An IDE where AI agents can drive the editor itself

What it does

bb is an IDE built around AI agents rather than human keystrokes. It wraps your existing provider CLI authentication and runs agentic work in live threads you can watch, redirect, or hand off between agents. Every interface—desktop app, web UI, CLI, and HTTP API—is meant to be a fully capable control surface, including for other agents calling bb programmatically.

The interesting bit

The recursive hook is the selling point: bb doesn’t just host agents, it exposes itself as a tool they can use. The architecture treats “agent drives IDE” as a core scenario, not an afterthought. That makes it less a text editor with a chat sidebar and more a shared workspace where humans and multiple agents co-pilot.

Key highlights

• Agents can programmatically invoke bb, so the IDE itself becomes part of an agent workflow
• Work is organized in threads with live steering and hand-offs between agents
• Uses the provider CLI you already have authenticated—no separate API key management mentioned
• Desktop app (macOS Apple Silicon only), web, CLI, and HTTP API are all first-class interfaces
• Monorepo with deterministic dev instances; separate checkouts and worktrees can run side-by-side without colliding

Caveats

• Desktop builds are currently macOS ARM64 only; Intel Mac, Linux, and Windows users must rely on the Node-based distribution or WSL2 instead of a native desktop installer
• Core architecture is stable, but workflows and surfaces are still evolving per the README’s own warning
• Native Node.js add-ons can trip up installs if package manager install scripts are disabled

Verdict

Worth a look if you want an IDE where agents are primary citizens, not plugins. Skip it if you need a polished, cross-platform desktop experience today or you just want a lightweight wrapper around a single LLM.