Crafting crude weapons for this barbaric age.
The Powderworks Agentic Code Consortium is a burgeoning collection of software that came out of learning some hard lessons while attempting large scale software projects with coding agents. Coding agents have upended the economics of software development and we find ourselves constantly lacking the tools needed to tame these devious daemons and ensure high quality outputs and successful outcomes. Powderworks aims to make those tools and then some.
The method of Powderworks is twofold. We attempt previously unimaginable acts of software development, gargantuan projects built in a weekend autonomously, in the hopes that we can see the missing gaps in our collective tooling through experience. Then, we develop and publish tools that cover those gaps and try again. Through this process, we think we can produce some useful things that move beyond just throwing more tokens at difficult problems in software development.
Once we figure out what we are really doing here, you can expect a full Powderworks Manifesto. For now though, please enjoy this section from George Pólya’s book *How To Solve It. *We hope Powderworks can offer solutions to common coding agent problems that feels as simple and elucidating as turning on the light switch in a dark room.
The solution of a problem may occur to us quite abruptly. After brooding over the problem for a long time without apparent progress, we suddenly conceive a bright idea, we see daylight, we have a flash of inspiration. It is like going into an unfamiliar hotel room late at night without knowing even where to switch on the light. You stumble around in a dark room, perceive confused black masses, feel one or the other piece of furniture as you are groping for the switch. Then, having found it, you turn on the light and everything becomes clear. The confused masses become distinct, take familiar shapes, and appear well arranged, well adapted to their obvious purpose.
Such may be the experience of solving a problem; a sudden clarification that brings light, order, connection, and purpose to details which before appeared obscure, confused, scattered, and elusive.