January 16, 2026
Paywalls, taglines & Claude wars
Show HN: 1Code – Open-source Cursor-like UI for Claude Code
New Claude helper app launches; price outrage, tagline feud, and access-ban fears
TLDR: 1Code is an open-source interface for Claude Code with live tools and isolation, free to build or $20/month for prebuilt perks. Comments blast the price, mock the tagline, question unclear features, and worry Anthropic’s clampdown on third‑party logins could torpedo the whole plan.
1Code from 21st.dev just crashed the party: an open‑source, Cursor‑style UI for Anthropic’s coding sidekick, Claude Code. It promises live command previews, isolated sessions per chat, a built‑in terminal, and visual diffs. You can build it free, or pay $20/month at 1code.dev for prebuilt releases and background agents—while still needing a Claude Pro/Max subscription. And that’s where the drama explodes. Commenters torched the price as “rent for a window,” with denysvitali calling $20 “just for a web interface and sandbox” too steep. The spicy tagline “Claude Code, but usable” set off a fan uprising—twostorytower swears the official app “just works.” Others, like ahampt, want clear differentiators now that Claude Code ships inside Anthropic’s desktop app: why pick 1Code? Confusion also swirled around “Unlimited web & macOS apps access” in the paid tier—rishabhpoddar asked what that actually means. Then the nuclear take: forgotpwd16 warned that Anthropic’s recent ban on third‑party access to Pro/Max logins could break this model, leaving paying users stranded. Bonus drama: “Where are the screenshots?” People joked about “charging rent for a terminal” and “wrapper wars,” while devs quietly nodded at features like git worktree isolation and real‑time tool execution. Open source meets subscription fatigue—bring popcorn.
Key Points
- •1Code is an open-source UI for Claude Code developed by 21st.dev.
- •It offers plan and agent modes, including read-only analysis and full code execution permissions.
- •Each chat session runs in an isolated Git worktree with real-time tool execution and an integrated terminal.
- •Users can build from source using Bun, Python, and macOS Xcode CLT, or subscribe for pre-built releases and background agents.
- •The project is licensed under Apache License 2.0 and provides change tracking with visual diffs and PR management.