February 26, 2026
Bots, buttons, and beef
Show HN: Mission Control – Open-source task management for AI agents
HN splits over a local “command center” for AI helpers — fans hype, skeptics roast the buttons and “193 tests” flex
TLDR: An open-source dashboard called Mission Control promises to manage your AI helpers locally, combining boards, priorities, and reporting in one place. The community loves the “agent-first” idea but bickers over a busy interface, asks for idea-to-plan smarts, and dunks on the “193 tests” brag unless it measures AI quality.
Show HN just dropped a new toy: Mission Control, an open‑source “command center” that lets solo founders wrangle their AI helpers in one place. Think a dashboard where you give “robot interns” jobs, watch progress on boards, and get reports in your inbox — all running locally with no cloud or logins. Supporters love the promise: agent roles, drag‑and‑drop priorities, a Kanban board, and a big red “orchestrate” button that spins up multiple agents at once. It’s pitching itself as “agent‑first,” not a human todo app that AIs awkwardly plug into.
But the comments? Spicy. ge96 skimmed the repo and called out a “buttonpocalypse,” saying the UI has “way too many buttons/features” — then admitted it starts to make sense the deeper you go. That kicked off the usual fight: power‑users yelling “give me all the knobs,” minimalists clutching their clean screens. Meanwhile, cschneid wants it to “take vague ideas” and co‑design a plan, not just execute tasks — basically, can it think with you, not just take orders? And zingar side‑eyed the marketing: “193 tests” sounds impressive, but unless those tests judge the AIs themselves, it’s not a selling point.
Between the “local-only, no lock‑in” cheering section and the “isn’t this just Asana with robot sauce?” skeptics, the thread is peak HN. Bonus memes: “Eisenhower matrix for robo‑minions,” “token diet for cheaper AI chats,” and someone definitely whispered “daemon” like it’s a horror movie. Drama level: high; buttons pressed: many.
Key Points
- •Mission Control is an open-source, local-first task management system designed for coordinating AI coding agents.
- •It provides agent roles, inboxes, dashboards, and a visual delegation workflow with prioritization (Eisenhower Matrix) and tracking (Kanban, goals).
- •Agent-focused features include an Agent Crew, Skills Library, multi-agent tasks, an Orchestrator, and an Autonomous Daemon for concurrent task execution.
- •Execution integrates with Claude Code for one-click sessions; communication uses an inbox/decisions layer, with a token-optimized API and pagination across nine endpoints.
- •Quality and accessibility are supported by 193 Vitest tests, error resilience, ARIA live regions, and a GitHub Actions CI pipeline; prerequisites include Node.js v20+, pnpm v9+, and optional Claude Code.