Link

Samurai Interview – a mock interview simulator [Education]

5 points, 2 comments

Mock interview simulator for practice.

• Simulates real interview scenarios
• Helps users practice and improve interview skills

Discussion Link, Original Link

wghttp – An HTTP server for managing WireGuard devices [Developer Tools]

3 points, 1 comments

A lightweight HTTP server for managing WireGuard devices with opinionated defaults.

• Uses Unix socket by default
• Opinionated behavior for simplicity
• Includes Swagger UI for API documentation
• Lightweight and minimalistic design

Discussion Link, Original Link

I vibe coded an open-source Go app to back up DBs using Docker labels [Developer Tools]

3 points, 0 comments

Label Backup is an open-source Go tool that automates database backups in Docker containers using simple labels.

• Uses Docker labels to configure backups for PostgreSQL, MySQL, MongoDB, and Redis
• Supports streaming backups to local storage or S3-compatible services
• Includes Gzip compression, retention policies, and webhook notifications
• Lightweight and easy to set up with Docker
• Open-source with detailed documentation and test environment setup

Discussion Link, Original Link

Online Compass [Consumer Tech]

4 points, 0 comments

Online Compass

• Simple web-based compass tool
• No installation required
• Works directly in the browser

Discussion Link, Original Link

Simple CLI tools for multimodal data [Developer Tools]

4 points, 1 comments

Simple CLI tools for multimodal data.

• Command-line interface
• Supports multimodal data processing

Discussion Link, Original Link