Show HN: TikZ Editor – WYSIWYG editor for figures in LaTeX
Not a pilot. A coding agent built a WYSIWYG TikZ editor that reimplemented half of LaTeX—the kind of task humans would never attempt.
Why it matters
This is a concrete example of AI agents handling tedious, complex codebases that unlock new product categories. It signals that coding agents are now capable enough to ship real developer tools, not just toy demos.
The key facts
13 to knowTikZ editor built almost entirely by Codex (coding agent)
Simultaneous source-code and WYSIWYG editing with live sync
Required reimplementing large fraction of TikZ—previously infeasible for human developers
Includes SVG/PPTX/IPE converters, LaTeX hyphenation algorithm, color picker
Open-source, available on web and desktop
Published on Show HN (June 23, 2026)
Open-source WYSIWYG TikZ editor (web + desktop)
Built almost entirely by Codex (AI coding agent)
Simultaneous source-code and WYSIWYG editing with sync
Parser maintains exact source location tracking for each object
Includes SVG/PPTX/IPE to TikZ converters
Re-implemented LaTeX hyphenation and line-breaking algorithms
Developer explicitly frames this as example of AI agents enabling products too tedious for humans
Go to the source
Hacker Newstikz.dev
Publisher excerpt: Hi all! TikZ is a widely-used LaTeX package for drawing figures in papers. It uses commands like \draw[->] (0,0) -- (1,2); to draw lines, shapes, text, etc. Academics usually code up their figures by hand, so there is lots of twiddling around with the coordinates and recompiling until things look…