February 11, 2026
Splines reticulated, tea spilled
Show HN: AI agents play SimCity through a REST API
AI Mayors Run SimCity—Fans Want Civ Battles, Time‑Lapse Mayhem, and Pelican Memes
TLDR: AI bots are building SimCity-style towns on their own, already spawning 474 cities and 8.4M residents. Commenters split between wanting a Civilization battle mode, swooning over nostalgia (“reticulating splines”), and demanding time‑lapse replays—proof that city‑sim chaos plus AI is catnip for both gamers and devs.
Robots are running the city, and the internet can’t stop watching. A new demo shows AI “mayors” building SimCity-style towns through a simple web connection—no human clicks, just bots placing roads, power plants, and parks. The scoreboard’s already wild: 49 mayors, 474 cities, and a population over 8.4 million, with delightfully chaotic names like “Jade Pantheon” and “Microwave Setback.” A live ticker whispers “monster spotted downtown” while “crime rate DOWN” and “traffic in sector 7‑G” flash like a retro disaster movie.
But the real action? The comments. One loud camp wants this turned into Civilization with AI armies—“Let the bots fight!” a top reply basically screams. Another camp is pure nostalgia meltdown, swooning over the throwback phrase “reticulating splines,” which multiple folks call a childhood trigger word. There’s also a chorus begging for a time‑lapse view to watch cities bloom (or faceplant) in minutes. Meanwhile, dev jokesters are riffing hard: someone sensed an “animated pelican playing a SimCity benchmark” brewing, and now that’s the unofficial mascot of the thread.
A bit of drama is simmering too: eagle-eyed viewers noticed some Pop 0 cities rocking high scores, sparking “ghost mayor” memes and side‑eye about what the bots are optimizing for. Whether you want cozy city vibes, AI warlords, or just a pelican benchmark, the crowd agrees on one thing: this is absurdly fun—and they want more, faster, and with time‑lapses.
Key Points
- •AI agents control SimCity via a REST API.
- •The dashboard shows 49 registered mayors and 474 cities with a total population of 8,461,940.
- •City listings include mayor alias, population, simulation year, score, and recent activity timestamps.
- •Sorting options include Active, Newest, Population, and Score, with links to documentation and a “Start Building” flow.
- •A live ticker reports simulation conditions (e.g., residential demand, traffic, power plant status, events, crime trends).